A

Project of Synopsis
On

“ RAILWAY CRACK TRACK DETECTION”

Submitted in the partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of the degree
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In
Electronics & Communication Engineering
(ECE-4th year)

Submmit by:- Submmited to:-

RAHUL HARIJAN (1875131028) Mr. ARVIND MADDESHIYA
VIKAS KUMAR (1875131042) (ECE- Asst. Prof)
UPDENDRA SAHANI (1875131040)
ANCHAL GUPTA (1875131014)
KAJAL GUPTA (1875131017)

KIPM College of Engineering and Technology, GIDA – Gorakhpur

Dr. A P J ABDUL KALAM Technical University, LUCKNOW
Session: 2021-22
 CONTENTS

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

3. Block Diagram

4. Components &Description

5. Adavantages

6. Conclusion and Future Work

 ABSTRACT

The Indian Railways has one of the largest railway networks in the world
crossing over 1,13,617 km in distance, all over India. However, with regard to
reliability and passenger safety Indian Railways is not up to global standards.
Among other factors, cracks developed on the rails due to absence of timely
detection and the associated maintenance pose serious questions on the security
of operation of rail transport. A recent study revealed that over 25% of the track
length is in need of replacement due to the development of cracks on it about
60% accidents are occurring at railway track crossing and due to crack in
railway tracks resulting in loss of precious life and loss of economy. Manual
detection of tracks is cumbersome and not fully effective owing to much time
consumption and requirement of skilled technicians. Therefore, there is need to
think about new technology which is robust, efficient and stable for both crack
detection in railway track and object detection. This project work is aimed
towards addressing the issue by developing an automatic railway track crack
detection system.
This project discusses a Railway track crack detection using ultrasonic sensor
and image processing and is a dynamic approach which combines the use of
GPS tracking system and WIFI module to send alert messages and the
geographical coordinate of location. An Arduino UNO is used to control and
coordinate the activities of these devices. This project prevents train derailment
by detecting a crack in railway track using advanced technology.
 INTRODUCTION

Transport is very important to carry the passengers and goods from one
place to another. The better transport leads to more trade. Economic
level mainly depends on increasing the capacity and level of
transport.India has the fourth largest railway networking in the world
after the United States, Russia and China. The Indian railway network
has a track length of 113,617 kilometers (70,598 mi) over a route of
63,974 kilometers (39,752 mi) and 7,083 railway stations. Indian rail
network is still following the increasing trajectory to fulfill the
commutation requirement of large population economically. The rail
network traverses every length and breadth of the country and is known
to carry over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily.
In spite of that in terms of the reliability and safety parameters, we are
yet a bit away from true global standards. Though rail transportation in
India growing fast but due to inadequate safety measures, there have
been frequent derailments that have resulted in severe loss of valuables
and human lives.
One of the major causes of such rail accidents according to the statistics
is crack developed in railway track, which may occur either due to
improper maintenance or antisocial activities. In a recent study it was
found that about 60% of all the rail accidents is due to derailments, and
about 90% are due to cracks on the rails. Hence these cracks in railway
lines have to be addressed with utmost attention due to the frequency of
rail usage. These cracks generally go unnoticed due to improper
maintenance and irregular and human involvement in track line
monitoring. The high frequency of trains and the unreliability of manual
labor have initiated the cause for an immediate system to monitor the
presence of crack on the railway lines.
Manual inspection of track is a tedious job. To overcome this issue
multiple techniques have been proposed which involve graphical
inspections, Non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies such as
acoustic emissions, magnetic field methods, radiography, thermal field
methods, fiber optic sensors of various kinds, use of LDR [1] etc.
Another composite detection system is proposed which consists of laser
source, a digital processing CCD camera and a supervision system. The
existing system includes the concept using LED and LDR sensor
assembly. The main drawback of the system is that LED and LDR
should be exactly aligned opposite to each other to detect the crack; also,
the true values from LDR to be detected. For this reason, we have
proposed to use an Ultrasonic sensor, which has only one module that
has both transmitter and receiver and alignment is not an issue These
existing systems for detection of crack are either not very accurate or a
bit of cumbersome process.
This report proposes an efficient and cost-effective solution suitable for
large scale application. The basic objective of our proposed work is to
develop a low-cost breakage detection system of railway tracks using
ultrasonic sensors and send the location information of the fault to the
authorized personnel for further action.
The proposed setup would make the detection and maintenance of
railways tracks easier and help to monitor the crack on rails by replacing
the human inspection which is currently followed. The proposed design
and software related to it are simple and can be easily adopted by the
present system and on a large scale.
 BLOCK DIAGRAM

