Enabling the multiple use of condition monitoring devices for

real-time monitoring, real-time data logging and remote condition

monitoring
E.P.C. Morris*, G. Feng*†, G.D. Horler*†
*Smart Component Technologies Ltd, Cooper Buildings, Arundel Street, Sheffield, UK. S1 2NS
†University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK. HD1 3DH

¾ Real-time data logging (RTDL) allows higher sampling

Keywords: Real-time monitoring (RTM), real-time data
rates than RTM, but often requires data to be stored,
logging (RTDL), remote condition monitoring (RCM),
then later transmitted or retrieved.
wireless
Many previous condition monitoring systems exist which are
Abstract equipped for one of these techniques; however, there is a
strong case for creating multi-mode devices which can meet
Historically, disparate devices have been utilised for long- multiple sets of requirements whilst reducing cost and
term monitoring, field installation and data logging due to installation time. This paper demonstrates a system developed
their different requirements in the railway area. However, by Smart Component Technologies Ltd. (SCT) where this has
there is a strong case for creating condition monitoring been achieved.
equipment and the associated infrastructure to allow multiple
modes of operation, including real-time monitoring, real-time SCT has developed a wireless sensor node, the Smart Washer,
data logging and remote condition monitoring. Smart which can measure the clamp force of a bolted joint, as well
Component Technologies Ltd. has developed a multi-faceted as a number of environmental factors. The Smart Washer will
ecosystem to allow condition monitoring devices to operate in be used as an example sensor node throughout this paper, as
multiple modes of operation without the need for we explore the system developed around it.
modification or reconfiguration. In this paper, the
requirements for these working modes are discussed in detail In recent years, wireless technology has been developing
and the state-of-the-art wireless technology, cloud based quickly and has brought a number of benefits to condition
services and smart portable devices are utilised to build such a monitoring in the railway area. [3] Therefore, various state-
system. On this basis, an implementation for measuring the of-the-art wireless technologies, together with the emerging
clamping force is presented with the capability for long-term cloud based services and smart portable devices are utilised to
monitoring with a low sample rate, live data view during establish such a system.
installation, and short bursts of data logging with a high
sample rate. In the following sections, we first identify the requirements
for the three operating modes, before proceeding to outline a
1 Introduction design for a multi-mode system to meet these requirements,
and finally demonstrate the system which SCT has developed.
Condition based monitoring (CBM) is becoming an ever more
fundamental component to railway maintenance regimes. 2 Requirements of different modes
Network Rail and London Underground now consider CBM
to be a key focus in their asset management strategies. [1], [2] The various operating modes – RCM, RTM and RTDL – each
have quite different requirements. This section identifies the
Commonly, modern condition monitoring techniques are requirements of each mode.
divided into a number of distinctive areas, based on differing
requirements and considerations: 2.1 RCM mode requirement
¾ Remote condition monitoring (RCM) equipment A number of specific requirements are prevalent to the RCM
typically transmits periodic updates and alerts to a mode of operation. RCM hardware is designed to be left in
remote node in relatively long intervals, often limited by place medium or long-term, and as such should require
power and data communication restrictions. minimal in-situ maintenance.
¾ Real-time monitoring (RTM) allows a maintenance
engineer to view data in situ, with high, near-real-time SCT have also identified the need for the system to be both
data rates. cost effective and easy to install. Requiring the sensor nodes
(such as Smart Washers) to utilise wireless communications

1
and battery technology removes the need to procure and 2.3 RTDL mode requirement
install potentially long distances of cabling. In addition to
reducing install time and cost, lack of cabling removes the RTM mode can be employed for visualising live data when
risk of cable theft, which would induce costs of replacement the sampling rate of the signal is not high. For the scenario
cables and reinstallation, as well as service outages. that the sampling rate is so fast that the data cannot be
streamed reliably over the bandwidth-limited communication
The features for an RCM system were defined as follows: protocol, RTDL mode is required. Below are the requirements
¾ Low power consumption for the sensor nodes, to for the RTDL mode:
minimise maintenance requirements ¾ Fast sampling rate. Fast sampling rate is required in
¾ Low and configurable sampling/reporting rate; several order to represent the waveform of the signal.
seconds to several hours ¾ Large memory with fast access. The acquired data
¾ Sensor nodes should have a compact form factor and be should be temporarily stored to a large memory for later
resilient to the environment transmission to avoid data loss.
¾ Ability to transmit data to a remote location over ¾ Triggers for starting sampling. For a low power
existing network/Internet consumption sensor node, the RTDL mode cannot run
¾ System redundancy – unavailability of a single continuously, and a trigger signal (such as switch or
component shouldn’t impede the rest of the system periodic interrupt clock) is required to start this mode.
¾ Ability to retry transmissions in the case of a network ¾ Convenient to retrieve the data. The acquired data in
outage RTDL mode should be able to be retrieved by a remote
user as the sensor node is usually deployed in outdoor
2.2 RTM mode requirement areas.

