Train Monitoring System
Company: FanKavan Aral
Period: 2015-2016
Type: Industrial R&D
Problem
Iran Railways needed a way to monitor ride comfort and wheelset health in real time, without taking trains out of service. Existing diagnostic procedures required scheduled inspections at maintenance depots, meaning problems could go undetected between visits.
What I Built
A portable data logger that mounts directly on the bogie and continuously records:
- Vertical and axial acceleration (ride comfort and track quality indicators)
- Wheelset temperature (bearing health indicator)
- Real-time transmission to a central control center
What Was Novel
The system was designed to be self-contained and portable, unlike fixed monitoring installations. It could be moved between trains and bogies without modification, enabling fleet-wide diagnostics with a small number of units. The onboard processing filtered and compressed sensor data before transmission, allowing real-time monitoring over low-bandwidth railway communication links.
Impact
- Reduced diagnostic times by 80% compared to depot-based inspection
- Improved safety compliance through continuous monitoring
- Enabled predictive maintenance by identifying degradation trends before failure