GPS
Module

Block diagram of proposed system

 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

ESP 32 WITH NEO 6M

CONNECTION OF ARDUINO AND MOTOR DRIVER

 COMPONENTS & DESCRIPTION

Ultrasonic Ranging Module HC - SR04

An ultrasonic sensor is an electronic device that measures the distance of a target object by
emitting ultrasonic sound waves, and converts the reflected sound into an electrical signal.
Ultrasonic waves travel faster than the speed of audible sound (i.e. the sound that humans can
hear). Ultrasonic sensors have two main components: the transmitter (which emits the sound
using piezoelectric crystals) and the receiver (which encounters the sound after it has travelled to
and from the target). In order to calculate the distance between the sensor and the object, the
sensor measures the time it takes between the emission of the sound by the transmitter to its
contact with the receiver. The formula for this calculation is D = ½ T x C (where D is the
distance, T is the time, and C is the speed of sound ~ 343 meters/second). The ultrasonic sensors
which basically work on the distance measurement are used for crack detection. These devices
typically Transmit a short burst of ultrasonic sound toward a target, which reflects the sound
back to the sensor. The system then measures the time for the echo to return to the sensor and
computes the distance to the target using the speed of sound in the medium. The prototype
vehicle is made to move in-between the tracks. From the center of the vehicle to the tracks, the
distance is maintained. Whenever this distance increases, it is determined that the crack is
located in that particular place.

The basic principle of work:

1. Using IO trigger for at least 10us high level signal

2. The Module automatically sends eight 40 kHz and detect whether there is
a pulse signal back.

3. IF the signal back, through high level , time of high output IO duration
is the time from sending ultrasonic to returning.
Test distance = (high level time×velocity of sound (340M/S) / 2

HC SR04 ultrasonic sensor

NEO 6M GPS MODULE
The project robot has ability to sense locations with NEO-6M GPS Module that can track up to
22 satellites and identifies locations anywhere in the world. It may serve as a great launch pad for
anyone looking to get into the world of GPS. They are low power (suitable for battery powered
devices), inexpensive, easy to interface with and are insanely popular among hobbyists.

GPS receivers actually work by figuring out how far they are from a number of satellites. They
are pre-programmed to know where the GPS satellites are at any given time. The satellites
transmit information about their position and the current time in the form of radio signals
towards the Earth. These signals identify the satellites and tell the receiver where they are
located. The receiver then calculates how far away each satellite is by figuring out how long it
took for the signals to arrive. Once it has information on how far away at least three satellites are
and where they are in space, it can pinpoint your location on Earth. This process is known as
Trilateration.

Fig 4.2: Global Positioning System

NEO 6M GPS MODULE chip measures less than the size of a postage stamp but packs a
surprising amount of features into its little frame. It can track up to 22 satellites on 50 channels
and achieves the industry’s highest level of sensitivity i.e. -161 dB tracking, while consuming
only 45mA supply current. Unlike other GPS modules, it can do up to 5 location updates a
second with 2.5m Horizontal position accuracy. The u-blox 6 positioning engine also boasts
a Time-To-First-Fix (TTFF) of under 1 second. One of the best features the chip provides is
Power Save Mode(PSM). It allows a reduction in system power consumption by selectively
switching parts of the receiver ON and OFF. This dramatically reduces power consumption of
the module to just 11mA making it suitable for power sensitive applications like GPS
wristwatch. The necessary data pins of NEO-6M GPS chip are broken out to a 0.1″ pitch
headers. This includes pins required for communication with a microcontroller over UART. The
module supports baud rate from 4800bps to 230400bps with default baud of 9600.

