Automation of railway crossing gates using labVIEW

Abstract

Train accidents at level crossings have always been a concern for the railways. The aim of this paper is to propose an automatic gate system at unmanned level crossings to replace gates operated by gatekeepers. By using this automatic railway gate management system, the arrival of the train is detected by the proximity detector placed with reference to the gate. Hence, the time that the gates are closed is less than with hand-operated gates and the amount of human labor needed is reduced too. This system can be employed at unmanned crossings wherever the probabilities of accidents is high and reliable operation is needed. It provides safety to road users by reducing accidents that occur as a result of carelessness on the part of either road users or gatekeepers. Mistreatment IR sensors and servo motors work automatically to open and shut the gates depending on the presence of train before the crossing. With relevance to the paper that used a single IR sensor to trace the train’s position by employing a controller, we used two IR sensors on either side of the track. And later we programmed them by connecting them to myRIO through National Instruments LabVIEW platform.