OLED APPLICATIONS FOR DIGITAL MODEL RAILWAY SYSTEMS

The hobbies are now very important components of our lives, and model railroading is one of them. Nowadays, the realism and detailing of both model trains and scenery become more and more important. The medium-sized and big sized railway stations of the extended digital model railway systems are the most difficult to replicate, firstly because of their uniqueness (dimensions, shapes, buildings, trackwork, signals etc), then because of the multiple light boards that display the current time (using analog or digital format), the train numbers, routes, arrivals and departures, announcements, advertising etc. For a long time, these important miniature items were completely static and very rarely illuminated, but now, with the occurrence of the new LED lighting technologies, this is about to change. The authors have designed and made some digital microcontroller-driven modules with OLED miniature panels that are able to successfully replicate the above-mentioned dynamic and fully-functional light panels, which can operate either standalone or driven by the DCC signal of the present model railway system. The results are promising and yield a lot of opportunities for future development. The authors have already written a series of papers about improving other aspects of analog and digital model railroading, such as intelligent boosters, sensors, controllers, signal quality detectors, automation devices etc.