Rail detecting device, front monitoring camera device for rail, rail cars, and rail detection method and control method

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rail detection method free from false detection even under an environment such as disturbance.SOLUTION: A forward monitor camera device 1 for a railroad has an imaging position determination part 6 detecting a rail vanishing point at which two rails R of the railroad appear to be overlapped with each other or at which the two rails R are broken off, on image information of a wide-angle type camera 3, from the image information of the wide-angle type camera 3, determining a direction of the detected rail vanishing point as an imaging direction of a telephoto camera 4, and moving the telephoto camera 4 to the determined imaging direction. The imaging position determination part 6 executes control for selecting the railway pattern approximate to the image information of the actual rail imaged by the wide-angle type camera 3 from a plurality of kinds of railway patterns that are image information of the rail, comparing a curvature of the rail in the railway pattern having been selected last time and a curvature to be selected this time when adopting the selected railway pattern for the detection of the rail vanishing point in place of the image information of the actual rail, and narrowing down the railway pattern permitted with the selection from a railway pattern group on the basis of similarity between the curvatures of two sides.