Research on a Novel Locating Method for Track Inspection Based on Onboard Sensors in Maglev Train

Guideway inspection is of great significance to the operation safety and riding quality of a commercial high-speed maglev transportation system. When analyzing guideway inspection data, it is important to obtain the location information for each piece of raw data and convert it from the time domain to the spatial domain for the analysis afterward. Previous studies have used the method of adding additional hardware such as GPS (global positioning system) receivers, LRF (location reference flag) readers, or onboard CAN (controller area network) bus adaptors to obtain location information. This paper presents a novel method for indirectly obtaining the location information via the use of data from the levitation and guidance control sensors perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to extract the characteristic information from the track. The method can be used for a long stator linear motor-driven maglev system and similar contactless rail transit systems. The results showed that the method could accurately identify the required location information in each stator tooth during the entire operation simultaneously with the operating information such as train velocity, direction, and track ID, without additional hardware installation and vehicle network connection. Thus, it could improve the pertinence of the results of guideway inspection equipment, and at the same time, facilitate the miniaturization and independence of guideway inspection equipment.