Long-Term Monitoring for Track Slab in High-Speed Rail via Vision Sensing

Abstract

Track slab deformation has become a challenging issue in high-speed rail (HSR) operation in recent years. This paper proposed a novel approach for track slab deformation monitoring based on computer vision techniques. The basic principle of visual measurement of track slab displacement is first introduced. Then the detailed process of slab displacement calculation from the on-site images is presented, including region of interest (ROI) extraction, determination of the target edge, and displacement calculation. In this process, considering the actual operation environment of in-service HSR lines, an improved Canny algorithm, which can adaptively extract the location information of the target is proposed and employed in the image processing. Based on the modular design method, an online monitoring system for the displacement of the track slab is established. The devised system is installed on an in-service HSR line for long-term slab deformation monitoring. The performance of the proposed system is verified by one-year monitoring data of slab displacement. The measurement results of the proposed system are compared with an existing linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) system, demonstrating that it can accurately report track displacement with lower cost and easier instrumentation. This research is expected to provide insights to the railway maintenance-of-way department for better management and maintenance of slab deformation, especially under high temperature. INDEX TERMS Computer vision; High-speed rail (HSR) slab track; Improved Canny algorithm; Online monitoring.

Logistics Information Traceability Mechanism of Fresh E-Commerce Based on Image Recognition Technology

“…Li et al [ 21 ] introduced a track slab monitoring system for high-speed rail (HSR). The feature extraction method is used here to identify the region of interest (ROI) and produce a feasible dataset for a monitoring system.…”

Deep learning based virtual point tracking for real-time target-less dynamic displacement measurement in railway applications

“…In the railway sector, Zhan et al [2] proposed to use high-speed line scan cameras to measure catenary geometry parameters, calibrated by a 1-D optical target. Li et al [3] used CV to monitor track slab deformation. Two optical targets were attached to the track slab to extract region of interest (RoI).…”

Application Study on Fiber Optic Monitoring and Identification of CRTS-II-Slab Ballastless Track Debonding on Viaduct

“…Structural health monitoring, supporting timely detection of damage, and exempting the interruption of the normal operation of a monitored system (e.g., track-vehicle system), has been widely applied to different civil structures [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Examples in railway engineering without the interruption of the normal operation of the train include the interval dynamic analysis of the train-bridge system [23], rail crack identification [24], wheel damage detection [21,25], and track condition monitoring [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. The studies on track condition monitoring involve track slab deformation measurement by using computer vision [33,34], dynamic strain and acceleration [27], and displacement measurement [28] by remote sensing, measurement of different parameters (such as stress and sound wave) by using wireless sensor networks [29], deformation measurement by using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors [30][31]…”