Determining visibility of a railway infrastructure asset

Abstract

Visibility of a railway infrastructure asset (e.g. trackside railway signal 104) to a driver 107 of a train 103 on a railway track 102 is determined using a computer model modelling (e.g. in three dim

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining visibility of a railway infrastructure asset to a driver of a train on a railway track; the method comprising:obtaining a computer model modelling at least the railway track and the railway infrastructure asset,determining a reference point in the model space at which visibility of the railway infrastructure asset is to be determined,determining whether an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the reference point, anddetermining the railway infrastructure asset to be visible based on a determination that an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the reference point.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the railway infrastructure asset is a railway signal and the method is for determining a visibility of a trackside signal.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining a reference point comprises:determining a visibility distance,detemiining a position of the railway track located a distance determined based on the visibility distance from the railway infrastructure asset, anddetermining the reference point based on the determined position.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the determining a position of therailway track located a distance determined based on the visibility distance from the railway infrastructure asset comprises determining a position of the railway track located the distance along the railway track from the railway infrastructure asset.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the detennining the reference point based on the determined position comprises determining the reference point to be located a height above the determined position in model space.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the determining the reference point comprises determining a normal axis to the determined position, and determining the reference point to be a point intersected by the normal axis the height above the determined position in model space.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the determining a visibility distance comprises:obtaining information describing a time for which the railway infrastructure asset should be visible to a driver of a train on the railway track,obtaining information describing a speed limit for the railway track, anddetennining the visibility distance based on the time and the speed limit.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the reference point comprises determining whether an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the reference point within a particular region of model space projecting from the railway infrastructure asset.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the detennining a reference pointcomprises determining a plurality of reference points, wherein the determining whether an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the reference point comprises determining for each of the plurality of reference points whether an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and the respective reference point, and wherein the determining the railway infrastructure asset to be visible based on a determination that an unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the trackside object and the reference point comprises determining the railway infrastructure asset to be visible based on a determination thata respective unobstructed line-of-sight exists between the railway infrastructure asset and each of the plurality of reference points.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer model is a three-dimensional model modelling the railway track and the railway infrastructure asset in three-dimensional model space.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computer model further models one or more trackside objects.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining a computer model modelling at least the railway track and the railway infrastructure asset comprises building the computer model.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the building the computer model comprises:displaying via a graphical user interface a graphical representation of an initial computer model,receiving via a human-machine interface to the computer a user selection of a point m the modelled volume, andmodelling the railway infrastructure asset based on the selected point.

14. A computer-implemented method for determining a location for installation of a railway infrastructure asset, the method comprising:determining visibility of a railway infrastructure asset at a reference point in a computer model by the method of claim 1, anddetermining a physical location for placement of the railway infrastructure asset based on the reference point for which visibility was determined by the method of claim 1.

15. A computer system comprising:at least one processor, andat least one memory’ storing machine-readable instructions,wherein the at least one memory7 and the machine-readable instructions are configured to, 5 with the at least one processor, cause the computer system to determine a visibility of a railway infrastructure asset to a driver of a train on a railway track by the method of claim 1.

16. A computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer system, causes the computer system to carry7 out the method of claim 1.1017. A computer-readable data carrier having the computer program of claim 16 stored thereon.15

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