1. Problem Solving Effort for Improving the Performance and Reliability of the NJ Transit Light Rail:
1.) Develop System to Store and Analyze Sensor Data → 2.) Prepare and Execute Sensor Implementation → 3.) Collect Sensor Data → 4.) Analyze Information and Determine Necessary Maintenance → 5.) Perform Maintenance → 6.) Achieve Improved Performance and Reliability of Light Rail
2. Attributes of the Final Solution State:
A wireless sensor network distributed on the Light Rail tracks
A sensor collection database that takes in data from the sensors in real time
A program that monitors the system and categorizes issues in the track
An AI system that can improve the algorithm and detect issues ahead of time
Through using these attributes as a guideline for our final solution, we were able to tweak our step-by-step plan in order to implement all of it.
3. Design Goals and Specifications:
Goals: Improved Safety, Increased Reliability, Heightened Durability, Ease of Maintenance, Issue Prediction
Specifications: Take up less than 2.5% of Train Car Space, Weather Resistant, Low Latency (60ms-100ms), Low Power Usage
4. Eliminating Unnecessary Steps:
Currently we cannot see any "unnecessary" steps in our guide for these tasks.
As the solution progresses, we can find ways to make these steps more efficient such as the following:
- If a type of sensor fails to provide accurate data or is faulty, it can be replaced with another sensor that is more efficient
-If the algorithm is not meeting the required performance metrics, the algorithm should undergo another design phase to increase its efficiency
-If the AI is unable to efficiently work with the system, we can try different machine learning methods to improve the compatibility