High-Speed Rail IDEA Program Machine Vision for Railroad Equipment Undercarriage Inspection Using Multi-Spectral Imaging

This investigation was performed as part of the High-Speed Rail IDEA program supports innovative methods and technology in support of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) next-generation high-speed rail technology development program. The High-Speed Rail IDEA program is one of four IDEA programs managed by TRB. The other IDEA programs are listed below. • NCHRP Highway IDEA focuses on advances in the design, construction, safety, and maintenance of highway systems, is part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. • Transit IDEA focuses on development and testing of innovative concepts and methods for improving transit practice. The Transit IDEA Program is part of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, a cooperative effort of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Transit Development Corporation, a nonprofit educational and research organization of the American Public Transportation Association. The program is funded by the FTA and is managed by TRB. • Safety IDEA focuses on innovative approaches to improving motor carrier, railroad, and highway safety. The program is supported by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the FRA. Management of the four IDEA programs is integrated to promote the development and testing of nontraditional and innovative concepts, methods, and technologies for surface transportation. The project that is the subject of this contractor-authored report was a part of the Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Programs, which are managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the oversight committee that monitored the project and reviewed the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The views expressed in this report are those of the contractor who conducted the investigation documented in this report and do not necessarily reflect those of the Transportation organizations that sponsor the IDEA Programs do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the investigation. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research team would like to thank Amtrak and the Monticello Railway Museum for their willingness to let us use their facilities for testing of our image acquisition system. We are especially grateful for the help, time, and knowledge we received from Amtrak; specifically, Paul Steets from Wilmington, John Raila and Sarabpreet Bumra from Chicago, and Dale Kay from Beech Grove have greatly helped in this research. Gavin Horn …