JMRI Hardware Guide: RPS Sensors

Please note that JMRI's RPS support is being rapidly improved. This page refers to most recent JMRI test version. If you're using an RPS system, you should update to new test versions as they are announced.

The RPS System provides absolute location of RPS-equipped rolling stock.

JMRI can use that to set JMRI Sensors when a RPS transmitter is in a specific area, which can in turn be used to control other JMRI functions such as signals, Routes and Logix.

An RPS sensor is associated with an area bounded by a series of points and the lines between them.

Defining a Sensor

There are two ways to create an RPS Sensor and define the area on the layout that it covers.

By Coordinates

You can enter a series of coordinates that list the corners of the region to be covered. For example, the points defining a square one unit on a side are:

 (0,0,0)
 (1,0,0)
 (1,1,0)
 (0,1,0)

If you use the Sensor Table's "Add..." button to create a sensor with the system name

  RS(0,0,0);(1,0,0);(1,1,0);(0,1,0)

you'll get an RPS Sensor that shows "ACTIVE" when a transmitter is present in that area, and "INACTIVE" otherwise.

The "R" means the RPS system, "S" means you're defining a Sensor, and the rest of the name defines the coordinates of the corners of the region to include in the sensor. Each corner is specified by its X, Y and Z values, all grouped together with parantheses. The corners should be separated by semicolons; see the example above.

Once you've defined your sensor, you can use the tracking display to see if it's in the right place on your layout.

Using the Tracking Tool

(To be written, for now see the tracking display help page.)

For More Information

There's more information available on the RPS Web Site.