Olaf Richter

Principles and Challenges for Radar Train Speed-over-ground Measurement

Contactless speed measurement by Doppler radar devices using microwaves is an established form of technology. Confrontation with specific conditions in rail traffic also has a certain tradition [1, 3]. Nevertheless, this application of microwave sensor technology continues to feature major technical challenges which entail specific solutions extending far beyond adjustments of high-frequency components. In addition to signal processing, the different test and validation stages in particular involve a considerable share of the operational product. Taking the example of a special sensor architecture, this paper intends to examine the sophisticated conditions and constraints and the structure of the necessary development process in greater detail. Hence, it provides information for anyone involved in comparable projects, in particular for their system architects. Index Terms – Speed Doppler radar device, redundancy, railway engineering, development process, test environment, climatic test, digital signal processing, system architecture