Monitoring System for Railway Infrastructure Elements Based on Thermal Imaging Analysis

Abstract

The safety and reliability of railway transport requires new solutions for monitoring and quick identification of faults in the railway infrastructure. Electric heating devices (EORs) are the crucial element of turnouts. EORs ensure heating during low temperature periods when ice or snow can lock the turnout device. Thermal imaging is a response to the need for an EOR inspection tool. After processing, a thermogram is a great support for the manual inspection of an EOR, or the thermogram can be the input for a machine learning algorithm. In this article, the authors review the literature in terms of thermographic analysis and its applications for detecting railroad damage, analysing images through machine learning, and improving railway traffic safety. The EOR device, its components, and technical parameters are discussed, as well as inspection and maintenance requirements. On this base, the authors present the concept of using thermographic imaging to detect EOR failures and malfunctions using a practical example, as well as the concept of using machine learning mechanisms to automatically analyse thermograms. The authors show that the proposed method of analysis can be an effective tool for examining EOR status and that it can be included in the official EOR inspection calendar.

Neural network‐based optical flow versus traditional optical flow techniques with thermal aerial imaging in real‐world settings

“…Beside being utilized for navigation, thermal sensor has been used in agriculture to monitor crops (Speth et al, 2022), infrastructure monitoring (Chokkalingham et al, 2012; Fuentes et al, 2021; Stypułkowski et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2018), objects detection and tracking (Leira et al, 2021; Liu, Li, et al, 2020; Liu et al, 2017, 2022).…”

“…There are many reasons why it is more difficult to test a sensor suite designed for night, including higher cost for thermal sensors, the difficulty to operate the aircraft after dark due to regulation restriction and challenges of launching and recovering small aircraft at night. Beside being utilized for navigation, thermal sensor has been used in agriculture to monitor crops (Speth et al, 2022), infrastructure monitoring (Chokkalingham et al, 2012;Fuentes et al, 2021;Stypułkowski et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2018), objects detection and tracking (Leira et al, 2021;Liu, Li, et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2017Liu et al, , 2022.…”

Sparse Optical Flow Implementation Using a Neural Network for Low-Resolution Thermal Aerial Imaging

“…Beside being studied for autonomous navigation, thermal imaging has been used to monitor railway infrastructure [ 36 ], monitor crops [ 37 , 38 , 39 ], driver monitoring [ 40 ], face recognition [ 41 ], vital sign extraction [ 42 ] and for COVID-19 detection [ 43 , 44 ] just to name a few.…”

The Issue of Operating Security Systems in Terms of the Impact of Electromagnetic Interference Generated Unintentionally

“…They are located in a special, structurally reinforced metal container and are protected against the action of external and internal destructive factors. ESS elements can also be found inside buildings and in a publicly available external environment, where they are exposed to variable environmental parameters-temperature [6], humidity, etc., as well as the unintentional low-frequency electromagnetic field generated by medium voltage-15, 30 kV-power lines. These lines are a supply source for the aforementioned systems (Figure 1) [7].…”