Unmanned aerial system concept design for rail yard monitoring

Safety and security monitoring in large yard areas, typical in rail yard environments, is an important task and any trespassing or vandalizing incidents can cause significant disruptions to routine activities and possibly to staff safety. This can impact normal rail network operation. This paper investigates the feasibility of using low-cost unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for monitoring rail yards. A rigorous literature survey on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) platforms for monitoring in various sectors is conducted. Given the large area of the rail yard, a concept of multiple rotor-based UAVs is explored with a particular eye on energy-efficiency. The proposed concept is validated hardware-wise through multiple flights conducted to monitor a scale-down setup of a "yard" concept in the lab's indoor flying arena. Analysis of the results showcases the potential of using low-cost multirotor UAV solutions for monitoring assistance in large yards.