A deployable vehicle for an instrumented rail system includes a first locomotion module having a first mobility assembly configured to engage a first rail, a second locomotion module having a second mobility assembly configured to engage a second rail, an adjustable frame extendable between the first and second locomotion modules by a distance corresponding to the distance between the first and second rails, and a sensor module removably attachable to the frame. The sensor module includes a sensor suite having a plurality of sensors for gathering data while the vehicle is deployed. The sensor module includes a communications module having a first radio configured to enable the vehicle to establish at least a first communication link with a remotely located mobile base station, and a second radio configured to establish a second communication link with the remotely located mobile base station.

An inspection system for inspecting the track of an amusement ride with at least one rail. A vehicle is provided that is designed to ride along the track. The vehicle supports cameras. The cameras are positioned in unobstructed areas. The cameras image the rail from different angles as the vehicle rides along the track. The images recorded by the cameras are reviewed to identify any defect or issue with the rail or its supporting framework that may impact from the safety of the ride.

Techniques are disclosed for detecting and reporting railroad track anomalies. In one embodiment, a track inspection application is configured to receive images (or other sensor data) depicting a railroad track captured by cameras mounted on a train, compare the captured images with corresponding reference images (or other sensor data) captured from substantially the same locations and vantage points, and detect anomalies in the railroad track represented by differences between the captured images and corresponding reference images. In another embodiment, the inspection application may generate a three-dimensional (3D) model of the railroad track based on depths determined through, e.g., triangulation, and determine the railroad track's geometry from the 3D model. The inspection application may then detect anomalies associated with the track geometry, such as an incorrect distance between track rails or an incorrect overall location of the track, based on differences between the determined track geometry and a stored track geometry.

A railroad track inspection system has multiple track scanning sensors, a data store, and a scan data processor. The scan data processor provides automatic analysis of the track scan data to detect track components within the scan data from a predetermined list of component types according to features identified in said scan data. The track scanning sensors, data store and scan data processor are attached to a common support structure for mounting the system to a railway vehicle in use. An inertia sensor and common master clock are used to make corrections to the output of the track scanning sensors to accommodate dynamic forces in use. The inspection system may be provided in a single housing for mounting to a conventional passenger/freight rail vehicles and may operate automatically in an unattended mode. The location of track components and/or defects may be logged.

A monitoring system includes optical sensors disposed on one or more fiber optic waveguides. Each optical sensor is spaced apart from other optical sensors and is disposed at a location along a route defined by a transportation structure that supports a moveable conveyance. The plurality of optical sensors are mechanically coupled to one or both of the transportation structure and the moveable conveyance. Each optical sensor provides an optical output signal responsive to vibrational emissions of one or both of the transportation structure and the conveyance. The monitoring system includes a detector unit configured to convert optical output signals from the optical sensors to electrical signals. A data acquisition controller synchronizes recordation of the electrical signals with movement of the conveyance.

Provided are methods for measuring forces exerted on rails or such like as a cause of the transit of vehicles on said rails, for determining the values of different parameters, and for calculating coefficients or other variables. Also provided are systems of devices that allow for the taking of values and for the recording, processing, and sampling of the resulting information based on measurement methods that allow directly measuring the lateral force, in a more simplified manner of installation resulting in lower cost in sensors and with greater precision based on the configuration of said sensors and their individual valuation.

The present disclosure generally relates to automated detection of railroad track features. Images of a railroad track are captured and analyzed to identify track features such as anchors, spikes, rail ties, tie plates, and joints. Various image processing techniques are utilized to accurately distinguish between track features and other objects in the captured images. Track features identified in the images are assigned identifiers and locations and stored in a database so that a status and/or condition of the track features may be monitored for maintenance purposes.

A system for railroad directive management is presented. The system can receive a myriad of data related to a directive, track segments, and/or vehicle events on the track and/or track segments. Vehicle- and/or event-specific data can be compared with one or more thresholds, including force thresholds, temporal thresholds, environmental thresholds, and/or event thresholds to determine whether and what kind of directive modification should be instantiated. Specialized algorithms can be implemented to trace vehicle paths along the track to determine whether directive-related segments are traversed, and specialized clustering algorithms can be utilized to cluster data unique to a particular segment on a per-segment basis. The system can be integrated with existing track infrastructure and can further generate alerts to notify coupled systems and/or personnel of directives and/or modification thereof.

A method and system for inspecting a rail by guided waves, the rail being instrumented by sensors. The method comprises the steps of receiving elastic wave measurements from one or more sensors, as a train passes, releasing energy as guided waves into the rail; and of determining a function representative of the impulse response of the rail and the sensors. Developments describe how to determine the existence, position and characterisation of a defect in the rail (e.g. fracture, incipient fracture, etc.), the use of inter-correlation analyses, correlation of the coda of correlations, Passive Inverse Filter, imaging techniques. Other aspects are described for exploring rail defects: sensor position and movement, acquisition time, sampling frequency, frequency filters, amplifications, techniques for learning during successive train passes, signal injection by transducers. Software aspects are described.

The present application involves a railroad track asset surveying system comprising an image capture sensor, a location determining system, and an image processor. The image capture sensor is mounted to a railroad vehicle. The location determining system holds images captured by the image capture sensor. The image processor includes an asset classifier and an asset status analyzer. The asset classifier detects an asset in one or more captured images and classifies the detected asset by assigning an asset type to the detected asset from a predetermined list of asset types according to one or more features in the captured image. The asset status analyzer identifies an asset status characteristic and compares the identified status characteristic to a predetermined asset characteristic so as to evaluate a deviation therefrom.