Detecting Critical Situations in Railroad Traffic through On-Board Diagnostic Systems

The paper presents an application of an on-board recording system for critical situation detection in railroad transportation. The evaluation of the state of a rail vehicle is based on the signals recorded with the use of ORD (On-Board Recording Devices) devices. The main subject of interest are critical situations that can occur when the rail vehicle is in motion. The critical situation is any situation of engine malfunctions, leaks, high vibrations, excess velocity, acceleration or inclination. The motion parameters are acquired from the GPS (Global Positioning System) device, accelerometers and gyroscopic MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) sensors. The paper also presents different applications of acceleration sensors which can be used to register vibroacoustic signals from the sensors fitted on an engine block or in other vehicle locations. The vibroacoustic signals can be used to detect the malfunctions of the engine and other vehicle devices. Eventually, a prototype of a recording device was developed. It records signals measured by an inertial module such as linear acceleration, angular acceleration and position determined by GPS sensor. The data from the GPS together with the data from the inertial module, are recorded as a text file and can be visualized by geo-information instruments.