Anomaly detection using a modified kernel-based tracking in the pantograph–catenary system

• A new contactless condition monitoring method is proposed for anomaly detection in the pantograph–catenary system.
• Kernel-based tracking is modified for a robust tracking of catenary wire.
• The foreground detection and object tracking are combined for simultaneously arcing detection.
• The detailed analysis of the trajectory of the contact wire gives useful information to evaluate the pantograph condition.

Condition monitoring is very important in railway systems to reduce maintenance costs and to increase the safety. A high power is needed for the movement of the electric train and collection of the current is critical. Faults occurred in the current collection system cause serious damage in the line and disrupt the railway traffic. When a wear occurs on the contact strip, the asymmetries and distortion are generated in supply voltage and current waveforms because of pantograph arcing. Therefore, the monitoring of pantograph–catenary system has been a hot topic in recent years. This paper deals with a method based on kernel-based object tracking for identifying the interaction between pantograph–catenary systems that gives useful information about the problems of catenary-pantograph systems. The method consists of two key components. The first component is based on the kernel based tracking of the contact wire. The contact point between pantograph and catenary is tracked and the obtained positions are saved as a signal. In the other hand, the foreground of each frame is found by using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). The occurred arcs are detected by combining tracking and foreground detection methods. The second component employs S-transform for analyzing the pantograph problems, which are used to detect the faults occurred on pantograph strip. The experimental results imply that the proposed method is useful to detect burst of arcing, and irregular positioning of the contact wire.