----- Original Message ----- =

From: "Alan B. Pearce" <A.B.Pearce@rl.ac.uk>
To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: [EE] Speedometer for the model railroad - RF or IR?


> >I would suppose that this is not exactly how mfx works :-)
>
> It is how mfx works, the information is stored in the loco and read back
by
> the controller when the loco is put on the track.

Alan, you wrote: "That is essentially how Marklin do their new mfx loco
decoders. In their
case they use a Radio Data System chip at the controller end as the
receiver. AFAIK there are patents involved in this, so I suggest you don't
try and make it commercially ;)"

There is AFAIK no RDS chip at the controller. The controller is built around
an AVR =B5C and the naming information for the loco is stored in the eprom.
>From the "mobile station" or "central station" it is possible to change the
name (if you have two times the same loco on the tracks) and other
parameters like acceleration/decelleration curve, extra functions a.s.o. The
loco by itself tells the controller that the loco is on the rails - it's
push information, not pull.


>
> >mfx is more or less a further development of DCC done by
> >the german company Doehler & Haas, the developers of the
> >model railroad controlling system SX.
>
> Not familiar with this system, would appreciate a web link if you have
one.

Doehler & Haas is AFAIK an engineering bureau, I'm afraid I found no
webpage. There is some information about mfx system in the web but I found
only german websites.

Kind regards

Enrico

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