Executive Summary
Traditional track inspections happen twice a year. Humatics FOCUS delivers insight every day. Humatics, a Boston-based startup, developed an innovative track monitoring solution for railways that delivers daily, high-resolution track measurements. By utilizing Swift Navigation’s Skylark Precise Positioning Service, they transform standard passenger trains into data-collection hubs that gather continuous, actionable data to streamline maintenance.
The Challenge: "Going Blind" Between Inspections
Rail agencies are subject to strict regulations governing track monitoring and maintenance to ensure the safety of the railway. Risks include breaks, geometry deviation, and other physical track issues, as well as slight shifts in track geometry caused by seasonal weather patterns.
Rail agencies use specialized track geometry vehicles to measure tracks with millimeter precision to identify issues. But these vehicles are expensive to run, can impact service or consume limited maintenance windows. Additionally, they are only used periodically (sometimes as infrequently as twice a year). Rail agencies also regularly rely on “track walkers”, crews who perform regular manual visual inspections in response to customer complaints or observations from the train crew about uncomfortable movements.
This approach has several challenges:
- Efficiency: Track walkers can’t inspect hundreds of miles every day on their own – they need help prioritizing the most pressing issues. 40% of reported issues cannot be found by crews, or crews fix the wrong problem.
- Accuracy: Traditional data is often difficult to process, subjective, or up to six months old.
- Risk: Track conditions can change rapidly, creating unsafe conditions that may not be obvious through manual inspection.
The Solution: Humatics FOCUS With Skylark Nx RTK
Humatics built FOCUS to solve exactly these challenges. Humatics FOCUS enables rail agencies to monitor track conditions on an ongoing basis. A small-footprint hardware kit, including a platform computer and IMU/GPS enclosure, is installed inside the train cab and on the roof. The system is installed and operational in less than 2 hours and requires no external inputs other than DC power. Onboard sensors continuously capture inertial data, GNSS position, and speed, which FOCUS processes to provide real-time operational insights, anomaly detection, track geometry defect classification, and actionable maintenance alerts.
Humatics’ FOCUS leverages Skylark Nx RTK corrections to provide the centimeter-level positioning necessary to precisely locate track issues and accurately merge data from multiple trips, eliminating noise and bias. Skylark helps ensure that Humatics can deliver a precise view of track issues in real time; no need to wait until the next run of the track geometry vehicle to get complete, precise data.
Because railways stretch over large expanses of land, it was critical for Humatics to avoid installing and maintaining RTK base stations, which would add significant complexity and overhead to their solution. Skylark is a cloud-based RTK service that delivers corrections without the need to install local base stations. Swift’s proprietary atmospheric model enhances the performance and expands the coverage area of Skylark while minimizing physical infrastructure requirements, making Skylark a very cost-effective solution – another key requirement for Humatics.
Key Results & Value Proposition
Humatics FOCUS with Skylark Nx RTK represents a significant shift in how rail agencies monitor railways. FOCUS reduces the risk exposure window from months to minutes with a simple and cost-effective way to gain real-time precise insights. And it helps track walkers be more efficient in their manual inspections and prioritize the most pressing issues based on real data.
Outcomes for Rail Agencies:
- Continuous Actionable Insights: Real-time data from daily train trips is synthesized and analyzed to identify track issues and precisely locate each issue. These real-time insights also serve as the foundation for a predictive maintenance model, allowing teams to address issues before they escalate.
- Efficiency & Prioritization: Track walkers can more easily locate specific areas of track for inspection and prioritize issues based on analysis of severity and potential risk.
- Safety Peace of Mind: Continuous monitoring reduces the months-long “blind spot” between inspections with a track geometry vehicle.
Outcomes for Humatics:
- Ease of Use: Skylark is simple to set up and is interoperable with any standards-compliant RTK receiver.
- Expansive Coverage: Skylark Nx RTK offers broad coverage with its atmospheric model that extends baselines and ensures smooth corrections across entire railways.
- Affordable Corrections: Swift’s unique model delivers industry-leading affordability without sacrificing performance.