News

On April 17th, 2025 we had the honor of welcoming Mr. Semih Turnaoğlu, Operations Director of the Aydın-Denizli Motorway in Turkey, along with representatives from Fernas Group and a technical delegation from the General Directorate of Highways of the Republic of Turkey.
During their visit, we had the opportunity to present our products and R&D activities, as well as provide a tour of our production facilities. We sincerely thank them for their time and this valuable visit, which was a source of great pride for our entire team.

Jürgen Dichtl, Managing Director at Sensor Line GmbH, was part of the 8th Expert Conference Digital Rail 2024 in Munich, Germany. He described the technology background of our SL FORPS sensor which is designed to replace the intermediate layer and measure the vertical impact of a train onto the rail.

Sensor Line, member of the Quarterhill Inc., is focusing on B2B with system integrators as its main target group. Sensor Line’s rail traffic sensors (FORPS) are at the cutting edge of fiber optic sensor technology. The principle of construction ensures durability and protection against environmental impacts as well as highest reliability.

Typical applications by our solution partners are:
• Flat wheel detection
• Axle weight measurement (WIM)
• Vibration/shock analysis
• Track bed analysis
• Axle & wagon counting
• Speed measurement
• Direction detection
• Train length detection

In order to offer our international customers and partners an even better service, we will expand our network of qualified distribution partners.
We are proud and happy to announce that we are now cooperating with our brand-new distribution partner Mobylis (mobylis.es/sensores) for the Spanish road market. Mobylis is a highly qualified partner, and we are convinced that we will increase our service level in Spain.

Aydin-Denizli Motorway (ADO) is an important part of Turkey's interconnected highway network, which starts at the EU border, crosses the Marmara and Aegean regions and leads to the Mediterranean Sea via Istanbul. The project was constructed and operated by Fernas Otoyol Corp. and has a total length of 163 km, including 140 km of 2x3 lane motorway and 23 km of connecting roads. The highway has 9 toll plazas, 40 entry, and 47 exit lanes and offers users the option of electronic (RFID) and cash payments.
Sensor Line's contract partner and system integrator Intetra developed and installed the highway traffic management and toll collection system.
Sensor Line's fiber optic axle sensors, which are integrated into its vehicle classification system ‘SL Road System Basic’ are the key components at the entry and exit toll lanes for vehicle detection and vehicle classification.
At the end of November 2024, we visited Mr. Muhammed Alyürük from Intetra and Semih Turnaoglu from Fernas Otoyol and informed them about our latest technologies.

On May 28, 1996, Fritz Motzko realized a long-cherished wish and founded his own company in Schrobenhausen, Sensor Line GmbH. The brilliant idea of developing sensors for road and rail traffic from optical fibers was the igniting spark.

At that time, the company started with a small number of employees, customers and a single type of sensor that was sold. Over the years, the company grew steadily and our technology spread worldwide. Not only did the number of employees, customers and different types of sensors grow, but also the experience in the field and the worldwide recognition of our unique quality sensors. Meanwhile, about 70,000 sensors have been produced and installed in 50 countries worldwide.

Where do we go from here? Hopefully another successful 25 years, and even longer. Maintaining our high standard in production and the high quality of our products and even expanding them further are our goals.

After the acquisition by the Canadian company IRD this year, we feel that we are in a position to achieve this and further expand our market share in this area.

We want to deliver future-oriented applications for road and rail transport and contribute to safe roads / railroads and smart cities worldwide!

We are excited to announce that Sensor Line has been acquired by International Road Dynamics Inc. (IRD) www.irdinc.com, as a wholly owned subsidiaryl. We are joining the IRD portfolio of products and solutions for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) globally. This acquisition supports IRD’s continued growth in the ITS industry and supports the goal of being a leading supplier to the worldwide toll market. Sensor Line is thrilled to join the IRD family, to innovate together and continue to deliver exceptional experiences for customers, partners, and distributors globally.

Sensor Line honors its long-term commitment to ELISA Family Aftercare by again donating 8.000,00 € in 2020.
ELISA supports ill children and their families after they have left hospital. The children are chronically or terminally ill, are prematurely born, have had an accident or developed cancer. Some of them are ill since birth, so ELISA accompanies them for many years. Their team consists of professional nurses and therapists with much empathy and experience.
With this year’s donation, Sensor Line contributes to the foundation of a mobile palliative care team.
If you would like to help as well, please go to elisa-familiennachsorge.de

With its synchronized time stamp, a high resolution of 10 kHz, and a dynamic range of 33dB, it is state of the art engineering.

The XD-1100 has a high amplification and a high resolution, thus delivering crystal clear signals for a multitude of applications such as flat wheel detection, vibration or track bed analysis.

And unlike its analog predecessor, it is digital with a USB and RS-485 serial output and a lot of freely selectable settings for analog voltage output, amplification and so on. Additionally, it always adjusts the quiescent signal so that the system is insensitive to outer changes.

All of our FORPS sensors (FORPS UIC 60/HS, FORPS UIC 54, FORPS S 49) can be directly connected to it.

Sensor Line is a pioneer in the field of fiber optic technology. We have been developing fiber optic sensors for road and rail traffic for more than 20 years now.

The most crucial point of our fiber optic sensors in rail is that they are immune against electromagnetic interference in contrast to conventional systems (it eliminates the negative effects of classic electro-magnetic systems, such as electromagnetic interference).

And not only is our FORPS a fiber optic sensor, but we also have fiber optic cables with low attenuation losses leading all the way to the roadside cabinet. So there is no need for any shielding and electronics in the track area or along the track.

Using our fiber optic technology, you do not only have the advantage of lower costs (versus copper), but you also get to eliminate lightning damage and electromagnetic interference.

You just lift the rail, put the sensor pad on the sleeper and put the rail down again, without even stopping the running train traffic. No mechanical machining is needed.

Then you connect the cables to a road side cabinet where our electronical interface is. The digital signals are being collected with a computer and sent to your server via LTE.

When you want to cover a full rail wheel, for example for flat wheel detection, usually 16 sensors are being installed, 14 normal ones and 2 with a temperature sensor. Then you might want to consider closing the track for a few hours! 😊

We have got all different sensor types available for the different rail dimensions, for example UIC 54, UIC 60, UIC 60 High Speed for TGV, S 49…