A train speeds across the countryside. Everything seems normal. But one of the wheels on one of cars has a microscopic crack in it that’s about to cause a derailment.

How can you tell which of the thousands of wheels on this train needs attention?

You can’t. But sensors in the tracks can – by listening to the wheels as they pass overhead.

As the spot progresses and the wheel gets closer and closer to the sensor, we strip away the sounds of the engine, the pistons, the tracks, and the couplings. Until we’re finally able to focus on the telltale sound of a cracked wheel passing over a sensor.

The train and the surrounding community are safe, thanks to a few sensors and a lot of very powerful real-time analytics.