Composite real-time image processing for railways track profile measurement

Checking railway status is critical to guarantee high operating safety, proper maintenance schedule, low maintenance and operating costs. This operation consists of the analysis of the rail profile and level as well as overall geometry and undulation. Traditional detection systems are based on mechanical devices in contact with the track. Innovative approaches are based on laser scanning and image analysis. This paper presents an efficient composite technique for track profile extraction with real-time image processing. High throughput is obtained by algorithmic pre-filtering to restrict the image area containing the track profile, while high accuracy is achieved by neural reconstruction of the profile itself.