ESP 32 CAM MODULE:

The ESp32-CAM has a very competitive small-size camera module that can operate
independently as a minimum system with footprint of only 27*40.5*4.5mm and a deep sleep
current of up to 6mA. ESP-32Cam can be widely used in various IoT applications. It is suitable
for home smart devices, industrial wireless control, wireless monitoring, QR wireless
identification, wireless positioning system signals and other IoT applications. ESP-32CAM
adopts DIP package and can be directly inserted into the backplane to realize rapid production of
products, providing customers with high-reliability connection mode, which is convenient for
application in various IoT hardware terminals. The ESP32-CAM is a full-featured
microcontroller that also has an integrated video camera and microSD card socket. It’s
inexpensive and easy to use, and is perfect for IoT devices requiring a camera with advanced
functions like image tracking and recognition. The sample software includes a sketch that allows
you to build a web-based camera with a sophisticated control panel. After you get the hang of
programming the device you’ll find that it is very easy to use. Not bad for a board that costs
about ten dollars, including the camera. The ESP32-CAM module has fewer I/O pins than the
previous ESP-32 module we looked at. Many of the GPIO pins are used internally for the camera
and the microSD card port. Another thing missing from the ESP32-CAM module is a USB port.
In order to program this device you’ll need to make use of an FTDI adapter. This will be
described further on in this article. Here is the pinout of the ESP32-CAM Module:
 F Pin Diagram of ESP32-CAM

ARDUINO UNO:
Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P (datasheet). It has 14 digital
input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz
crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains
everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB
cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.. You can tinker with your
UNO without worring too much about doing something wrong, worst case scenario you can
replace the chip for a few dollars and start over again. "Uno" means one in Italian and was
chosen to mark the release of Arduino Software (IDE) 1.0. The Uno board and version 1.0 of
Arduino Software (IDE) were the reference versions of Arduino, now evolved to newer releases.
The Uno board is the first in a series of USB Arduino boards, and the reference model for the
Arduino platform; for an extensive list of current, past or outdated boards see the Arduino index
of boards.

Technical specs:

Microcontroller ATmega328P

Operating Voltage 5v
Clock Speed 16MHz
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V

Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V

LED_BUILTIN 13

Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)

Length 68.6mm

PWM Digital I/O Pins 6

Width 53.4mm
Analog Input Pins 6

Weight
DC Current per I/O Pin 25g
20 mA

DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50mA

Flash Memory 32 KB (ATmega328P)

of which 0.5 KB used by bootloader

SRAM 2 KB (ATmega328P)

EEPROM 1 KB (ATmega328P)
The Arduino Uno board can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power
supply. The power source is selected automatically. External (non-USB) power can come either
from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a
2.1mm center-positive plug into the board's power jack. Leads from a battery can be inserted in
the GND and Vin pin headers of the POWER connector. The board can operate on an external
supply from 6 to 20 volts. If supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less
than five volts and the board may become unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator
may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.

Pin diagram of Arduino UNO

MOTOR DRIVER SHIELD (L293D):

The L293D is a dedicated module to fit in Arduino UNO R3 Board, and Arduino MEGA. It is
actually a motor driver shield that has full featured Arduino Shield can be used to drive 2 to 6
DC motor and 4 wire Stepper motor and it has 2 set of pins to drive a SERVO. L203D is a
monolithic integrated that has a feature to adopt high voltage, high current at four channel motor
driver designed to accept load such as relays solenoids, DC Motors and Stepper Motors and
switching power transistor. To simplify to used as two bridges on each pair of channels and
equipped with an enable input. A separate supply input is provided for the logic, allowing
operation at a lower voltage and internal clamp diodes are included. The device is suitable for
use in switching applications at frequencies up to 5kHz. The L293D is assembled in a 16 lead
plastic package which has 4 centre pins connected together and used for heat sinking. The
L293D is assembled in a 20 lead surface mount which has 8 centre pins connected together and
used for heat shrinking.

