Development of Compact Size Onboard Device for Condition Monitoring of Railway Tracks

This paper summarizes a new development of a compact size onboard device for condition monitoring of railway tracks followed by a former development of a portable onboard device. Track irregularities are estimated from a vertical and lateral acceleration and roll rate of a car body. Rail corrugation is detected from cabin noise with spectral peak calculation. A GPS system and a map-matching algorithm are used to pinpoint the location of faults on tracks. The device is driven by Li-ion battery for 6 hours or outside power source. Accelerometers, rate gyroscope and GPS were redesigned to give higher performance. One can add a microphone outside if a condition monitoring of rail corrugation is necessary. Collected data are usually kept in an inside un-volatility memory (SSD) or a SD card. Communication unit transfers the collected data to a data server via cellular phone. The compact size onboard devices provide regular monitoring of tracks for sustaining railway system with securing safety.