NUMBERCheck - Rail Gate

NUMBERCheck identifies UIC numbers, container numbers. Dangerous goods numbers etc. on passenger and freight wagons as well as locomotives with intelligent image recognition. Basic module for efficient yard management

With NUMBERCheck - Rail Gate a fully automated recording and registration of trains and wagons and their loading units at entrances and exits to closed infrastructure areas takes place.

The camera-based number recognition enables the recording of all wagon movements and wagon downtimes and provides the operators (e.g. bi- or trimodal terminals, transhipment stations, port railways, industrial plants, etc.) with all relevant data in order to accelerate and optimise logistical processes.

Video and image data are used to document the condition of the wagons and thus provide conclusive evidence of the condition when entering or leaving the railway area, in order to settle claims for damages, for example. At the same time, NUMBERCheck is an important component for effective Wayside Train Monitoring. Based on our image analysis, the UIC number can be assigned to correspondingly detected wagons via interfaces to other measuring systems (e.g. flat spot detection, hotbox location, freight car scales measuring systems, etc.). In this way, damages can be detected in an early stage and maintenance or repair work can be planned.

Each system has wheel sensors which are used to determine the wheel signature of a wagon. In addition, the direction of travel, speed, number of axles and number of wagons are determined. With further wheel sensors in the field, e.g. after each switch, the once known and unique wheel signature of a wagon can be traced, so that the respective track, on which a certain wagon with a known UIC number is located, is known.

ASE works with high-quality video cameras. The LED lighting, which is precisely matched to the cameras, is only activated during transit and is considered glare-free for the locomotive driver and train occupants. The combination of high-quality hardware components and our highly efficient OCR algorithm demonstrably enables first-class detection rates (>95%).

All relevant train data are recorded in a central database and made available to a higher-level software via XML interface. In parallel, a database is maintained in the NUMBERCheck system, in which the transit data is also stored for a limited period of time. This database can be viewed on a workstation PC via the GUI.

The construction of such a system is possible in several versions:

• Integration of the sensor components in a vandal-resistant steel column
• Mounting of the sensor components on a lattice mast / steel portal
• Mounting of the sensor components on steel masts

With this system, ASE offers another milestone in the digitization of logistics processes.