1. A method of assisting in a determination of a condition of at least a component of a rail car in motion, the method comprising:
detecting, with a first bearing thermal sensor provided adjacent a first rail of a railway at a first location, a first temperature of a top portion of a bearing of the rail car;
comparing the first temperature of the top portion to at least one other temperature to determine a difference between the first temperature of the top portion and the at least one other temperature; and
determining that at least one component of the rail car is failing if the difference between the first temperature of the top portion and the at least one other temperature is greater than a predetermined maximum threshold.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising capturing an image of at least a portion of a wheel of the rail car with a first image capture device provided adjacent the first rail at the first location.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first temperature of the top portion of the bearing of the rail car comprises focusing the first bearing thermal sensor with a focusing lens to determine the temperature of a desired area of the bearing.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the first temperature of the top portion to at least one other temperature comprises:
detecting, with a second bearing thermal sensor provided adjacent the first rail at a second location, a second temperature of the top portion of the bearing of the rail car; and
comparing the first temperature of the top portion to the second temperature of the top portion.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the first temperature of the top portion to at least one other temperature comprises comparing the first temperature of the top portion to an expected temperature.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
detecting, with a first wheel thermal sensor provided adjacent the first rail at the first location, a first temperature of a bottom edge of a wheel of the rail car;
comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge to at least one other temperature to determine a difference between the first temperature of the bottom edge and the at least one other temperature; and
determining whether at least one component of the rail car is working properly based on the difference between the first temperature of the bottom edge and the at least one other temperature.
7. The method of claim 6, further comprising capturing an image of at least a portion of the wheel of the rail car to determine a position of a brake shoe of the wheel.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein:
comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge to at least one other temperature comprises comparing the first temperature to an expected operating temperature of the wheel of the rail car; and
determining whether at least one component of the rail car is working properly comprises determining whether the difference between the first temperature of the bottom edge and the expected operating temperature is caused by an applied brake shoe based on the capture image.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge to at least one other temperature comprises:
detecting, with a second thermal sensor provided adjacent the first rail at a second location, a second temperature of the bottom edge of the wheel of the rail car; and
comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge with the second temperature of the bottom edge.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining that a component of the rail car is working improperly based on the difference between the first temperature of the bottom edge and the at least one other temperature comprises determining that a component of the rail car is working improperly if the difference between the first temperature of the bottom edge and the second temperature of the bottom edge is less than a predetermined minimum threshold.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein:
detecting the first temperature of the bottom edge of the wheel of the rail car comprises detecting the first temperature without a brake of the wheel; and
detecting the second temperature of the bottom edge of the wheel of the rail car comprises detecting the second temperature with the brake of the wheel applied.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein detecting the first temperature of the bottom edge of the wheel of the rail car further comprises detecting the first temperature at a location along the rail that is sufficiently straight such that the brake of the wheel will not have been recently applied.
13. The method of claim 6, wherein comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge to at least one other temperature comprises comparing the first temperature of the bottom edge to an expected temperature.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether at least one component of the rail car is working properly comprises determining that at least one component is at least failing if the first temperature of the bottom edge is less than a predetermined minimum threshold above the expected temperature.
15. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting the first temperature of the bottom edge of the wheel of the rail car comprises focusing the first wheel thermal sensor with a focusing lens to determine the temperature of a desired are of the wheel.
16. A method for determining a condition of a component of a rail car in motion, the method comprising:
disengaging a brake of a rail car wheel for a first desired length of time;
detecting a first temperature of the rail car wheel;
applying the brake to the rail car wheel for a second desired length of time;
detecting a second temperature of the rail car wheel;
comparing the first temperature to the second temperature; and
determining that a component of the rail car has failed or is failing if the second temperature is less than a predetermined minimum threshold above the first temperature.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first desired length of time is sufficiently long enough for the temperature of the rail car wheel to normalize after any previous engagement of the brake with the rail car wheel.
18. The method of claim 16, further comprising;
capturing an image of at least a portion of the brake of the rail car wheel; and
determining whether the brake of the rail car wheel is engaged based on the captured image.
19. The method of claim 16, further comprising comparing at least one of the first temperature and the second temperature to an expected temperature.
20. The method of claim 16, wherein:
detecting a first temperature of the rail car wheel comprises focusing, with a focusing lens, a first thermal sensor toward a bottom edge of the rail car wheel; and
detecting a second temperature of the rail car wheel comprises focusing, with a focusing lens, a second thermal sensor toward a bottom edge of the rail car wheel.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for time and frequency distribution for bufferless data crossbar switch systems, comprising:
distributing a global clock signal over a separate channel to a plurality of line cards or adapters;
switching, through a bufferless data crossbar switch, data from the line cards or adapters, the data being encoded with a time value from the global clock signal;
scheduling using the time value; and
performing error detection and error recovery using the time value.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bufferless data crossbar switch is a replicated distributed responseless crossbar switch.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein scheduling includes scheduling crossbar connection times.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein data packets are identified by the time transmitted, rather than by sequence numbers.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the separate channel is connected from adapter to adapter or from line card to line card for distributing the global clock signal to the adapters.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein a control broadcast network is connected to each line card or adapter for distributing the global clock signal to the line cards or adapters.
7. A system for time and frequency distribution, comprising:
a plurality of line cards, each line card having an ingress element, an egress element, and a partial scheduler;
a bufferless data crossbar switch connected by data path links to the ingress and egress elements; and
a centralized broadcast network connected by control links to each line card and connected on a separate channel to each line card for distributing a global clock signal incorporating time and frequency information for synchronization and error recovery;
wherein select data is uniquely identified with respect to the global clock signal.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the global clock signal is a counter at a particular frequency.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein the bufferless data crossbar switch is incorporated into a replicated distributed responseless switch.
10. The system of claim 7, wherein the centralized broadcast network broadcasts scheduling information over the separate channel.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the scheduling information includes crossbar connection times.
12. The system of claim 7, wherein error detection and recovery is performed using the time stamp.
13. The system of claim 7, wherein the time stamp is used in place of sequence numbers.
14. The system of claim 7, wherein the centralized broadcast network is connected by control links to the ingress element and the egress element of each line card and connected on the separate channel to the partial scheduler of each adapter.
15. A storage medium storing instructions for performing a method for time and frequency distribution for bufferless crossbar switch systems the method comprising:
distributing a global clock signal over a separate channel to a plurality of line cards or adapters;
switching, through a bufferless data crossbar switch, data from the line cards or adapters, the data being encoded with a time value from the global clock signal;
scheduling using the time values; and
performing error detection and error recovery using the time values.