Prior to the development of SCT’s “Smart Washer” sensor 3 System design

node, the operator had purely relied on the torque wrench to
judge the clamping force applied on the nut. With a sensor This section presents the equipment design considerations for
node capable of measuring the clamping force, the Smart each mode, in order to implement a system defined above.
Washer provides a possibility for visualising the clamping
force in real-time. Note that during installation, the clamping Buffering “Real time” RCM

force may rise from zero to its maximum in less than a

minute, which implies that a faster sampling frequency is
required, hence the need for an RTM mode.
0 0.01 0.1 1
RTM mode is required when conducting field installation and
maintenance operations. The requirements for the RTM mode Sampling interval/s

are as follows: Figure 1 Sampling interval for different operating modes

¾ Fast sampling rate. The sampling frequency should be
higher than 1 Hz. Our definition of sampling intervals for different operating
¾ Localised visualisation. The sensor node should connect modes is shown in Figure 1.
to a local device with a screen for the operator to view
any change. A number of uses are defined based on the sampling interval
¾ Configuration. The RTM mode should have the ability T (seconds). These are purely guidelines and will vary by
to configure the sensor node to change its identification application. 6FHQDULRV ZKHUH 7 •  ZRXOG W\SLFDOO\ EH IRU
(ID), update rate in RCM mode, sensing configuration, RCM applications.
etc.
¾ Charging. Once the battery level of the sensor node is ”7”LVFXUUHQWO\ XVHGIRUQHDUUHDO-time applications,
low, the operator needs to be able to change/charge the i.e. from a user's perspective, they are viewing the data as it is
battery. being produced. As such, data rates in this band are used in
¾ Security. The sensor configurations should only be able the RTM mode.
to be modified by an authorised operator, to ensure that
only compliant changes are made and, in addition, these 7”LVGHILQHGWREHXVHGIRUEXIIHULQJDSSOLFDWLRQVLH
changes are logged. when data is produced at a high rate, stored, and later
¾ Wakeup. By default, the sensor works in RCM mode, transmitted at a slower rate. Therefore, the RTDL mode is
during which the sensor node is in sleep mode for the required for these higher data rates.
majority of the time. Therefore, a quick way to wake up
the sensor node and let it enter RTM mode is required.

2
3.1 Default mode Internet. The AP then attempts to transmit this packet over its
integrated network connection – either via an existing
In the default, RCM, mode the sensor nodes spend the network, or a cellular 3G link – to a remote cloud-based
majority of time in an extremely low power state (requiring system. Upon connection failure, due to a network or system
less than 100 μA of current), meaning that a small battery can outage, a retry is scheduled after a delay.
be used (ensuring small form factor) with battery life of up to
two years (minimising maintenance). A real-time clock Finally, the cloud system holds the responsibility for
(RTC) is present in the circuitry, which activates the node processing and storing the information and presenting it to the
into a fully operational state at pre-defined intervals. user.
After the RTC activates the node, a measurement is taken 3.2 RTM mode
from the on-board sensor(s), and this data, along with status
information, is required to be transmitted to access points. In RTM mode, the low power 2.4 GHz wireless
communication is still employed to transmit live clamping
To meet the RCM mode requirement of extremely low power force information. This has avoided extra investments on
consumption, the wireless radio device had to be carefully additional communication modules and kept the sensor node
selected to have the following characteristics: compact in physical size. Although the sampling rate in RTM
¾ Ability to switch off radio and/or place in extremely low mode is higher than that in RCM mode, the data can still be
power state. transmitted via the low power radio in real-time. The diagram
¾ Minimal time required to start up, negotiate with for the sensor node working in RTM mode is presented in
receiver and send data. Figure 3.
BLE
Communication between
Practically all common wireless technologies fell short of reader and tablet
Reader Tablet
these requirements. For instance, Bluetooth Low Energy
(BLE) is designed as an always-on, low power wireless Near field communication
x charge battery 2.4 GHz low power wireless WiFi/3G
technology. Although a BLE module can enter a low power x wake up sensor x live data updating
x sensor configuration
Upload data and
configurations to cloud
x authenticate connection
sleep state, waking from the sleep state, negotiating a
connection to another device and transmitting the data takes Sensor node Cloud
several seconds, which ultimately increases the required
battery power. Figure 3 Diagram for sensor node working in RTM mode

As such, a custom wireless technology was developed using The sensor is typically deployed in an environment where an
the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The protocol designed minimised the exposed charging connector could wear out in conditions such
radio on-time, whilst allowing a reliable data transmission as rain fall, vibrations and mud. Therefore, a wireless
even in the case of poor signal strength. charging solution is employed for charging the battery.
Wireless charging is a convenient, safe and reliable way for
charging and hence has gained wide applications in portable
Cloud electronic products, such as smart phones and tablets. [4]

