An end of train device (100) suitable of use on a railway vehicle includes an enclosure (110), one or more accelerometers (180) positioned inside the enclosure (110) and providing accelerometer data of a railway vehicle (230) when travelling on a railway track (240), and a tracking device (185) positioned inside the enclosure (110) and providing location data, wherein the accelerometer data and location data are analyzed to determine a condition of the railway track (240). Further, a track monitoring system (200) and a method (300) for continuous monitoring of railway tracks (240) are provided.

A method operates a positioning device which has at least one waveguide laid along a route for positioning a track-bound vehicle on the route. Accordingly, the method proceeds in such a way that measurement data related to the track-bound vehicle are captured by a route-side sensor device. An electromagnetic pulse is fed into the waveguide and a backscatter pattern produced by backscattering of the electromagnetic pulse is detected and is subjected to an evaluation. A vehicle-specific characteristic value determined in the evaluation is verified on the basis of the captured measurement data and, if the verification of the at least one vehicle-specific characteristic value is successful, a positioning signal based on the evaluation of the at least one backscatter pattern and indicating the position of the track-bound vehicle is provided by the positioning device.

This invention utilizes sensing technologies in combination with or in isolation of an automated inspection vehicle to conduct inspections of internal rail flaws in steel railroad track. A vehicle equipped with X-radiation sensing is used as a secondary method to assess the deviations in magnetic fields that are sensed by a primary sensor consisting of a single or multiple magnetometers. The magnetometers sense changes in magnetic field that are correlated to the flaws inside the steel rail. The technologies improve the probability to detect railroad flaws and offer the ability to accurately track and monitor flaws.

A system for analyzing a railroad track comprises a transport device, a camera coupled to the transport device, an electronic display device, a memory device, and one or more processors. The camera is disposed adjacent to a rail of the railroad track and generates image data reproducible as one or more images of at least a portion of a surface of the rail. The processors can produce an image of the rail surface, which includes a plurality of elongated portions. The image is analyzed to identify any defects that exist within each elongated portion of the rail surface. The processors determine a value of a metric for each elongated portion of the rail surface. The metric is associated with the identified defects. The electronic display device displays a graph indicative of the metric for each elongated portion, the image of the rail surface, or both.

Methods and systems for monitoring and detecting various events or anomalies of interest on or along an object of interest, such as a transportation path, road, or railway, are presented. Data regarding the detected events can be collected near its source and transmitted to a data collection or processing object for analysis or storage. These events may include, but not limited to, rock falls, wheel or tire flat spots, or other acoustic or vibration generating events at or near the object of interest.

A method includes obtaining one or more images of a segment of a route from a camera while a vehicle is moving along the route. The segment of the route includes one or more guide lanes. The method also includes comparing, with one or more computer processors, the one or more images of the segment of the route with a benchmark visual profile of the route based at least in part on an overlay of the one or more images onto the benchmark visual profile or an overlay of the benchmark visual profile onto the one or more images. The one or more processors identify a misaligned segment of the route based on one or more differences between the one or more images and the benchmark visual profile and respond to the identification of the misaligned segment of the route by modifying an operating parameter of the vehicle.

In one embodiment, a method includes capturing, by a machine vision device, an image of an object in a railway environment. The machine vision device is attached to a first train car that is moving in a first direction along a first railroad track of the railway environment. The method also includes analyzing, by the machine vision device, the image of the object using one or more machine vision algorithms to determine a value associated with the object. The method further includes determining, by the machine vision device, that the value associated with the object indicates a potential deficiency of the object and communicating, by the machine vision device, an alert to a component external to the first train car. The alert comprises an indication of the potential deficiency of the object.

A system for monitoring a wheel-rail contact force, the system providing a measuring unit for measuring a vertical acceleration of a wheel being connected to a bogie. The wheel is configured to run on a rail. The system includes a calculation unit for simulating a wheel-rail interaction using the measured vertical acceleration and for calculating a wheel-rail contact force based on the simulated wheel-rail interaction. Also, a method for the same.

A monitoring method and system monitor a transmitted current that is injected into conductive components of a route traveled by vehicle systems, monitor a received current that represents a portion of the transmitted current that is conducted through the conductive components of the route, examine changes in the transmitted and/or received current over time to determine when the vehicle systems are on the route between a first location where the transmitted current is injected into the conductive components and a second location where the received current is monitored, and examine the changes in the transmitted and/or received currents. The changes are examined to identify (a) a contaminated portion of a surface on which the route is disposed, (b) a foreign object other than the vehicle systems that is contacting the route, and/or (c) a damaged or broken portion of at least one of the conductive components of the route.

The method and device to ensure the safety of people's life and health is based on the measurements of an intensity of spontaneous electromagnetic radiation caused by a deformation from a structure or a device, a nucleation and a growth of plant cells and living organisms; calculating an energy stored in a portion of a structure or cells based on the measured intensity; performing a comparison of the energy stored in the portion of the structure with a critical value for the structure and pathological changes in the cells; and indicate a potential failure of the structure or the level of pathological changes based on the performed comparison.