Patent ID: 7688218

Claim:
A monitoring system for monitoring performance criteria of a railcar, said railcar including a car body and a plurality of trucks each carrying one or more wheel sets mounted on said railcar, comprising: one or more pads disposed between each wheel set and its corresponding truck; one or more sensors disposed on said pads, said sensors measuring parameters relevant to the operating performance of the railcar; a computational element disposed on said pads programmed to control the periodicity and sampling frequency of readings from said one or more sensors and for performing an analysis of data gathered via said readings; a communication element disposed on said pads for transmitting data selected as a result of said analysis; and a data control unit, mounted on said railcar, for uniquely addressing each pad, for receiving data transmitted from said one or more pads, for analyzing said data, and for selectively communicating said data to a receiver located at a location remote from said railcar.