Frequently Asked Questions 

• What vehicles are used in providing ultrasonic flaw detection?

CATER uses four (4) vehicles to deliver effective flaw detection.

These are the rail-bound train type,

The road-rail truck-based type.

A light-weight electric vehicle,

And a hand-push type for hand analysis.

See each carrier description 

• What performance does each vehicle have to assess flaws in the rail?

Each has the same ultrasonic capability but they perform at differing speeds.  The rail-bound vehicle and the road-rail  vehicles are the fastest and the HANDWave hand-pushed unit operates at walking pace.

• What is important when clients deal with CATER?

Each customer has personal access to CATER staff. This individual approach is important when making sure the product is exactly what the client needs.

See Customer Support

• What experience does CATER have in the rail industry?

Cater is staffed by engineering professionals with many years servicing and developing hardware and software in the rail industry.  Their skills are diverse to handle any tasks that a client may require CATER to tackle.

See Company

• What do the vehicles cost? What is our pricing policy?

CATER builds rail flaw detection equipment individually for a particular purpose and to suit a client’s cost/benefit ratio.  This means the client receives the best product that is useful to them and at an affordable price.  All contracts are individually negotiated.  The advantage is that ULTRAWave and RIPWave may be tailored to suit the client’s needs.

• What else can be offered with ULTRAWave?

VLIDS assesses rail flaws, track geometry, corrosion levels and track-side infrastructure.  This high-speed imaging and analysis system may be combined with the existing RFD or used separately as a stand-alone facility.

See VLIDS

• Can other companies or groups approach CATER for business ventures?

Definitely. It is an advantage to combine strengths to provide an improved service for our customers

See Partnerships 

•   How do we contact you?
•   What if we have any other questions?

We are based in Perth, Western Australia.

You may choose to ring, fax or email directly or you may choose to enquire through the contact form.  A CATER representative  will reply directly to you.

See Contact Us

•  What is the difference between ELIDS and VLIDS?

ELIDS is Electronic Location IDentification System.
The ELIDS method gathers information about the current location of the RRV using other electronic devices. The fundamental reason to use the ELIDS is to correct for location errors in the recorded RFD data. The RRV uses the shaft encoder (SE) method to measure out the location (odometer) and this is linked to the artefact from ULTRAWave. The SE can not be exact over long distances, typically it can do better than 0.2% error. In 1000m the location at the end may be at 1002m. The SE is very accurate for short distances using 'relative' measurement, that is between artefact ID1436 and artefact ID 1437, its very good, so its easy to find the artefact ID 1437 because we know ID1436 is a rail end for example, we find the rail end then measure the difference to the ID1437. So, if we update the ELIDS location every 1km (for example there is a RFID box every 1km) then we can never be more than 0.2% out in location. Actually, in the Japan Railways Central System it is 0.25m.

As for ELIDS, there are two broad groups for these; RFID and GPS.

RFID is Radio Frequency IDentification. See http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID . Basically, the trackside contains fixed electronically coded devices that contain the exact location. As the RRV passes over / next to the RFID device, it will emit the exact location to the RRV.
The ULTRAWave system then captures this and links it to the shaft encoder odometer that it is being collected from the RRV. We have various schemes to reorder the ULTRAWave RFD artefact information according to the ELIDS odometer.

The GPS is another form of electronic RF measurement. The GPS is good because it continually updates the location, not just at selected points on the track like RFID. However, it has limitations, e.g. unless its a very expensive system, its accuracy is in metres. Note: obstructions such as tunnels stop the GPS!

The ULTRAWave System can accept many different styles of ELIDS, it is not limited to the two broad groups above. Please enquire if you have other requirements.

The Video Location IDentification System uses video (or picture information) to recognise the actual artefact location. The picture contains the information necessary to pass to the field crew when they are looking to find the artefact for further examination or rail replacement. Using the picture and the odometer location from the RRV, the field crew can quickly locate the artefact area for examination. The VLIDS is geared towards the operators and field crew without extra infrastructure, while the ELIDS is fully electronic and requires supporting infrastructure.
VLIDS also has other functions. The pictures aid the operator to decide on the classification and using image analysis, the computer can locate items of visual interest that may  be important to the field and operating staff that would otherwise not been of significance to the RFD. Both of these functions are very important even if VLIDS is not used for locating artefacts.

Both ELIDS and VLIDS systems are excellent for location accuracy of artefacts of interest.

•  Is the SE and GPS included in the basic system?

The RRV must use the shaft encoder (SE) system for measuring the location (odometer) and  therefore, always comes with the system or it uses a SE already present on the vehicle. The SE provides the system with continuous , linear odometer measurements which is essential.
The GPS is an optional system. It can not replace the SE system. The GPS System works well in some systems while the high mountains, tunnels and overhead station structures can limit its advantages by blocking the satellite RF signal.There is an extension to the GPS, called Inert Measurement which measures the vehicles acceleration and can predict its location. Combining GPS and Inert means that the effect of tunnels and stations etc. can be minimised and the accuracy of the results is improved.

We quote inclusively in the price for a SE system and exclusively for a GPS system.

ATP
 ATP (Automatic Train  Protection) used in some rail networks contains a RFID basic system with train control extensions. Optionally, we could quote to use the information about the current location from the ATP if it is compatible with the methods we use. This can be discussed at the point of tender.