{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T16:36:07Z","timestamp":1775579767406,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]],"date-time":"2020-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1608249600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Railway track circuit failures can cause significant train delays and economic losses. A crucial point of the railway operation system is the corrective maintenance process. During this operation, the railway lines have the circulation of trains interrupted in the respective sector, where traffic restoration occurs only after completing the maintenance process. Depending on the cause and length of the track circuit, identifying and solving the problem may take a long time. A tool that assists in track circuit fault detection during an inspection adds agility and efficiency in its restoration and cost reduction. This paper presents a new method, based on frequency domain reflectometry, to diagnose and locate false occupancy failures of track circuits. Initially, simulations are performed considering simplified track circuit approximations to demonstrate the operation of the proposed method, where the fault position is estimated by identifying the null points and through non-linear regression on signal amplitude response. A field test is then carried out in a track circuit approximately 1500 m long to validate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method can identify and estimate the fault location due to a short circuit between rails with high accuracy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s20247259","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,17]],"date-time":"2020-12-17T21:21:49Z","timestamp":1608240109000},"page":"7259","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Identification and Localization of Track Circuit False Occupancy Failures Based on Frequency Domain Reflectometry"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7816-9576","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tiago A.","family":"Alvarenga","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4300-703X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Augusto S.","family":"Cerqueira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1792-6793","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luciano M. A.","family":"Filho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5199-308X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael A.","family":"Nobrega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2735-4792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leonardo M.","family":"Honorio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora 36036-900, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Henrique","family":"Veloso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MRS Log\u00edstica, Juiz de Fora 36060-010, MG, Brazil"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1243\/09544097JRRT296","article-title":"Availability analysis of railway track circuits","volume":"224","author":"Patra","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part F J. Rail Rapid Transit"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1109\/MVT.2013.2268326","article-title":"Track Circuit Failures: Their Impact on Conventional Signaling in CBTC Projects","volume":"8","author":"Diemunsch","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Bowden, R.P. (September, January 29). Broken rail detection in non-signaled territory. Proceedings of the AREMA Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, USA."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1109\/MVT.2014.2333764","article-title":"Broken Rail Detection: Practical Application of New Technology or Risk Mitigation Approaches","volume":"9","author":"Thurston","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Zarembski, A.M., and Palese, J.W. (2006, January 4\u20138). Managing risk on the railway infrastructure. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Railway Research, Montreal, QC, Canada."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"585","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conengprac.2007.06.007","article-title":"Fault detection and diagnosis for railway track circuits using neuro-fuzzy systems","volume":"16","author":"Chen","year":"2008","journal-title":"Control Eng. Pract."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1016\/j.engappai.2009.06.005","article-title":"Fault diagnosis in railway track circuits using Dempster\u2013Shafer classifier fusion","volume":"23","author":"Oukhellou","year":"2010","journal-title":"Eng. Appl. Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"523","DOI":"10.1109\/TNNLS.2016.2551940","article-title":"Railway Track Circuit Fault Diagnosis Using Recurrent Neural Networks","volume":"28","author":"Verbert","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Neural Netw. Learn. Syst."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sun, S., and Zhao, H. (2013, January 4\u20137). Fault Diagnosis in Railway Track Circuits Using Support Vector Machines. Proceedings of the 2013 12th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, Miami, FL, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICMLA.2013.146"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hopkins, B.M., and There, S. (2011, January 16\u201318). Broken Rail Prediction and Detection Using Wavelets and Artificial Neural Networks. Proceedings of the 2011 Joint Rail Conference, Pueblo, CO, USA.","DOI":"10.1115\/JRC2011-56026"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Turner, S. (2004). Feasibility of Locomotive-Mounted Broken Rail Detection, Final Report for High-Speed Rail IDEA Project."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Rumsey, A.F., Achakji, G., Bois, S., Braban, C., Childs, F., Crispo, M., Estivals, N., Gillen, H., Glickenstein, H., and Graponne, V. (2004). IEEE Standard for Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) Performance and Functional Requirements. IEEE Std 1474.1-2004 (Revision of IEEE Std 1474.1-1999), IEEE."