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NetModule’s Success Story – Rhaetian Railway’s WiFi Solution

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Written by NetModule

The Project

The Rhaetian Railway transports twelve million passengers on adventurous journeys through Graubünden every year. One third of the 385-kilometre-long route network is 1500 metres above sea level. One third is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks to the panoramic Bernina Express and Glacier Express trains and with the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscape being named a UNESCO World Heritage, the railway enjoys a global reputation.

In 2016, onway ag (formerly WLAN-Partner AG) installed Public-WiFi at the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) station in St. Moritz as part of a pilot project. Further stations in the RhB network followed. This powerful WiFi is now also being made available to passengers on the train. The RhB already had its own infotainment solution in the Bernina and Glacier Express vehicles. In establishing an internet connection, the company sought to meet the following requirements:

  • Passengers can connect to the infotainment via WiFi and still access other activities online, such as chats, social media, etc.;
  • All requirements of the Federal Act on the Surveillance of Post and Telecommunications Traffic (SPTA) are met (e.g. identification obligation);
  • Fleets can be managed via the same solution.

 

Requirements

The following points convinced RhB that onway’s solution with NetModule hardware was the most suitable:

  • Ongoing legal protection of all Public-WiFi internet access points via the same portal and system – continuous flow of information for both trains and stations;
  • Passengers only need to register once in a six-month period using an SMS token;Security, reliability and speed
  • Central management system for monitoring and managing the entire fleet;
  • Ability to offer different usage models for passengers and company employees.of additional devices

 

Solution

On the hardware side, our certified mobile railroad routers of the NB3800 series were used at RhB for easy networking of large fleets. Our NetModule routers were chosen in this project due to the quality, stability, functionality as well as the modularity of the network components. All data traffic from the vehicle is consolidated using these vehicle routers and routed through a secure VPN tunnel via the mobile network to onway’s data centre.

The VPN tunnel terminates here. The data centre fulfils all central functions such as user authentication, filtering and monitoring user traffic, as well as limiting bandwidths and fulfilling the legal requirements according to the SPTA.

 

onway ag

Since 2004, the onway ag team has been supporting its customers in the evaluation, planning, implementation as well as operation and support of their WLAN/Network-Access-Control-Solutions and has already successfully implemented more than 100 projects. NetModule AG supports onway ag with its products in the industrial, bus and railroad sectors through its long-standing partnership.

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Lightware Saves UAVs From Hard To Detect Power Lines

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Written by Nadia Nilsen

“Drone lands on power lines resulting in a power outage for thousands” is certainly not the first or the last news headline of its kind. Overhead power lines pose a serious risk to UAV operations. These incidents could not only result in the loss of the drone and its payload but could also cause injury to people and animals and damage infrastructure and property. Retrieving the drone from high-voltage power lines is also a dangerous task. As a UAV operator, it’s crucial to avoid flying into these obstacles at all costs.

 

Power lines are notoriously difficult to detect. Distribution lines are relatively small, ranging from 0.2 inches (5mm) to 0.8 inches (20mm) in diameter, and are often black, brown, or gray in color. Against a complex and dynamic background, they are difficult to see even with perfect human vision. Moreover, power lines can vary in height depending on location and terrain, making their presence hard to predict. Low visibility or lighting conditions can exacerbate these challenges, making it even more difficult to detect overhead power lines from a distance or at high speed.

 

Power lines are not the only overhead lines that pose a risk to UAVs. Telecommunication lines, internet lines, bridge cables, train and trolley cables and overhead crane wires are just a few other examples. For UAVs to become truly autonomous in a complex world and unlock the full commercial potential of this technology, they need a reliable way to detect and avoid these everyday obstacles.

 

Stereoscopic cameras and computer vision have been woefully unsuccessful in solving this problem. Radar has limited resolution and may not be able to accurately detect small and thin power lines or identify the exact location of the power lines to avoid them. High-resolution radar systems can be expensive, and using them solely for detecting power lines may not be cost-effective. Ultrasonic sensors have a limited range, low resolution and can be negatively impacted by changing environmental factors like wind and temperature.

 

The best technology for detecting these burdensome hazards is LiDAR. With its small beam divergence, LiDAR can pinpoint the location of overhead lines to ensure they can be avoided. LiDAR is unaffected by low visibility or lighting conditions as it generates and pulses its own light source. LiDAR’s relatively long range allows for detection well ahead of a potential collision, even if the UAV is traveling at a high speed.

 

LightWare’s professional-grade microLiDAR® sensors offer all of these benefits in a small form factor with low power consumption at an affordable price point, making them ideal for integration onto drones. These sensors allow for wide adoption, especially in cases where multiple sensors are required to be installed per drone.

 

To detect overhead lines with a narrow LiDAR beam, the key factor is the update rate of the sensor. Imagine you are a fast-moving drone and need to detect a small obstacle with a narrow LiDAR beam. It may seem easy to miss, but with a high update rate scanning LiDAR, it’s nearly impossible to miss. Let’s look at some numbers: if you’re traveling at 60 mph (97 km/h) and pass under a power line with a vertically mounted LightWare SF30/D microLiDAR reading at 20kHZ, then the sensor will hit a passing 0.2 inch diameter line over 360 times and a 0.8 inch line over 1 400 times!

