Detecting issues with loading units, from semi-trailers to containers, is still a time-consuming practice and the allocation of responsibilities is often blurry. Swiss deep-tech software company Flycatcher is now trying to tackle this problem in a different way, as the company’s founder Dario Mantegazza explained to RailFreight.com.
Rather than trying to identify all the possible anomalies, the integrity inspection software works on studying normal asset conditions, making it easier to catch when something is wrong. “Usually it is necessary to define all the issues that the technology should identify, but it is a costly process and not always implementable”, Mantegazza pointed out. “By providing the system with examples of normal visual conditions”, he said, “we can assess the integrity of a loading unit and determine whether it is fit to be transported.”
For now, Flycatcher is focussing on automated visual analysis for loading units in terminals, which is where loading units are moved from one transport mode to another, for example from road to rail and vice versa. Cameras are installed at the entrance gates of these facilities and with a quick visual inspection it is possible to assess whether or not a unit is in the right conditions to be moved further. “This is especially important for semi-trailers, where visual anomalies can pose bigger challenges during transport”, Mantegazza highlighted.
Terminals are often under pressure
“Terminals are often under pressure in these situations”, Mantegazza added. If a railway undertaking deems a loading unit unfit to be placed on their wagons, it usually leads to delays and bottlenecks.
By checking loading units right before they enter the terminals, Flycatcher’s technology removes this problem. The cameras at the gate provide visual data to FlyCatcher software, which can quickly assess what the ‘standard’ integrity of a loading unit is.
“In just a few minutes, we can define the normality of an asset”, Mantegazza said. This, he added, is a much smoother process than trying to identify all possible problems that a unit might have. Once this normality is understood, finding out what is wrong can be achieved in less than a second.
Moreover, many ports and terminals still carry out inspections manually, meaning that an operator has to walk around the loading unit and make sure that everything is in the right place.
This procedure can take up to 5 minutes per unit. Thus, checking a whole train requires quite some time. With this method, however, the process becomes faster, as the cameras can quickly ‘decide’ whether further inspections are needed. Plus, the software can pinpoint what the exact issue is, making the manual inspection even faster since the operator would know where to look.