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sireesha, R., Ajay Kumar, B., Mallikarjunaiah, G., and Bharath Kumar, B. (2015). Broken Rail Detection System using RF Technology. SSRG Int. J. Electron. Commun. Eng. (SSRG-IJECE).","DOI":"10.14445\/23488549\/IJECE-V2I4P103"},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Schwartz, K., and District, B.A.R.T. (2004). Development of an Acoustic Broken Rail Detection System, Final Report for High-Speed Rail IDEA Project."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"451","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2010.2060322","article-title":"Broadband Reflectometry for Diagnostics and Monitoring Applications","volume":"11","author":"Cataldo","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1479","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2005.858894","article-title":"Mixed-signal reflectometer for location of faults on aging wiring","volume":"5","author":"Tsai","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cataldo, A., Benedetto, E.D., Cannazza, G., Huebner, C., Trebbels, D., Giaquinto, N., and D\u2019Aucelli, G.M. (2017, January 22\u201325). Controlling the irrigation process in agriculture through elongated TDR-sensing cables. Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), Turin, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/I2MTC.2017.7969761"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Xudong, S., Jianzhong, Z., Tao, J., and Liwen, W. (2010, January 7\u20139). Design of aircraft cable intelligent fault diagnosis and location system based on time domain reflection. Proceedings of the 2010 8th World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, Jinan, China."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Scales, J. (2014). How Track Circuits Detect and Protect Trains. Railwaysignalling, 1\u20137."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Teague, O.E., Case, C., Daddario, E., De Simone, D., and Krambles, G. (1976). Automatic Train Control in Rail Rapid Transit, Office of Technology Assessment."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Alvarenga, T.A. (2018). Identifica\u00e7\u00e3o e Localiza\u00e7\u00e3o de Falhas em Circuitos de Via de Ferrovias Baseada em Reflectometria no Dom\u00ednio da Frequ\u00eancia. [Ph.D. Thesis, Federal University of Juiz de Fora]."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Serra, A.M., Ramos, D., Dellacqua, F., Andrade, J.L.G., Gueiral, M., Lima, P.H., and Rubiale, P. (2010). Sistemas de Sinaliza\u00e7\u00e3o: Trilha T\u00e9cnica, VALER-Educa\u00e7\u00e3o VALE."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"666","DOI":"10.1109\/19.177340","article-title":"In situ determination of rail track electrical impedance and admittance matrix elements","volume":"41","author":"Hill","year":"1992","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1109\/25.211460","article-title":"Rail track distributed transmission line impedance and admittance: Theoretical modeling and experimental results","volume":"42","author":"Hill","year":"1993","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.12989\/sss.2006.2.1.025","article-title":"A Critical Comparison of Reflectometry Methods for Location of Wiring Faults","volume":"2","author":"Furse","year":"2006","journal-title":"Smart Struct. Syst."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Doo, S.H., Ra, W.S., Yoon, T.S., and Park, J.B. (2009, January 10\u201312). Fast time-frequency domain reflectometry based on the AR coefficient estimation of a chirp signal. Proceedings of the 2009 American Control Conference, St. Louis, MO, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ACC.2009.5160315"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Furse, C. (2011). Reflectometry for structural health monitoring. New Developments in Sensing Technology for Structural Health Monitoring, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-21099-0_8"},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"407","article-title":"Rail track as a lossy transmission line Part I: Parameters and new measurement methods","volume":"XLIX","author":"Szelag","year":"2000","journal-title":"Arch. Electr. Eng."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"568","DOI":"10.1109\/72.97934","article-title":"A general regression neural network","volume":"2","author":"Specht","year":"1991","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Neural Netw."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"576","DOI":"10.1109\/TNN.2004.826127","article-title":"Generalized regression neural networks in time-varying environment","volume":"15","author":"Rutkowski","year":"2004","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Neural Netw."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Bauer, M.M. (1995). General Regression Neural Network, GRNN-A Neural Network for Technical Use. [Master\u2019s Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison]."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112357","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fluid.2019.112357","article-title":"Estimating solubilities of ternary water-salt systems using simulated annealing algorithm based generalized regression neural network","volume":"505","author":"Meng","year":"2020","journal-title":"Fluid Phase Equilibria"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vacuum.2004.05.018","article-title":"Prediction of plasma etching using a randomized generalized regression neural network","volume":"76","author":"Kim","year":"2004","journal-title":"Vacuum"},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Peebles, P.Z.J. (2001). Probability, Random Variables, and Random Signal Principles, McGraw-Hill. [4th ed.]."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/24\/7259\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T10:46:41Z","timestamp":1760179601000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/24\/7259"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"24","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12]]}},"alternative-id":["s20247259"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s20247259","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,18]]}}}