Sensors 2012, 12(12), 16228-16249; doi:10.3390/s121216228
Article

Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors

Antoni Broquetas 1,* email, Adolf Comerón 1 , Antoni Gelonch 1 , Josep M. Fuertes 2 email, J. Antonio Castro 3 email, Damià Felip 1 , Miguel A. López 1  and José A. Pulido 1
1 Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Nord UPC, 08034 Barcelona, Spain 2 Department of Automatic Control, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Campus Nord UPC, 08034 Barcelona, Spain 3 SENER Ingenieria y Sistemas,S.A., Provença 392, 08025 Barcelona, Spain
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 12 September 2012; in revised form: 9 November 2012 / Accepted: 13 November 2012 / Published: 23 November 2012
(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)
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Abstract: The paper presents a two-step technique for real-time track detection in single-track railway sidings using low-cost MEMS gyroscopes. The objective is to reliably know the path the train has taken in a switch, diverted or main road, immediately after the train head leaves the switch. The signal delivered by the gyroscope is first processed by an adaptive low-pass filter that rejects noise and converts the temporal turn rate data in degree/second units into spatial turn rate data in degree/meter. The conversion is based on the travelled distance taken from odometer data. The filter is implemented to achieve a speed-dependent cut-off frequency to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. Although direct comparison of the filtered turn rate signal with a predetermined threshold is possible, the paper shows that better detection performance can be achieved by processing the turn rate signal with a filter matched to the rail switch curvature parameters. Implementation aspects of the track detector have been optimized for real-time operation. The detector has been tested with both simulated data and real data acquired in railway campaigns.
Keywords: track detection; MEMS gyroscope; adaptive matched filtering; railway navigation

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Broquetas, A.; Comerón, A.; Gelonch, A.; Fuertes, J.M.; Castro, J.A.; Felip, D.; López, M.A.; Pulido, J.A. Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors. Sensors 2012, 12, 16228-16249.

AMA Style

Broquetas A, Comerón A, Gelonch A, Fuertes JM, Castro JA, Felip D, López MA, Pulido JA. Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors. Sensors. 2012; 12(12):16228-16249.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Broquetas, Antoni; Comerón, Adolf; Gelonch, Antoni; Fuertes, Josep M.; Castro, J. A.; Felip, Damià; López, Miguel A.; Pulido, José A. 2012. "Track Detection in Railway Sidings Based on MEMS Gyroscope Sensors." Sensors 12, no. 12: 16228-16249.

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