An embedded system methodology for real-time analysis of railways track profile

Inspecting railway status is decisive to assure high operating safety, appropriate maintenance schedule, low maintenance and operating costs. This operation consists of the analysis of the rail profile, overall geometry and undulation. Embedded image processing systems based on laser scanning and image analysis, are the key to achieve the complete track profile measurement during ordinary service of a rail convoy. This paper presents a methodology to design an embedded composite system, regarding the tradeoff between the accuracy and the computational complexity.