{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:10:26Z","timestamp":1760145026297,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,11]],"date-time":"2024-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1718064000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J. Imaging"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This article presents a computer vision-based approach to switching electric locomotive power supplies as the vehicle approaches a railway neutral section. Neutral sections are defined as a phase break in which the objective is to separate two single-phase traction supplies on an overhead railway supply line. This separation prevents flashovers due to high voltages caused by the locomotives shorting both electrical phases. The typical system of switching traction supplies automatically employs the use of electro-mechanical relays and induction magnets. In this paper, an image classification approach is proposed to replace the conventional electro-mechanical system with two unique visual markers that represent the \u2018Open\u2019 and \u2018Close\u2019 signals to initiate the transition. When the computer vision model detects either marker, the vacuum circuit breakers inside the electrical locomotive will be triggered to their respective positions depending on the identified image. A Histogram of Oriented Gradient technique was implemented for feature extraction during the training phase and a Linear Support Vector Machine algorithm was trained for the target image classification. For the task of image segmentation, the Circular Hough Transform shape detection algorithm was employed to locate the markers in the captured images and provided cartesian plane coordinates for segmenting the Object of Interest. A signal marker classification accuracy of 94% with 75 objects per second was achieved using a Linear Support Vector Machine during the experimental testing phase.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jimaging10060142","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,11]],"date-time":"2024-06-11T11:58:58Z","timestamp":1718107138000},"page":"142","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Automatic Switching of Electric Locomotive Power in Railway Neutral Sections Using Image Processing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Christopher Thembinkosi","family":"Mcineka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Transnet, 121 Jan Moolman Street, Vryheid 3100, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5141-3310","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nelendran","family":"Pillay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kevin","family":"Moorgas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1498-6525","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shaveen","family":"Maharaj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Han, Z., Liu, S., and Gao, S. (2010, January 28\u201331). An automatic system for China high-speed multiple unit train running through neutral section with electric load. Proceedings of the 2010 Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference, Chengdu, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/APPEEC.2010.5448394"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ran, W., Zheng, T.Q., Li, X., and Liu, B. (2011, January 20\u201323). Research on power electronic switch system used in the auto-passing neutral section with electric load. Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems, Beijing, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICEMS.2011.6073775"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Mcineka, C.T. (2023, January 01). Autonomous Switching of Electric Locomotives in Neutral Sections. Available online: https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/10321\/4881."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, D., Pan, M., Tian, W., and Yang, W. (2010, January 1\u20132). 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