Wireless railroad monitoring
First Claim
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1. A sensor node comprising:
- a sensor component configured to acquire sensor data on at least one property of a railroad environment;
a wireless data communications component configured to transmit data related to the at least one property using a wireless communications solution; and
a power harvesting component configured to generate power from motion of a rail vehicle and provide sufficient power to operate the sensor node without access to any additional power sources, wherein the power harvesting component includes a noncontact electromagnetic power generating means for generating power from movement of at least a portion of a component of the rail vehicle through a magnetic field.
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Abstract
A sensor node configured to acquire sensor data on one or more properties of a railroad environment, wirelessly transmit data related to the property(ies), and generate sufficient power to operate the sensor node without access to any additional power sources is provided. The sensor node can be deployed as part of a group of sensor nodes, which provide data for use by a railroad system in monitoring and/or controlling the railroad environment. In this manner, various properties of the railroad environment can be monitored without requiring significant wiring to the various sensor nodes.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A sensor node comprising:
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a sensor component configured to acquire sensor data on at least one property of a railroad environment; a wireless data communications component configured to transmit data related to the at least one property using a wireless communications solution; and a power harvesting component configured to generate power from motion of a rail vehicle and provide sufficient power to operate the sensor node without access to any additional power sources, wherein the power harvesting component includes a noncontact electromagnetic power generating means for generating power from movement of at least a portion of a component of the rail vehicle through a magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 19)
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10. A railroad monitoring system comprising:
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a set of sensor nodes, each sensor node comprising; a sensor component configured to acquire sensor data on at least one property of a railroad environment; a wireless data communications component configured to transmit data related to the at least one property using a wireless communications solution; and a power harvesting component configured to generate power from motion of a rail vehicle and provide sufficient power to operate the sensor node without access to any additional power sources; and a railroad system configured to monitor the at least one aspect of the railroad environment based on the data transmitted from the set of sensor nodes, wherein the power harvesting component of at least one of the set of sensor nodes includes a noncontact electromagnetic power generating means for generating power from movement of at least a portion of a component of the rail vehicle through a magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20)
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16. A sensor node comprising:
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a sensor component configured to acquire sensor data on at least one property of a railroad environment; a wireless data communications component configured to transmit data related to the at least one property using a wireless communications solution; a data processing component configured to process the sensor data for transmission using the wireless data communications component; and a power harvesting component configured to generate power from motion of a rail vehicle and provide sufficient power to operate the sensor node without access to any additional power sources, wherein the power harvesting component includes noncontact electromagnetic power generating means for generating power from movement of at least a portion of a rail wheel through a magnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification