Abstract

In this paper, we present preliminary results on the development of smart technology solutions for lower density"br" railway lines. The goal is to reach a cost effective inspection and asset management to minimize maintenance"br" interventions time/cost without dedicated inspection vehicles. The proposed methods include axle box"br" acceleration measurements and ultra-low cost smartphones. The collected data will be further used to increase"br" knowledge of the condition of the railway track and to estimate the comfort of passengers. In order to make use"br" of the data, the data is interpreted and converted from monitoring information into management information."br" Feasibility and preliminary studies were conducted in the railway lines of Romania. The results presented in this"br" paper were obtained in the framework of the H2020 project NeTIRail-INFRA, Work Package 4: Monitoring and"br" Smart Technology.

Abstract

Since GPS has been made available for civil usage, satellite-based localization in open space has become a more and more common option for vehicular tracking and for a number of commercial applications. The accuracy of the localization results and the availability of the localization system are influenced by several factors, such as the characteristics of the devices used, the surrounding environment, and the distance from reference stations. The possibility of exploiting off-the-shelf GPS devices, in the contest of a composite multi-sensor localization, is currently being investigated within the framework of the ALARP project [9] , where it is required to accurately localize workers in railway worksites. This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign aimed at determining if, and under which conditions, low-cost GPS devices can be used in such a scenario. The evaluation is performed comparing data from low-cost GPS devices to data collected using a highly accurate reference system. The analysis permits to assess the feasibility of two different, very popular, commercial GPS devices for the ALARP requirements on localization.