Arox leads the digital revolution in railway maintenance with PrediRail

Advanced diagnostics powered by embedded sensor networks

Railway infrastructures play a crucial strategic role in connecting people, enabling economic growth, and supporting sustainable development. Ensuring their reliability and safety is therefore paramount.

Today, railway infrastructure monitoring typically relies on sensor-equipped trains that periodically inspect tracks, capturing only instantaneous data. This conventional method has critical limitations: it fails to provide continuous monitoring, involves significant logistical and financial costs, and requires temporary track closures that negatively impact overall network efficiency.

PrediRail, acronym of “Predictive health management of Railway infrastructures via ultra lowpower monitoring sensors network and AI-based classifier”, addresses these challenges head-on by introducing a revolutionary solution: a distributed and intelligent system capable of continuously monitoring rail wear, corrosion, and deformation status in real-time.

By embedding an advanced ultra-low-power system directly into the rails, PrediRail enables comprehensive data collection, eliminating the disruptions associated with traditional inspection methods. This represents a significant leap forward from reactive maintenance toward proactive, predictive maintenance, dramatically improving the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of railway infrastructure.

Arox is proud to be the recipient of a 2,3 M€ grant by Regione Toscana (PR FESR TOSCANA 2021 – 2027 AZIONE 1.1.2: "Ricerca e sviluppo per l'attrazione investimenti") for the PrediRail project, alongside JSW Steel Italy Piombino and Letomec, and serving as core technological partner. This collaboration aims to radically transform the paradigm of railway maintenance, moving from a reactive, intermittent, and costly approach to intelligent, efficient, and sustainable predictive maintenance.

The technological heart: AX-E0

AX-E0 is the ultra-low-power ASIC designed and developed by Arox, forming the critical technological backbone of PrediRail.

This innovative chip dramatically reduces energy consumption—up to ten times lower than traditional microcontrollers—ensuring sensors can operate autonomously throughout the entire lifecycle of the rail without needing maintenance or external power sources.

Thanks to AX-E0, each rail becomes an intelligent element capable of capturing critical data on wear, corrosion, and potential deformations and transmitting it in real-time to an advanced cloud platform.

This platform, powered by machine learning algorithms such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks, continuously analyzes the data and swiftly identifies early signs of deterioration, enabling proactive maintenance planning and optimization at a national level.

Collaboration of excellence

PrediRail’s success stems from the strategic partnership of industry-leading innovators, each contributing their distinct expertise:

1. Letomec: Supplies durable and accurate sensors, leveraging cutting-edge expertise in functional 3D printing and rigorous material characterization for demanding environments.
2. JSW Piombino: Ensures high-quality railway steel and seamless integration of sensors into rails, maintaining structural and functional integrity.

A new era in infrastructure monitoring

PrediRail marks a significant turning point in infrastructure monitoring, driven by Arox's innovative design methodology exemplified in AX-E0. By prioritizing ultra-low power consumption and embedding intelligence directly into the infrastructure itself, Arox sets a new standard for continuous, reliable monitoring solutions applicable to all types of critical infrastructure.

This groundbreaking approach unlocks previously unimaginable capabilities for predictive maintenance, ensuring resilience, optimizing resources, and enhancing safety on an unprecedented scale across various sectors.