It is the aim of the present thesis to find out the position of model railway locomotives by means of RFID and radio transmission. Model railway locomotives read in RFID tags (13.56MHz inductive) positioned under the rails and transmit the RFID data by short range radio (868MHz)to a base station (BS unit and PC). On the basis of the data received, the PC can find out the position of the model railway. This method makes it possible to reduce expensive wiring and is cheaper than other solutions on the market today.

A locomotive unit and a base station were realized. The locomotive unit reads in the RFID data and transmits it to the base station. Furthermore, it is in a position to interpret the digital rail signals according to DCC standard from a customary control desk and to control the locomotive accordingly.

For the radio ransmission of data between the base station and the locomotive unit, a bi-directional radio protocol was established. As the amount of data can be very different because of the number of locomotives, a "random access" protocol with anti collision was implemented. Any locomotive can randomly choose a time slot in which to send its message to the base station. The base station, which coordinates the radio protocol, will then confirm to the locomotive that its message has been successfully received.

We have planned and developed the locomotive unit and the base station. We have taken all the necessary measurements which guarantee that our system meets the required parameters.