DE3504013

A device for positioning several units that can be moved adjacent to and at a constant distance from one another, each unit having a distance-traveled detector associated with its drive mechanism and the device as a whole having central controls that emit a reference value. To provide a positioning device that will operate effectively with a minimum of control lines between each unit and the central controls, each unit has a separate computer to control its drive mechanism, each computer is equipped, as are the central controls, which also have an overall computer, to emit a series of coded blocks of information for each unit, and each of the computers associated with the units is equipped to intercept, process, and forward the blocks of information and to actualize the information pertaining to the position of its own unit.