Public transport is one of the cornerstones of a Smart City. Inhabitants and commuters rely on a close network of various transportation options to reach their homes and/or their workplaces. An efficient network of various transportation options also helps to reduce traffic jams and the pollution within cities. Travelling from door to door within a Smart city is comfortable and fast. Intelligent management options are essential to support individual traffic, as well as all other forms of transportation.
Passengers who switch from individual to public transportation have high demands. Transit Agencies need to offer support and service to satisfy their customers. Therefor one particularly busy North American transit agency, serving daily ridership of millions of passengers, demands a high level of robustness, continuity and confidence when deploying new technologies and systems. That is why they decided to implement and test an advanced new Integrated Multi-Modal Communications System from CSiT. In a real-world setting, the communications systems’ public address, passenger infotainment, media/advertising, CCTV and wireless connectivity functions are being put to the test.
Founded in 2011 by a group of senior executives from Telecite and ALSTOM, CSiT has decades of experience in delivering integrated communication and security systems to the transit industry worldwide. Their partners in developing this platform is Kontron, a leading global provider of Embedded Computing Technology (ECT) who blend Silicon Valley innovation with German engineering. Denis Poliquin, President of CSiT explains what drives their unique approach: “CSiT understands that the informational evolution occurring with smart devices, social media and the internet is changing passenger transit experience expectations. This ‘digital transformation’ is expanding where consumers now want greater access to more personalized information throughout their travels. By making the connected train a reality with their highly integrated and interoperable systems, CSiT is valuable contributor in the push to implement Smart Cities.”
Valentin Scinteie, Transportation Business Development Manager at Kontron additionally gives some insight into how Kontron’s technology supports CSiT’s bold vision: “Our TRACe™ transportation operational computers are completely compatible and fully validated with CSiT’s system solutions. TRACe products deliver the commercial-off-the- shelf (COTS) open architecture computing technologies that give CSiT the modular building blocks allowing them to offer maximum scalability and ease of upgradeability to their transit agency customers. “
By delivering the proven standardized technologies crucial to ensure interoperability between the diverse types of sub-systems found in the transportation environment, TRACe also helps CSiT simplify development. This allows them to focus on what they do best – build powerful, highly integrated and value-added systems, specifically designed for the transportation industry. Kontron’s comprehensive line of TRACe platforms meet the full breadth of security, interoperability, reliable connectivity and power efficiency requirements of today’s transit agencies.
Presently CSiT is in the process of installing its TRANSIS-Train system on a busy subway line. The solution is running on Kontron’s TRACe B304-TR and TRACe V304-TR EN50155-certified fanless transportation computers and two TRACe HMI D104 driver consoles. Due to Valentin Scinteie these kinds of systems become of high importance to metros. “Design and installation investments are futureproofed as our TRACe products are based on modular computer-on-module (COM) technology”, he states. “The COM building block approach permits easy customization of an application and streamlines upgrades to the latest high-performance Intel® Core i3/5/7 processor. To make these changes, all that is needed is to switch out the COM Express® module on the carrier board, all while maintaining compatibility with existing installed rail systems.”
“TRACe also provides the ability to integrate mezzanine options that adds further value, allowing our partners like CSiT to create new systems without significant modification to its original base design. At Kontron, we are thrilled to be able to demonstrate how our TRACe transportation computers are helping to drive the data revolution benefits of the connected train”, Valentine Scinteie concludes.
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