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The story below appeared in the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail on Friday, October 17, 2003. Marshall researchers use radar to check track conditionsCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Marshall University researchers have developed new techniques for using ground-penetrating radar and global positioning satellites to evaluate railroad bed conditions, giving engineers instant information about tracks. Professor Anthony Szwilski in the university's College of Information Technology and Engineering and Richard Begley with the Nick Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute have applied for patents on the techniques. Derailments are a $6.7 billion problem for the railroad industry, and 40 percent of all derailments are caused by bed failure, The State Journal reported this week. Railroad track beds have been inspected the same way for 100 years -- visually, said Cal Kent, the university's vice president for technology commercialization. The new technique uses radar to shoot electromagnetic waves into the ground to get an image of the rocks and soil underneath a track and their characteristics. That information is then fed into a computer, where it is combined with track location information from global positioning satellites. The information can then be sent to a computer on a train. Precise information on the condition of an entire set of railroad tracks can be almost instantly available to the railroad and its engineers. Ground penetrating radar has been used for decades, but Marshall researchers are using it in a different way so engineers can identify anomalies in the track in real time. The technology can help companies determine whether water is improperly draining from the track, if the bed is eroding or if a bed is shifting. The technology should be able to identify problem areas down to a few centimeters. The four-year research project was funded in part by a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. Researchers also received help from Norfolk Southern and CSX railroad companies. The group also worked closely with Marshall University's new Institute for the Development of Entrepreneurial Advances, which was created to help professors, researchers and students at the university turn innovative ideas into new business opportunities. |
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