A sensor-enabled geogrid system for and method of monitoring the health, condition, and/or status of infrastructure is disclosed. In some embodiments, the sensor-enabled geogrid system includes a sensor-enabled geogrid that further includes a geogrid holding an arrangement of one or more sensors. The sensor-enabled geogrid system further includes a communication means or network for collecting information and/or data from the sensor enabled geogrid about the health, condition, and/or status of infrastructure. Further, a method of using the presently disclosed sensor-enabled geogrid system for monitoring the health, condition, and/or status of infrastructure is provided.

A system and method for strategic track and maintenance planning (STAMP) that can provide an organizational and adaptive infrastructure configured to facilitate railroad asset management and capital planning is presented. The system can provide a railroad asset inspector with relevant data for an assigned inspection segment. Location-based functionality can acquire a device's precise location and provide only the data necessary for the inspection of a particular railroad asset by providing step-by-step input prompting based upon the device location. The system provides adaptive thresholding of asset-related criteria to determine whether and when asset maintenance should occur. The system can acquire inspection data for one or more railroad assets, apply a data optimization algorithm to the inspection data, analyze railroad asset-related data (including historical data), and generate an optimized capital plan with a schedule for railroad asset maintenance and replacement.

A method for locating railroad components along a railroad track including obtaining a guidance plan and obtaining inspection data. The guidance plan includes an identity of each of a plurality of assets, the identity including previous features of the assets. The assets may be railroad components. The inspection data includes current features of a plurality of railroad components along the railroad track. The method includes using one or more processors, comparing and correlating the current features of the plurality of railroad components with the previous features of the assets to determine which of the plurality of railroad components corresponds with the plurality of assets.

A system for analyzing thermal properties of a railroad includes a thermal imaging device configured to generate thermal image data reproducible as a thermal image of a portion of the railroad, the thermal image data being associated with a location of the portion of the railroad, an electronic display device, a memory device configured to receive and store therein the generated thermal image data; and one or more processors configured to: determine a temperature metric of the portion of the railroad based at least in part on the thermal image data; and cause the electronic display device to display (i) a first graph indicative of the temperature metric of the portion of the railroad and (ii) a second graph indicative of a railroad track geometry metric associated with the location of the portion of the railroad.

In order to locate points or lines of interest (A, B, C, D, A′, B′, C′, D′, 162, 163, 164) of a railway track (22), by means of a railway locating system (12), progressing on the railway track (22), a linear camera (26) pointing at the railway track (22) repeatedly acquires instantaneous linear optical data along an instantaneous measurement line (50), and an orientation device (52) of the railway locating system (12) repeatedly acquires orientation data of the railway locating system (12) with respect to a reference line (22A) of the railway track (22). By processing at least the instantaneous linear optical data, a potentially distorted bitmap image is constructed of a zone of the surface of the railway track (22), then points or lines of interest (A, B, C, D, A′, B′, C′, D′, 162, 163, 164) are identified in the potentially distorted bitmap image, before determining rectified coordinates of the points or lines of interest (A, B, C, D, A′, B′, C′, D′, 162, 163, 164), as a function of potentially distorted coordinates of the points or lines of interest (A, B, C, D, A′, B′, C′, D′, 162, 163, 164) in a reference system of the potentially distorted bitmap image and orientation data.

An End-of-Train device, a system and a method for signaling events through a visibility marker is provided. The method includes identifying an illumination pattern generated by the visibility marker associated with an End-of-Train device on a leading train, wherein the illumination pattern is identified based on output of one or more secondary sensors on the follower train, and wherein the illumination pattern is indicative of an event affecting an operation of the leading train. Based on the identified illumination pattern one or more instructions to be executed are determined. Further, the one or more instructions are executed for signalling events through the visibility marker associated with the follower train.

A device 10 for a track bound monitoring system for monitoring conditions on a railway track 28 comprising a first rail 26 and a second rail 30 comprises a signal generation unit 12 having an output 13. The signal generation unit is configured to generate an electrical monitoring signal having a monitoring signal characteristic. The output is connectable to at least one of the first rail and the second rail. A sensing unit 16 has an input 17 which is connectable to at least one of the rails. A controller 20 is connected to the generation unit and the sensing unit and is configured to cause the generation unit to generate the monitoring signal which propagates in the first rail and to receive from the sensing unit a return signal. The return signal is derived from the monitoring signal and has a return signal characteristic. The controller is configured to utilize a time difference between the monitoring signal characteristic and the return signal characteristic to monitor conditions on the railway track.

In order to position a set of one or more tools supported by a railway intervention vehicle progressing on a railway track, data is received characterising a curvilinear abscissa of a spatial indexation marker, a positioning of the spatial indexation marker with respect to a reference line of the railway track, and coordinates of points or lines of interest in a two-dimensional reference system. Transposition matrix cameras acquire transposition bitmap images in a spatial reference system of the transposition system. An odometer acquires progression data of the transposition system. Then the spatial indexation marker is identified as a function of the progression data and curvilinear abscissa data, to determine data characteristic of the spatial indexation marker and the reference line in the spatial reference system of the transposition chassis, and to calculate transposed coordinates of the points or lines of interest.

A system includes a route examining system and an off-board failsafe controller. The route examining system is configured to examine a route on which a first vehicle system is moving and to generate an inspection signal based on the route examination. The inspection signal indicates a status of a segment of the route as damaged or undamaged. The off-board failsafe controller is configured to receive the inspection signal from the route examining system. Responsive to a lack of receipt of the inspection signal within a designated time period which indicates communication loss with the route examining system, the failsafe controller is configured to generate a warning signal for communication to a second vehicle system. The warning signal is generated to direct the second vehicle system to (i) avoid traveling over the route segment or (ii) travel over the route segment or another route segment at a reduced speed.

A railroad infrastructure communication network is presented. The network can include a plurality of infrastructure nodes distributed proximate a railroad track, such as near railroad equipment and/or assets. Infrastructure nodes can be configured to receive data from equipment sensor and/or assets and transmit such data via the network. Infrastructure nodes can further generate alert and/or alert packets based on such received data. Infrastructure nodes can self-define in a network infrastructure depending on configured connection types, and can for example, serve as repeater nodes (to promulgate a transmission to additional infrastructure nodes) and/or collector nodes (to collect data for a centralized server node). A server node can be configured to receive data and/or packet from infrastructure nodes and generate requests for additional systems, personnel, etc. to address such requests. The network can limit the data transmission size and leverage distributed processing capabilities.