CSA Catapult to deliver energy-efficient intelligent rail system for Network Rail as part of Innovate UK-backed consortium

Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult is collaborating with a consortium of organizations to deliver an Internet of Things (IoT) sensing platform that will enable intelligent railway monitoring.

Established by UK Government agency Innovate UK (which provides funding and support for business innovation as part of UK Research and Innovation), CSA Catapult is a not-for-profit organization (headquartered in South Wales) focused on accelerating the adoption of compound semiconductors and on bringing applications to life in three technology areas – power electronics, RF & microwave and photonics – as well as in advanced packaging. It works across the UK in a range of industry sectors from automotive to medical, and from digital communications to aerospace.

SPECTRAIL is an Innovate UK-backed project that recently won funding from the UK Department of Transport as part of a series of projects under Network Rail’s R&D program. The consortium, which also includes AP Sensing, Pyreos and Lightricity, is tasked with developing a low-cost, multi-sensor system that explores new areas of railway monitoring including track obstructions, human trespassing, track temperature changes, soil saturation and pollution levels.

The project aims to provide Network Rail with a cost-effective and energy-efficient way of collecting data to enhance a predict-and-prevent maintenance strategy, through the sensorization of track areas previously inaccessible due to lack of power, connectivity or prohibitive costs. The sensor system will tap into Network Rail’s existing fiber-optic cable network, using AP Sensing’s Distributed Acoustic/Vibration Sensing (DAS/DVS) system which ‘listens’ over a 70km range by detecting changes in light transmission caused by the acoustic disturbances on fiber cables.

The DAS/DVS will be augmented through combining the technologies of the consortium partners. CSA Catapult will integrate all the intelligent and self-sustaining sensor nodes in order to transmit sensor data through the cable network. These sensor nodes are designed to interact with the pyroelectric infrared sensors provided by Pyreos, which detect fire, temperature changes, motion and graffiti activities. The entire system will harvest energy from Lightricity’s ultra-efficient solar cells, so every part of the architecture is powered by renewable energy.

Field trials of the system will begin in 2020 at Network Rail Melton, with the objective of providing condition knowledge that allows Network Rail to detect problems like fire and trespass while enhancing line safety and security management to previously unfeasible levels.

The SPECTRAIL project “brings together unique and innovative technologies to deliver a better railway for both passengers and freight,” says CSA Catapult’s chief commercial officer Amar Abid-Ali. “This proof of concept will unlock an entirely new way of collecting and utilizing data in order to more accurately predict and detect causes of disruption to the railway, therefore enabling Network Rail to better maintain tracks and manage rail assets,” he adds. “Compound semiconductor technology will be key in enabling the fast transmission of sensor-collected data to railway network control rooms – demonstrating one of the ways in which compound semiconductors can be applied to accelerate the UK’s development of smart infrastructure systems.”

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Tags: Power electronics

Visit: www.csa.catapult.org.uk