Profile Measurement of Rails in Rolling Mills: Integrating Autonomic Computing Capabilities

Profile measuring is a key data process acquisition in the milling industry. In rail rolling mills, profile measurement systems inspect the shape of the contour of railways to assess their dimensional quality. The assessment is twofold: firstly, it can be used as feedback for shape control devices in upstream manufacturing; secondly, it can be used to check compliance with rail standards and client requirements. This paper deals with adding autonomic computing capabilities, specifically self-awareness, to a rail profile measurement system based on laser range finding to perform the following tasks: i) automatically detect changes in both the working environment and the operating conditions; and ii) warn process computers and operators of the rail rolling mill when working conditions indicate that the inspection system is about to provide incorrect measurements.