This paper presents a communication network architecture aimed at supporting the operation of autonomous rail vehicles. The implicit dynamism of this application imposes the design of special mechanisms to guarantee real-time and fault-tolerant data communication, even when logical networks are dynamically created, destroyed or reconfigured. To cope with this requirement, a new protocol is used to build up dynamic communication channels, which are mapped in a hierarchical physical network. The propulsion of the vehicles is based on linear motors placed along the rail track and, for this reason, the cars must not only communicate with each other, but also with the linear motors they are passing by.
