Long-Range Low-Cost Networking for Real-Time Monitoring of Rail Tracks in Developing Countries

Derailments present a frequent phenomenon in several developing countries, which result in massive loss of property along with death tolls. For preventing derailments, a real-time automated system is needed to detect uprooted or faulty rail blocks. One of the solutions in this context is to sense the vibration of the rail track having an incoming train and transmit the information to the train notifying it about the condition of the rail track ahead. However, existing studies in this regard are yet to present a pragmatic solution that enables much-demanded long-distance networking to transmit the sensed data. The demand for long-distance network communication between the sensor nodes and the incoming train is unavoidable, as stopping the train after sensing an uprooted or faulty rail block ahead needs a considerable response time and distance. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a low-cost, long-range, and highly reliable mobile multi-hop networking scheme to successfully transmit data sensed from rail tracks to an approaching train at a distance of around 2000m. By considering the effect of Fresnel's Region in our study, we determine the suitable placement of the networking module on the rail track, which leads us to achieve a delivery ratio of more than 99%. We confirm this finding through rigorous experiments over a real testbed scenario enabling mobile multi-hop networking.