WiFi/3G/Ethernet As shown in Figure 3, a near field communication circuit on

the reader is utilized for charging the sensor node. As sensor
Access point configurations are usually required during the installation
stage, the near field solution provides convenience. Moreover,
2.4 GHz the near field communication is utilised to wake the sensor
low power wireless
node and enter RTM mode. For security purposes, an
Sensor Sensor Sensor authentication mechanism is added to the waking up
... operation that allows the sensor configurations to be modified
node node node
only by an authorised operator.
Figure 2 An overview of the RCM operating mode.
After being woken up, the sensor node will enter into RTM
Figure 2 demonstrates the flow of data through the system.
mode and transmit a live stream of the clamping force
After a data packet has been generated by the sensor node, it
sampled at 10 Hz to the reader via the 2.4 GHz wireless
is transmitted over the wireless channel to an access point
communication channel. Then, the data is forwarded to a
(AP) device. The AP acts as a bridge between the wireless
Android tablet for local visualisation. The reasons for
channel and standard networking protocols, as well as
employing the Android tablet as a graphical user interface
providing the facility for processing of the data.
include its portability, ease of operation, wide availability and
reasonable price. In addition, the open source feature of
Once the packet has arrived at the AP, the relevant sensor and
Android provides abundant resources for fast development.
status information is extracted, and a Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP) packet is created suitable for sending over the

3
In addition to data visualisation, the tablet can also be used
for data logging, sensor calibration and configuration. For
communication between the reader and the tablet, Bluetooth
Low Energy (BLE) technology is employed for the following
reasons:
¾ BLE is integrated into many off-the-shelf tablets.
¾ BLE has a lower power requirement than other
technologies such as classic Bluetooth and WiFi,
reducing power consumption of the reader and tablet.

In addition, the acquired data and configurations on the tablet

can be uploaded to the cloud via its integrated WiFi/3G
connections.
Figure 5 The Smart Ecosystem
3.3 RTDL mode
Figure 5 gives an overview of the Smart Ecosystem, which
RTDL mode is enabled for acquiring dynamic signals for a includes the following devices:
short period of time with higher sampling frequency. This is ¾ Smart Washer (SW) – sensor node
achieved by a buffering mechanism illustrated in Figure 4. ¾ Smart Reader (SR) – reader device
For example, the required sampling rate of an acceleration ¾ Android tablet as the reader fascia
signal can be more than several kHz but data length can be ¾ Smart Access Point (SAP) – access point device
just a few seconds for fully capturing a vibration event. In this ¾ Smart Cloud system
scenario, the data cannot be streamed reliably via the ¾ Remote user device, communication with the Smart
bandwidth limited wireless channel in real time. Therefore, Cloud
the collected acceleration data is firstly buffered in a large
static random access memory (SRAM) on the sensor node.
After the vibration event is finished or monitoring is
terminated, the data is read out from SRAM and transmitted
through the 2.4 GHz wireless module to a reader or access
point. Note that the time span for data transmission is
typically much longer than that of the vibration event.
2.4 GHz
module
SPI
SPI SPI
SRAM MCU Accelerometer

Figure 4 Diagram for data buffering in RTDL mode Figure 6 Smart Washer installation

In RTDL mode, the sensor consumes much more current than Figure 6 shows the installation of two prototype Smart
that in RCM mode due to higher sampling rates and increased Washers – examples of sensor nodes – on a railway switch
wireless activity. [5] This indicates that RTDL mode cannot stretcher bar. The Smart Washers have embedded circuitry,
run frequently; otherwise, battery on the sensor node will run battery and wireless capability.
out quickly. Typically, this mode can be triggered by an
external event or a periodic clock with much longer interval
than that for the RCM mode. For instance, when an
accelerometer is employed for monitoring the movement of
railway points, this mode is only triggered when the points
start moving.

4 Implementation
SCT has developed an implementation of the described
system – the Smart Ecosystem, which has seen a number of
rail-based demonstrator installations.

4
 Figure 10 Viewing data on the Smart Cloud interface

The RCM data is received into the Smart Cloud system, and
Figure 7 Smart Reader in use the user can view the data, an example of which is shown in
Figure 10.

5 Conclusion
In this paper, we have explored the differences between a
number of forms of condition based monitoring typically used
in the railway industry. Current monitoring systems typically
focus on a single mode, but an opportunity was identified in
which multiple modes could be supported.

We have seen how SCT’s Smart Ecosystem has been

designed and implemented to meet this aim, which has
demonstrated that such a system is feasible and cost-effective.

References
Figure 8 Smart Reader tablet app data capture
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Figure 7 demonstrates a reader set-up. The Smart Reader box [2] London Underground, “LU Asset Management Strategy
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Figure 9 Smart Access Point and network installation

Figure 9 shows a typical RCM installation, consisting of a

SAP and a 3G router. The Smart Washers were configured to
transmit data every 10 minutes to the Smart Cloud.