To address FRAs requirements of measuring rail vehicle suspension displacement and integrating this into existing accelerometer-based ride quality systems, dFuzion proposes the development of a comprehensive Ride Performance Assessment System (RPAS). RPAS will leverage the investment and research already made by FRA in its sponsored portable ride quality meter. By extending the ride quality data acquisition framework to accept inputs from suspension displacement sensors, RPAS can correlate data from acceleration and displacement sensors with geospatial information. The RPAS concept would allow users the flexibility of correlating a variety of data types in real-time in an effort to better validate vehicle models, and detect track and/or vehicle anomalies. No one data type can always definitively predict or identify anomalous conditions, but correlating multiple data types can achieve a greater level of confidence in the measurement results. In the future, additional sensors (i.e., strain, force, temperature, load, RPM) can similarly be integrated into RPAS for additional on-board situational awareness.