Motor driver shield

Features:
 Control up to 4 DC motors.
 Control 2 Servos.
 Logic Control Voltage VSS: 4.5 ~ 5.5 V
 Motor Supply Voltage VSS: 15v
 Drive operating current IO: 1.2A
 Dimensions: 69mm x 53mm x 14.3mm (2.7in x 2.1in x 0.6in)
 2-pin terminal block to connect external power, for separate logic/motor supplies
 Arduino reset button brought up top
 Big terminal block connectors to easily hook up wires (10-22AWG) and power
 Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-bit speed selection (8 Stage Serial
Shift Registers)
 Pull down resistors keep motors disabled during power-up
 Wiring block diagram of motor driver shield

Motor requires more energy specially cheap motors since chip motors less efficient. The
important thing we need is find out what voltage require your going to use. some small motors
are only intended to run at 1.5 volts but it is just a common to have 6 ~ 12v motors. The motor
controller on L294D shield is design to run at 4.5v to 25v. Most 1.5 ~ 3 volts motor will not
works on this shield. another thing you need is to figure it out how much current the motor will
support? The L293D chip support up to 600 mA per motor, with 1.2A peak current. Note ones
you head towards 1A you’ll probably want to put a heat sink on the chip, otherwise it will get
thermal failure or burning out the chip. The motor shield can drive up to 4 or 6 DC motors bi
directional, it means that they can be driven forward and backward. The speed can also be varied
at 0.5% increments using PWM(Pulse with Modulation) this means that speed can be controlled.
The motor connections are via two screw terminals for each motor and labelled M1 thru M4.
The centre terminal on the 5-pos terminal blocks are connected to ground. The wiring of which
lead of the motor connects to which terminal is somewhat arbitrary and relative to what we
consider forward vs. reverse motor operation. If the motor goes in the opposite direction that we
expect, simply reverse the wiring.
 ADVANTAGES

 It costs very less as compared to the existing system.

 Very accurate detection.

 All types of cracks inside the railway track and
surface crack can be detected through NDT
ultrasonic sensor.

 The information is quickly transmitted to the

receiver end through Wi-Fi and also stores the data
in memory.

 Accidents and Derailments will reduce.

 Online surveillance of railway track can be done through

this model.

 By using this Autonomous vehicle for purpose of

railway track inspection and crack detection, it will
have a great impact in the maintenance of the tracks
which will help in preventing train accidents to a
very large extent.

 The regions where manual inspection is not possible,

like in deep coal mines, mountain regions and dense
thick forest regions , this model can be very
beneficial.
 It will also increase security of both rails and passengers.

 We can use solar panel in the robot to get rid of regular

battery changing.

 Enhance the percentage of efficiency

 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

In this report, we have presented the Ultrasonic sensor based

railway crack detection system. The crack can be detected
without only error. It does not give false output. The idea can be
implemented in large scale in the long run to facilitate better
safety standards for rail tracks and provide effective testing
infrastructure for achieving better results in the future.
By using this Autonomous vehicle for purpose of railway track
inspection and crack detection, it will have a great impact in the
maintenance of the tracks which will help in preventing train
accidents to a very large extent. The regions where manual
inspection is not possible, like in deep coal mines, mountain
regions and dense thick forest regions can be easily done using
this vehicle. By using this vehicle for the purpose of Railway
track inspection and crack detection and automated SMS will be
sent to pre-defined phone number whenever the vehicle sensors
detect any crack or deformation. This will help in maintenance
and monitoring the condition of railway tracks without any
errors and thereby maintaining the tracks in good condition,
preventing train accidents to very large extent Railway track
crack detection autonomous vehicle is designed in such a way
that it detects the cracks or deformities on the track which when
rectified in time will reduce train accidents.
The proposed system can be used to detect the crack effectively
and send the location of fault accurately in minimum time to the
predefined mobile numbers. The advantages of the proposed
system are that it has no noise, output is very much accurate and
the cost is comparatively lesser than the composite system. This
system can be used both during daytime and nighttime. Solar
panel can be connected to power the system in place of
rechargeable battery used for the purpose which would make
use of renewable energy sources.