Abstract: Methods for determining a temperature of a portion of an electrically conductive substrate are provided wherein the substrate is heated by applying an electrical current flow through the substrate. The method for determining the temperature employs a thermocouple including a first tab element and a second tab element that are spaced apart from one another along an axis transverse to a direction of the current flow. In another example, an apparatus includes an electrically conductive substrate and a direct heating apparatus configured to heat the substrate with an electrical current flow through the substrate. The apparatus includes first and second coupling positions of a thermocouple that are spaced apart from one another along an axis transverse to a direction of the current flow.

Abstract: Methods for determining a temperature of a portion of an electrically conductive substrate are provided wherein the substrate is heated by applying an electrical current flow through the substrate. The method for determining the temperature employs a thermocouple including a first tab element and a second tab element that are spaced apart from one another along an axis transverse to a direction of the current flow. In another example, an apparatus includes an electrically conductive substrate and a direct heating apparatus configured to heat the substrate with an electrical current flow through the substrate. The apparatus includes first and second coupling positions of a thermocouple that are spaced apart from one another along an axis transverse to a direction of the current flow.

Abstract: A wheel detector for indicating the presence of a rail vehicle on a set of spaced rails is disclosed. The wheel detector transmits a radar pulse signal and samples a portion of the signal corresponding to a target area on one of the rails. The wheel detector will generate an indication signal if a change in the reflectivity of the received signal corresponding to the target area is detected. The wheel detector may additionally include multiple transmitters and receivers to provide redundancy, and be configured to determine the linear velocity and direction of a wheel.

Abstract: A car space measurement apparatus for tracking a rail vehicle position on a track is provided, which includes a wayside sensor and a supervisory processor. The wayside sensor senses multiple track parameters that are representative of the rail vehicle position. The supervisory processor receives selected track parameters and determines the rail vehicle position therefrom. Also the supervisory processor asynchronously displays a track position indication representative of the rail vehicle position. The apparatus can have an operational mode, a calibration mode, and a self -test mode. The selected track parameters are analog track phase signals. The supervisory processor can include an analog signal processor, a phase processor for determining the track position indication and a control processor for asynchronously receiving and displaying the track position indication. The asynchronous interface can be a asynchronous computer bus interface.