An overhead contact line monitoring system based on wireless sensor network technology

The rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) brings many conveniences and links many devices in everyday life. It can make the Overhead Contact System (OCS) of the high-speed electric railway for being an intelligent system. The existing overhead contact line detection system can be divided into two kinds, namely, high-speed detection and low-speed detection. A high-speed detection system uses high-speed cameras that are installed on the operating train to collect images, then the images are analyzed through the analysis room. A low-speed detection system manually measures an overhead contact line by taking a detection vehicle and using a micrometer caliper handheld device. In this paper, we propose a set of Overhead Contact Line Monitoring System (OCMS), which is an intelligent measurement system by using IoT. Under the wireless sensor network, we use an infrared rangefinder sensor to measure an overhead contact line, furthermore, to determine whether the life of an overhead contact line reaches its normal function limit. Therefore, the OCMS can accurately measure and return in real time the data which are needed by the system, and save the cost for manual detection. In addition, it can solve the limitations that can only be used to operate trains and vehicles by monitoring an overhead contact line, and can improve the reliability and safety of highspeed electric railway.