RAIL SURVEYING
Jon Francis, transportation and contract services business manager for Panasonic UK, discusses mobile computing in the rail industry.
such significant challenges as in the rail sector. Maintaining the UK’s rail network is a continuous challenge and the rail in- dustry is constantly striving to find ways to minimise network disruption and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of rail tech- nicians and engineers.
T
One tool helping to transform the way the industry operates is the Panasonic Tough- book range of rugged, mobile comput- ing devices. Built to perform where other technology fails, Toughbooks give mobile professionals access to data and applica- tions in places where it was never before possible.
Thanks to world-class connectivity, perfor- mance, portability and unrivalled durabil- ity, Toughbooks allow railway workers in the field to achieve far more than ever be- fore. Paperwork is being rendered unneces- sary. Weather conditions – be it rain, snow, or bright sunshine on a computer screen– don’t hamper progress or cause unneces- sary downtime and the need for multiple
Case Study: ADAS Turns to Toughbook for support for major Network Rail survey
When specialist environmental consultancy ADAS was commis- sioned by Network Rail to survey and assess the risk of its lineside trees along more than 19,000 miles of rail network, they turned to Panasonic Toughbooks to get the job done more quickly, accu- rately and efficiently.
The survey required 18 arboricul- turalists daily over two years to survey and record lineside tree risks. Previous surveys of this na- ture, completed on much shorter sections of track, had involved arboricultural surveyors making hand-written sketches and notes of tree conditions.
They had to take individual pho- tographs and then spend many hours transcribing the informa- tion into electronic formats and allocating photographs to specific prescriptions and records.
This system of working was costly, both in terms of the time needed to transcribe handwritten notes and the delays in reporting that information back to Network Rail. There were also quality risks associated with transcribing data and in allocating from separate files.
photographs
ADAS recognised that in order to survey and record trees through- out the entire rail network a much more efficient and accurate sys- tem of working would be required. ADAS needed to capture multiple items of data electronically and automatically; apply a unique ref- erence to each data set; enable the subject of data sets to be lo- cated both on the ground and on digital maps; and provide Network Rail with unrestricted access to all data throughout the project.
ADAS and Network Rail chose Toughbook for the task.
ADAS and Network Rail invested in hand-held Panasonic Tough-
76 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 12
book CF-U1 devices, which are lightweight, ruggedised and wa- terproof for field surveying and designed to capture data and photographic records and trans- mit them back to base.
ADAS developed project specific survey software for the Toughbooks to enable the arboricultural survey- ors to record survey data electroni- cally and produce tree management specifications in the field.
The Toughbooks had built-in cam- eras that work with the bespoke software to enable photographs to be annotated and saved dur- ing the survey to highlight spe- cific tree faults or management requirements.
External high-resolution GPS units were used via a Bluetooth link to the Toughbooks to auto- matically record the position of each photograph and data re- cord, enabling individual trees to be quickly located on the ground and on mapping software.
The Toughbook software auto- matically packaged the survey information from each tree into a uniquely referenced file ready for uploading to the ADAS developed web portal, where a central data- base with all survey information and reports was easily accessible to the Network Rail project man- agement team.
On completion of the project, surveyors had covered just over 19,000 lineside miles of the op- erational network, with just over 24,000 individual trees recorded.
or groups of
ADAS and Network Rail were so pleased with the way the Tough- books performed, the devices are now being used to survey the Net- work Rail drainage infrastructure in another major project.
For more information, contact Da- vid Middleditch, senior consult- ant at ADAS UK Ltd, on 01954 268300, 07881 511042, or email
david.middleditch@adas.co.uk
here can be few industries where outdoor and mobile working present
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