SFU's Idea Center: Smartphone-Based Rail Car Tracking for Geo-Spatial Organization

Nathan Cammarata, a rising senior at Saint Francis University (fall 2025), is double majoring in General Engineering and Mathematics. This summer, under the supervision of Dr. Tim Miller (Associate Professor of Engineering), he is collaborating with Curry Rail Services  in Hollidaysburg, PA, to develop a smartphone-based strategy for tracking the location of rail cars in real time.

As rail cars are constantly moved for cleaning, repair, or inspection, Curry Rail Services needs an efficient system to quickly identify the location of each car. “In a busy rail yard, cars are constantly being shifted for cleaning, repair, and inspection,” explains Don Gill, Director of Business Development at Curry Rail. “Having a fast and simple way to pinpoint where each specific car is located helps us eliminate delays, prevent misplaced assets, and keep crews working efficiently. Just as important, it allows us to identify unnecessary movement — saving time, reducing labor costs, and improving overall yard flow.”

For this project, Nathan has developed a Python script that works with an iOS app which watermarks each photo with a timestamp and geographic coordinates. The script extracts the time, location, and the rail car’s ID from the image, then compiles that data into a daily Google Earth file. This allows Curry Rail to visually track car locations throughout the day.

Nathan envisions future development of the project, ideally by students with mobile app development experience. “If this process were built into an all-in-one mobile app,” he says, “it would significantly simplify the tracking of rail cars by removing the need for a separate computer to run the script.”

This collaboration provides mutual benefits. Nathan is gaining hands-on experience in practical engineering applications, while Curry Rail is improving operational efficiency and helping to shape the next generation of engineers.

An Altoona native, Nathan has been involved in several engineering initiatives at SFU, including the National Eclipse Ballooning Project    (led by Br. Marius Strom) and the CubeSat Mission  (led by Dr. Lanika Ruzhitskaya at SFU and Dr. Jeff Mendenhall, 1989 SFU Mathematics alumnus and supervisor at MIT Lincoln Laboratory).

 In 2024, Nathan participated in a ten-week NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program, working on computational balloon physics research at Louisiana State University. This was not Nathan’s first visit to Louisiana, as he presented on Saint Francis University’s solar eclipse science outreach in January at the 243rd American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting  in New Orleans, LA. 

The IDEA Center at Saint Francis University 

Founded in 2024 with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate,  The IDEA Center at Saint Francis University is eager to support more projects like this one. Interested in partnering with us? Contact Dr. Tim Miller: tfmiller@francis.edu or Dr. Rachel Wagner: rwagner@francis.edu to learn more and explore collaboration opportunities.