TITLE
Edge-computing Oriented Real-Time Railroad Track Inspection and MonitoringIndefinability of Effective Stress for Unsaturated Soils
TIME
June 3rd, 11:00 A.M.
LOCATION
Room 322, School of Transportation
Online Tencent Meeting Room：609-667-998
INTRODUCTION
Railway engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that encompasses various aspects of designing, constructing, and operating rail transport systems. With over 250,000 km of track, the United States operates the largest railway network in the world. Nearly 40% of the freight in the U.S. is transported through this rail network. Regular inspection and maintenance of railway tracks is critical for ensuring safe and efficient operations. Despite the significant demand for this work, there has been a lack of research and development in this area, leading to manual inspection processes and a heavy reliance on field experience for maintenance planning. This approach can be physically demanding, inefficient, and potentially inaccurate, and can sometimes result in accidents. To overcome the challenges posed by manual inspection processes, we have developed automated inspection methods for various applications to offer unprecedented efficiency and accuracy. This presentation will introduce our recent developments and applications of computer vision, artificial intelligence, and edge computing in the railway, transforming the track into an important component of the grand smart transportation system and connected community.
ABOUT THE LECTURER
Dr. Yu Qian is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He has been engaged in transportation geotechnics research for 15 years, including heavy haul, urban transit, and high-speed railroad. His research interests mainly focus on intelligent railroad infrastructure design, inspection, and maintenance; computer vision, image analysis, artificial intelligence, and edge computing. He has published more than 90 journal articles and 50 conference papers. Dr. Qian serves as the Secretary of the ASCE Rail Transportation Committee and is a committee member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA). He has secured over 5 million US dollars in research funding, with over 3.5 million as the primary investigator, from sources such as the National Academy of Sciences, Federal Railroad Administration, and other state agencies and private sector organizations. His contributions to the field have been recognized through numerous awards, including the IDEA Award from the National Academy of Science, Best Paper Award from the Transportation Research Board, the Breakthrough Star Award from the University of South Carolina, Young Investigator Awards from the College of Engineering.