초록 ▼

In one embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for detecting a hot rail car surface comprises: an infrared sensor for acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car and transducing the infrared signal into an electrical signal; a rank filter for filtering the electrical

In one embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for detecting a hot rail car surface comprises: an infrared sensor for acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car and transducing the infrared signal into an electrical signal; a rank filter for filtering the electrical signal to produce a filtered array; a first peak detector for detecting a maximum filtered value of the filtered array; and a first comparator for comparing the maximum filtered value to a detection threshold to produce a filtered alarm signal.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An apparatus for detecting a hot rail car surface comprising:an infrared sensor for acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car and transducing said infrared signal into an electrical signal; a rank filter for filtering said electrical signal to produce a filtered array; a

1. An apparatus for detecting a hot rail car surface comprising:an infrared sensor for acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car and transducing said infrared signal into an electrical signal; a rank filter for filtering said electrical signal to produce a filtered array; a first peak detector for detecting a maximum filtered value of said filtered array; and a first comparator for comparing said maximum filtered value to a detection threshold to produce a filtered alarm signal. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rank filter has a rank of about one-half.3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:a wireless transceiver for acquiring rail car surface characteristics from a wireless tag mounted on said rail car; and a filter parameter calculator for calculating a filter length and rank of said rank filter as a function of said rail car surface characteristics. 4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:an unfiltered signal buffer for buffering said electrical signal to produce an unfiltered array; a second peak detector for detecting a maximum unfiltered value of said unfiltered array; a second comparator for comparing said maximum unfiltered value to said detection threshold to produce an unfiltered alarm signal; and an alarm comparator for comparing said unfiltered alarm signal to said filtered alarm signal to produce a censored false alarm signal. 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein:said censored false alarm signal comprises a binary signal having a true value when said unfiltered alarm signal differs from said filtered alarm signal and a false value otherwise; and said apparatus further comprises a counter for counting said false values to produce a censored false alarm count. 6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a failure isolator for diagnosing a failure mode from said censored false alarm count.7. An apparatus for detecting a hot rail car surface comprising:an infrared sensor for acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car and transducing said infrared signal into an electrical signal; a rank filter for filtering said electrical signal to produce a filtered array; a first peak detector for detecting a maximum filtered value of said filtered array; a first comparator for comparing said maximum filtered value to a detection threshold to produce a filtered alarm signal; a wireless transceiver for acquiring rail car surface characteristics from a wireless tag mounted on said rail car; a filter parameter calculator for calculating a filter length and rank of said rank filter as a function of said rail car surface characteristics; an unfiltered signal buffer for buffering said electrical signal to produce an unfiltered array; a second peak detector for detecting a maximum unfiltered value of said unfiltered array; a second comparator for comparing said maximum unfiltered value to said detection threshold to produce an unfiltered alarm signal; and an alarm comparator for conspiring said unfiltered alarm signal to said filtered alarm signal to produce a censored false alarm signal. 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:said censored false alarm signal comprises a binary signal having a true value when said unfiltered alarm signal differs from said filtered alarm signal and a false value otherwise; and said apparatus further comprises a counter for counting said false values to produce a censored false alarm count. 9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a failure isolator for diagnosing a failure mode from said censored false alarm count.10. A method for detecting hot rail car surfaces, the method comprising:acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car; transducing said infrared signal into an electrical signal; filtering said electrical signal using a rank filter to produce a filtered array; detecting a maximum filtered value of said filtered array; and comparing said maximum filtered value to a detection threshold to produce a filtered alarm signal. 11. The method of claim 10 wherein said rank filter has a rank of about one-half.12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:acquiring rail car surface characteristics from a wireless tag mounted on said rail car; and calculating a filter length and rank of said rank filter as a function of said rail car surface characteristics. 13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:buffering said electrical signal to produce an unfiltered array; detecting a maximum unfiltered value of said unfiltered array; comparing said maximum unfiltered value to said detection threshold to produce an unfiltered alarm signal; and comparing said unfiltered alarm signal to said filtered alarm signal to produce a censored false alarm signal. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein:said censored false alarm signal comprises a binary signal having a true value when said unfiltered alarm signal differs from said filtered alarm signal and a false value otherwise; and said method further comprises counting said false values to produce a censored false alarm count. 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising diagnosing a failure mode from said censored false alarm count.16. A method for detecting hot rail car surfaces, the method comprising:acquiring an infrared signal from a rail car surface of a rail car; transducing said infrared signal into an electrical signal; filtering said electrical signal using a rank filter to produce a filtered array; detecting a maximum filtered value of said filtered array; comparing said maximum filtered value to a detection threshold to produce a filtered alarm signal; acquiring rail car surface characteristics from a wireless tag mounted on said rail car; calculating a filter length and rank of said rank filter as a function of said rail car surface characteristics; buffering said electrical signal to produce an unfiltered array; detecting a maximum unfiltered value of said unfiltered array; comparing said maximum unfiltered value to said detection threshold to produce an unfiltered alarm signal; and comparing said unfiltered alarm signal to said filtered alarm signal to produce a censored false alarm signal. 17. The method of claim 16 wherein:said censored false alarm signal comprises a binary signal having a true value when said unfiltered alarm signal differs from said filtered alarm signal and a false value otherwise; and said method further comprises counting said false values to produce a censored false alarm count. 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising diagnosing a failure mode from said censored false alarm count.