This paper presents a method to provide continuous real-time condition monitoring of track health on an autonomous rail system. We use stretchable capacitive sensors installed on rolling stock (train carriages). The capacitive sensor was stretched between two points of the train with relative motion during operation, for instance, the current collector device (or shoe). Any change in relative motion signals, picked up by the capacitance change of the sensor, would indicate operational anomaly. We use our sensor to detect and differentiate between localized track wear, track misalignment and abnormal impact force. For train systems with a rigid legacy of train location detection systems, we propose a system of RFID transmitters and receivers to be lined at regular intervals along the train track and to be mounted on the train carriage, respectively. We propose a strategy to enhance the sensitivity of the capacitive sensor, and adopt Butterworth or wavelet for signal processing.

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Adrian Koh, "Stretchable sensors for real-time condition monitoring of railway tracks (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 10969, Nano-, Bio-, Info-Tech Sensors and 3D Systems III, 109690B (Presented at SPIE Smart Structures + Nondestructive Evaluation: March 04, 2019; Published: 29 March 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2514178.6020106642001.