Sensonic

Monitoring Railway Infrastructure

Listening to Railways

We enable transition to a more digital railway, turning standard optical fibres into sensitive vibration sensors gathering data along the length of the railway. Using digital twins, AI, and machine learning, railway data is turned into a multitude of insights, including track condition monitoring, landslide and rockfall detection, security surveillance and more.

The insights Sensonic provide enables better decisions for a safer and more efficient railway.

One Technology – Multiple Insights

Using the simplicity of a single optical fiber combined with the power of advanced sensing, algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence, multiple railway insights are revealed by listening railway vibrations.

A single common hardware platform supports all insight applications, so railways can implement one or many applications to fit their needs both now and in the future.

Insights Available

Landslide / Rockfall detection
Security monitoring (trespass / digging / cable events)
Catenary flashover location
Track condition monitoring

Find more on these below or contact us for more information.

Landslide and Rockfall Monitoring

Our natural hazard detection system warns railways in near-real-time of potential landslides or rockfalls along their route. This supports operators to take action to:

Avoid accidents
Maintain safety of staff and passengers
Prevent further damage to infrastructure and rollingstock
Precisely locate the issue for inspection/repair

Unlike traditional discrete point sensors that only detect local disturbances around each sensor, the Sensonic solution listens to every metre of fiber laid along the track delivering detection along the entire route. One sensing unit can monitor up to 80km of track.

Security Monitoring

The Sensonic security solution monitors entire routes covertly for activities that may pose a threat to railway security. These include human footsteps (trespass), ground digging, or cable events from the vibrations they make detected by fiber optic cables alongside the track. It provides both real-time actionable alerts, together with recording event history to allow effective risk profiling and planning of preventative security measures.

24/7 Surveillance of railway routes
Covert and difficult to evade
Sensor-free monitoring of long distances
Proven performance for linear and remote assets

Whether looking to tackle trespass or curb cable theft, the power yet simplicity of listening for intrusion using hidden and passive sensing delivers simple to roll out security for difficult to defend rail assets.

Catenary Flashover Location

We detect the location of a flashover fault to enable appropriate inspections and repairs to be carried out. No longer to teams have to manually inspect entire route sections looking for tell-tale damage.

Find flashover faults quickly
Get lines re-energised faster
Reduce disruption
Improve worker safety / reduce time on track
Avoid “no fault found” inspections

Flashover events are often brief, but potentially damaging to the catenary system. To deliver the highest levels of availability and reliability, we must quickly recover service yet not miss opportunities to recognise and repair damage caused. Accurate location information for flashover events provides the most efficient way to tackle both challenges.

Track Condition Monitoring

The Sensonic Track Condition Monitoring (TCM) application delivers railway operators and maintenance teams improves insight into the changing condition of their track assets. Vibration data from passing trains is gathered by lineside fiber optic cables to track performance changes.

Identify emerging faults quickly – every train generates data
Combine current and historical performance to trend and forecast performance
Optimise and prioritise maintenance activities

We listen to the vibration signature of track under every passing train to generate a digital SonicTwin® of the track asset. We use heat-maps to highlight areas of change and determine trends to enable more efficient track maintenance strategies.