Systems and methods for railway equipment control

Abstract

System, methods, and machine-readable media to facilitate monitoring and control of a railway maintenance assembly are disclosed. A railway workhead component monitor may be adapted to be disposed at a railway maintenance assembly. The railway workhead component monitor may be configured to perform one or a combination of the following. One or more conditions of at least a portion of the railway maintenance assembly may be monitored. Based at least in part on the monitoring, a plurality of monitoring data corresponding to operations of the railway maintenance assembly may be stored. Reporting data may be generated based at least in part on the stored plurality of monitoring data. A wireless communication may be transmitted toward a railway device controller that is remote from the railway maintenance assembly, the wireless communication including the reporting data.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A system comprising:
 a component monitor adapted to be disposed at a first railway maintenance assembly, the component monitor configured to perform operations comprising:   monitoring one or more conditions of at least a portion of the first railway maintenance assembly;   based at least in part on the monitoring, storing monitoring data corresponding to operations of the first railway maintenance assembly;   generating reporting data based at least in part on the stored monitoring data; and   communicating a wireless communication to a second railway maintenance assembly that is separate from the first railway maintenance assembly, the wireless communication comprising the reporting data.   
     
     
         2 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the communicating the wireless communication to the second railway maintenance assembly comprises communicating the wireless communication to a second component monitor at the second railway maintenance assembly. 
     
     
         3 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a second wireless communication from a third railway maintenance assembly; and   sending a third wireless communication to the second railway maintenance assembly, wherein the third wireless communication corresponds to the second wireless communication.   
     
     
         4 . The system as recited in  claim 3 , wherein the sending the third wireless communication corresponds to relaying the second wireless communication from the third railway maintenance assembly to second railway maintenance assembly. 
     
     
         5 . The system as recited in  claim 1 , wherein:
 the component monitor is configured to facilitate the first railway maintenance assembly being communicatively interconnected with one or more other railway maintenance assemblies of a plurality of railway maintenance assemblies;   each of the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies has a respective component monitor of a plurality of component monitors;   the plurality of component monitors facilitate a local wireless network for the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies; and   the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies comprises the first railway maintenance assembly and the second railway maintenance assembly.   
     
     
         6 . The system as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the local wireless network corresponds to a mesh network. 
     
     
         7 . The system as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies configured with the component monitors are configured to communicate according to a hierarchy. 
     
     
         8 . One or more non-transitory, machine-readable media comprising machine-readable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processing devices, causes the one or more processing devices to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 monitoring one or more conditions of at least a portion of a first railway maintenance assembly;   based at least in part on the monitoring, storing monitoring data corresponding to operations of the first railway maintenance assembly;   generating reporting data based at least in part on the stored monitoring data; and   communicating a wireless communication to a second railway maintenance assembly that is separate from the first railway maintenance assembly, the wireless communication comprising the reporting data.   
     
     
         9 . The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media as recited in  claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a second wireless communication from a third railway maintenance assembly; and   sending a third wireless communication to the second railway maintenance assembly, wherein the third wireless communication corresponds to the second wireless communication.   
     
     
         10 . The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the sending the third wireless communication corresponds to relaying the second wireless communication from the third railway maintenance assembly to second railway maintenance assembly. 
     
     
         11 . The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media as recited in  claim 8 , wherein:
 the operations further comprise facilitating the first railway maintenance assembly being communicatively interconnected with one or more other railway maintenance assemblies of a plurality of railway maintenance assemblies via a local wireless network for the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies; and   the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies comprises the first railway maintenance assembly and the second railway maintenance assembly.   
     
     
         12 . The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the local wireless network corresponds to a mesh network. 
     
     
         13 . The one or more non-transitory, machine-readable media as recited in  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies are configured to communicate according to a hierarchy. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 monitoring, via a component monitor disposed at a first railway maintenance assembly, one or more conditions of at least a portion of the first railway maintenance assembly;   based at least in part on the monitoring, storing monitoring data corresponding to operations of the first railway maintenance assembly;   generating reporting data based at least in part on the stored monitoring data; and   communicating a wireless communication to a second railway maintenance assembly that is separate from the first railway maintenance assembly, the wireless communication comprising the reporting data.   
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the communicating the wireless communication to the second railway maintenance assembly comprises communicating the wireless communication to a second component monitor at the second railway maintenance assembly. 
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a second wireless communication from a third railway maintenance assembly; and   sending a third wireless communication to the second railway maintenance assembly, wherein the third wireless communication corresponds to the second wireless communication.   
     
     
         17 . The method as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the sending the third wireless communication corresponds to relaying the second wireless communication from the third railway maintenance assembly to second railway maintenance assembly. 
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein:
 the component monitor is configured to facilitate the first railway maintenance assembly being communicatively interconnected with one or more other railway maintenance assemblies of a plurality of railway maintenance assemblies;   each of the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies has a respective component monitor of a plurality of component monitors;   the plurality of component monitors facilitate a local wireless network for the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies; and   the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies comprises the first railway maintenance assembly and the second railway maintenance assembly.   
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the local wireless network corresponds to a mesh network. 
     
     
         20 . The method as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the plurality of railway maintenance assemblies configured with the component monitors are configured to communicate according to a hierarchy.