Both in concert with IAVO and independently, Allied Catawba is working on an ever-evolving portfolio of solutions that utilize computer vision (CV), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) innovations as their core processing engines.

 

vRAMMS™

Allied Catawba is presently building the prototype vRAMMS (Vision Railroad Auditing, Maintenance, and Management System). vRAMMS provides a full-systems thrust for automatically collecting, analyzing, and recommending railroad track support infrastructure, focused primarily on ensuring railroad signage remains compliant with quality and control requirements.

vRAMMS offers a full system emphasis and goes well beyond merely imagery collection and analysis. Example aspects include: CV and AI, maintenance recommendations, support to rail maintenance/logistics management, and support to rail supply (and asset) management.

In short, vRAMMS provides a coherent pathway to integrate advancements in automated vision systems with traditional rail maintenance and management infrastructures.

vRAMMS provides automated abilities to: collect images of railroad signage (i.e., signage used in support of train operations), day or night; upload the images to the Cloud for processing, storage, and archiving; use CV and AI/ML to automatically assess sign status (e.g., damaged vs. not damaged); and thereafter interface with railroad maintenance, logistics, and management systems.

vRAMMS combines the following themes:

• CV (driven by AI/ML training/improvement cycles)
• Unobtrusive sensor hardware, mounted on the train
• Communications for general system status reporting
• GPS controls – turns on sensor(s) when approaching pre-geolocated signage
• Cloud upload, immediately sending the images in real-time, as they are collected
• Automated processing thereafter, via web-based software as a service (SaaS) tool(s)
• Automated signage status and assessment
• Recommendation as per signage status and assessment
  • No action
  • Repair
  • Replace

• Maintenance/logistics management interface
  • Work scheduler and status reporting
    • "In process"
    • "Completed"

• Asset/supply management
  • Repair/new parts and supply inventory
  • Distribution and allocation
  • Cost modeling

Innovations and Prototype Solutions