Dynamic monitoring of mobile railway car undercarriage

Abstract

What is disclosed is a mobile railway car monitoring system. The mobile railway car monitoring system includes a plurality of sensor nodes coupled to an undercarriage portion of a railway car, and a control node coupled to the railway car. Each of the plurality of sensor nodes is configured to monitor the undercarriage portion of the railway car when in motion and transmit information about the undercarriage portion to the control node. The control node is configured to receive the information about the undercarriage portion, process the information to determine a fault condition for the undercarriage portion, and wirelessly report the fault condition to a collection system.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A mobile vehicle monitoring system, comprising:
 a plurality of sensor nodes coupled to an undercarriage portion of a vehicle;   a control node coupled to the vehicle;   wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is configured to monitor the vehicle when in motion and transmit information about the vehicle to the control node; and   wherein the control node is configured to receive the information about the vehicle, process the information by at least monitoring for patterns of deviation in the information from a population of sensors comprising each of the plurality of sensor nodes to determine a fault condition for the vehicle, and wirelessly report the fault condition to a collection system.   
     
     
         22 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is configured to wirelessly transmit the information about the vehicle to the control node. 
     
     
         23 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is magnetically coupled to the vehicle. 
     
     
         24 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein the control node is configured to process the information received from each of the plurality of sensor nodes over a period of time to determine a dynamic threshold for reporting the fault condition. 
     
     
         25 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein the control node is configured to wirelessly report the fault condition over a wireless network. 
     
     
         26 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is configured to transfer the information about the vehicle over a radio frequency identification (RFID) interface. 
     
     
         27 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein the control node is configured to wirelessly receive the information from each of the plurality of sensor nodes over a radio frequency identification (RFID) interface. 
     
     
         28 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is configured to monitor vibration of a portion of the vehicle to determine vibration information, and wherein the information comprises the vibration information. 
     
     
         29 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  1 , wherein the vehicle comprises a railway car, and the plurality of sensor nodes are coupled adjacent an undercarriage portion of the railway car. 
     
     
         30 . The mobile vehicle monitoring system of claim  9 , wherein the undercarriage portion comprises a population of wheels, and wherein the fault condition for the undercarriage portion comprises a deviation in the information for at least one wheel of the population of wheels from the information for the population of wheels. 
     
     
         31 . A method of operating a vehicle monitoring system, the method comprising:
 in each of a plurality of sensor nodes coupled to an undercarriage portion of a vehicle, monitoring the undercarriage portion of the vehicle when in motion and transmitting information about the undercarriage portion to a control node coupled to the vehicle; and   in the control node, receiving the information about the undercarriage portion, processing the information by at least monitoring for patterns of deviation in the information from a population of sensors comprising each of the plurality of sensor nodes to determine a fault condition for the undercarriage portion, and wirelessly reporting the fault condition to a collection system.   
     
     
         32 . The method of claim  11 , wherein transmitting the information about the undercarriage portion to the control node comprises, in each of the plurality of sensor nodes, wirelessly transmitting the information about the undercarriage portion to the control node. 
     
     
         33 . The method of claim  11 , wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes is magnetically coupled to the undercarriage portion of the vehicle. 
     
     
         34 . The method of claim  11 , comprising:
 in the control node, processing the information received from each of the plurality of sensor nodes over a period of time to determine a dynamic threshold for reporting the fault condition.   
     
     
         35 . The method of claim  11 , wherein wirelessly reporting the fault condition to the collection system comprises wirelessly reporting the fault condition over a wireless network. 
     
     
         36 . The method of claim  11 , wherein transmitting the information about the undercarriage portion to the control node comprises, in each of the plurality of sensor nodes, transferring the information about the undercarriage portion over a radio frequency identification (RFID) interface. 
     
     
         37 . The method of claim  11 , wherein receiving the information about the undercarriage portion comprises, in the control node, wirelessly receiving the information from each of the plurality of sensor nodes over a radio frequency identification (RFID) interface. 
     
     
         38 . The method of claim  11 , comprising:
 in each of the plurality of sensor nodes, monitoring vibration of the undercarriage portion of the vehicle to determine vibration information, wherein the information comprises the vibration information.   
     
     
         39 . The method of claim  11 , wherein the vehicle comprises a railway car. 
     
     
         40 . The method of claim  11 , wherein the undercarriage portion comprises a population of wheels, and wherein the fault condition for the undercarriage portion comprises a deviation in the information for at least one wheel of the population of wheels from the information for the population of wheels.