A multi-camera image processing and visualization system for train safety assessment

In this paper we present a machine vision system to efficiently monitor, analyse and present visual data acquired from a railway overhead gantry equipped with multiple cameras. This solution aims to improve the safety of daily life railway transportation in a two-fold manner: (1) by estimating multiple safety requirements using image analysis algorithms that can process large imagery of trains (2) by helping train safety operators to detect any possible malfunction on a train. The system exploits high-rate visible and thermal cameras that observe a train passing under a railway overhead gantry. The machine vision system is composed of three principal modules: (1) an automatic wagon identification system, recognizing the wagon ID according to the UIC classification of railway coaches; (2) a system for the detection and localization of the pantograph of the train; (3) a temperature monitoring system. These three machine vision modules process batch trains sequences and their resulting analysis are presented to an operator using a multitouch user interface.