Patent ID: 8672273

Claim:
A rail car sensor network comprising: at least one rail car including a main body portion having a first end section, a second end section and an intermediate portion; a sensor assembly mounted to the rail car, the sensor assembly including at least one sensor positioned to detect a rail car parameter, and a wireless communication device configured to transmit data corresponding to the rail car parameter, the at least one sensor including at least one orientation sensor configured to detect an orientation of the at least one rail car relative to another rail car; and a receiver assembly mounted remote from the at least one rail car, the receiver assembly including a wireless communication monitor configured to receive the data corresponding to the rail car parameter from the wireless communication device, wherein the at least one rail car is a plurality of rail cars that establish a rail car system, each of the plurality of rail cars includes a corresponding sensor assembly, the wireless communication device in each of the plurality of rail cars being configured to transmit rail car parameter data to the wireless communication device arranged in others of the plurality of rail cars and the receiver assembly.