"Smart Phone based Rail Data Acquisition - SPRaDA" - Damage Analysis on the Track via Smartphone

Over the next 12 months, the Institute of Rail Vehicles and Transportation Systems at RWTH Aachen University will be investigating the possibility of using smartphones to monitor rail infrastructure. In the SPRaDA project, the IFS is investigating the possibility of using smartphones to determine the quality of the track situation in a cost-effective and simple way.
For this purpose, the sensors installed in the end devices are to record data during the ride in running trains. This data will then be analyzed using an algorithm developed in the project and graphically processed with the aid of position data. The goal of SPRaDA is to create the technical basis for a service that can always provide a valid, up-to-date picture of the condition of the rail infrastructure.

The SPRaDA project is being funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as part of the mFUND innovation initiative with a total of 83,080 euros over a period from October 2021 to September 2022.