Rail Break / Defect Detection
Immediate detection of rail breaks within 5 m accuracy
Monitoring solution
Distributed sensing for road and rail infrastructure.
Distributed acoustic and strain sensing for railway, roadway, metro, and tunnel infrastructure monitoring.
The engineering question
What must be observed before failure becomes visible?
Railway and roadway networks are the lifelines of modern transportation, operating under continuous dynamic loading from high-speed trains, heavy trucks, and extreme weather. Rail defects, track bed degradation, and tunnel structural fatigue develop progressively but can lead to catastrophic failures if not detected early. Current inspection methods — visual patrols and periodic track geometry cars — leave long gaps between inspections during which defects can propagate.
Road and tunnel infrastructure faces similar challenges: pavement degradation, joint failure, and structural deformation that compromise safety and increase maintenance costs. The transportation sector needs a continuous, automated monitoring solution that provides real-time condition data across hundreds of kilometers, enabling predictive maintenance and preventing service disruptions.
Monitoring boundary
Define the quantity, coverage and required response first.
uwDAS distributed acoustic sensing
Track Bed Settlement
Continuous longitudinal profile with sub-mm precision
Wheel / Bearing Fault
Acoustic signature analysis for rolling stock health
Tunnel Structural Strain
Distributed strain monitoring along tunnel lining
Pavement / Joint Condition
Crack and joint displacement tracking
Train Positioning / Speed
Real-time train tracking without trackside electronics
Sensing chain
Treat sensing, interrogation and interpretation as one system.
The transportation monitoring system deploys uwDAS fiber along railway tracks, tunnel linings, and roadway critical zones. For rail applications, the fiber is attached to the rail web or buried in the track bed, converting every kilometer of fiber into thousands of virtual acoustic sensors that detect rail breaks, wheel defects, and train positioning. UW-FBG strain cables monitor tunnel structural health and track bed settlement. All signals converge at the RS-series interrogator, and the Ray-Sensor platform provides real-time dashboards, acoustic event classification, predictive alerts, and automated reporting for transportation authorities.
Field placement
Translate the monitoring question into a placement plan.
- 01
uwDAS sensing fiber attached to rail web along mainline tracks (up to 50 km per interrogator)
- 02
UW-FBG settlement monitoring arrays at track transition zones and bridge approaches
- 03
UW-FBG strain cables embedded in tunnel linings at 0.5 m intervals for continuous profiling
- 04
uwDAS fiber installed in roadway pavement for traffic monitoring and structural health
- 05
RS-DAS/DSS multi-channel interrogator housed in trackside or roadside equipment cabinets
- 06
Ray-Sensor platform with automated acoustic event classification and alert system
- 07
Integration with railway signaling and traffic management systems for coordinated response
Engineering record
What continuous measurements make visible.
- Continuous rail integrity monitoring — detects breaks within seconds, not days
- Full corridor coverage from a single interrogator — no trackside electronics needed
- Real-time train tracking and wheel condition monitoring without on-board equipment
- Predictive maintenance enabling optimized track work scheduling and reduced disruptions
- Tunnel structural health data for proactive reinforcement before critical damage
- Intrinsically safe, EMI-immune fiber sensors ideal for electrified rail environments
Field evidence
Related monitoring contexts.
Define the monitoring boundary
Start with the asset, failure mode and required coverage.
These inputs determine the sensing layout more reliably than choosing an instrument first.