Video based obstacle detection in catenaries of railways

The present paper describes the concept and first results of a system, capable to detect obstacles in catenaries as an onboard tool. To avoid a damage of the pantograph it must be retracted immediately after an obstacle is detected. The presented system is based on a triocular camera sensor system combined with smart image processing routines. The present paper describes the objectives of obstacle detection, realization concepts and its specifications, first. Then the system, the algorithms, the results and limits are presented and discussed.