Wireless sensor networks in surface transportation
Sushanta Mohan Rakshit, Michael Hempel, Hamid Sharif · 2016
Advances in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have enabled new technologies to offer enriched reliability, seamless mobility, safety, and security in surface transportation. In rail transportation, WSNs play an important role in real-time monitoring of freight railcars to prevent major failures and derailments. However, the wireless communications among a large number of sensors onboard of a train present unique challenges due to the linear rail network topology, wireless signal interference from locomotives and railcars, and limited power sources available on freight railcars. In this presentation, we discuss a unique two-layer WSN architecture suitable for freight railroads.