 

The ability to detect power lines not only ensures safe operations of UAVs, but also unlocks commercial opportunities such as fully autonomous power line inspections and other beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) missions. Customers of LightWare are already using the SF40/C and SF45/B microLiDAR sensors to maintain a safe distance from and follow power lines while capturing high-resolution photos for later analysis.

 

Our team recently ran some tests to see how accurately the SF30/D and SF45/B microLiDAR® sensors detect overhead power lines. The experiment was conducted by holding the sensor outside the window of a moving vehicle pointed directly toward the open sky.

 

The results of this experiment showed that LighWare microLiDAR® sensors were not only detecting the main power lines but also picking up the static lines that run above them. These cables are used for lighting protection and are much thinner than the power lines. To no surprise, the SF30/D and SF45/B microLiDAR® sensors easily managed to detect all the power lines.

Data was logged using LightWare Studio. The objective was to detect the presence or absence of the overhead power lines using the SF30/D and the results show the bundles of power lines as well as the lightning cable that are a few meters above the bundles.

 

Data was logged using LightWare Studio. The next sensor for testing was the SF45/B, which was used for horizontal or vertical detection and avoidance. This test was to determine the type of readings one would receive from the SF45/B when scanning power lines.

 

As a global pioneer in LiDAR, LightWare has a proven track record of delivering technology that exceeds industry expectations.

 

Talk to LightWare’s technical support team to help you solve these and other challenges with LightWare microLiDAR sensors.

 

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Increase Safety in Material Handling Applications

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Written by Lauren Robeson Menting

While the supply crunch has eased a bit for some industries, logistics facilities remain busy hubs. Filled with autonomous mobile robots, automated guided vehicles, employees, and goods, there’s no shortage of activity and moving parts.

Keeping employees safe from these moving parts – and making sure damage isn’t done to your facility or the goods it stores, hampering production and delivery – is essential. Wireless connectivity solutions can help ensure that safety is maintained in material handling applications – read on to discover factors you should consider when selecting a wireless product for your facility.

 

Industrial vs. Commercial

You probably wouldn’t look at your home Internet service and figure the same coverage would work as well for a major facility. Likewise, you shouldn’t equip your facility with commercially available wireless radios that are synonymous more with walkie-talkies than major factories.

There are a few reasons why industrial wireless radios have the edge here:

· Robustness: Industrial radios are designed to withstand inhospitable environments. Some industrial wireless radios can also ensure adequate connectivity even in facilities that are crowded with signals.

· Integration with your PAC: A typical setup will have one primary radio that connects to your control system, with access points on mobile equipment and at other locations as your application requires. Industrial wireless radios allow for streamlined integration with your PAC, ensuring radios’ real-time data is directly transferred to your control system.

· Security: Industrial radios can provide more security than commercial models, keeping proprietary information safe and bad actors out.

 

Fast, Precise Connectivity

You also want to make sure that the wireless radios you choose can give your employees, control system, and other radios real-time information as to their rapidly changing location.

Industrial radios allow mobile equipment to send their location to the primary radio and other access points in real time, which helps ensure other equipment won’t hit it – and, most importantly, employees know where heavy equipment is at all times to increase their safety.

Pairing wireless radios and a functional safety protocol (such as CIP Safety or PROFIsafe) is an especially wise idea for applications involving mobile equipment.

 

Flexibility for the Future

Opting for a wireless radio that can be easily implemented can help keep your employees safe when new equipment is added. A streamlined installation and configuration process ensures that this work won’t fall by the wayside when adding new moving machinery.

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Achieving 4K/UHD without Moving to IP: How We Made it Possible

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Written by Linda White

Sometimes creating a full-blown network just to connect a computer and printer is overkill. In other words: Depending on what you need, it’s possible to overdo your technology and/or infrastructure.

In broadcasting, for example, viewers may be demanding 4K resolution – but not every production calls for IP in order to transmit 4K/UHD signals.

 

When 4K/UHD was first introduced to broadcasting – promising four times the resolution of 1080p – existing coax cables and SDI technology (a digital video interface standard used since the early ’90s) couldn’t support it in a single link. 4K resolution used in production and digital cinema called for higher bandwidth, resolution and pixels than what coax could support. Instead, IP and fiber became the preferred method of achieving 4K quality for production and UHD for broadcast signal transmission.

 

The only way around this was to use four coax cables – each supporting 3 GHz – to send one 12 GHz UHD signal (this is referred to as a quad-link configuration).

 

This fix may have gotten the job done in terms of transmitting 4K/UHD signals, but it was expensive, bulky and cumbersome for broadcasters to manage. Quad-link configurations take up lots of space, max out weight limitations in mobile applications and increase cable expenses by requiring four cables for a single link.

 

Although some very large broadcasters and media companies were able to make the move to IP or fiber right away to support 4K/UHD signals, smaller broadcasters across the country were left in a bind. They, too, wanted to provide viewers with high resolution and 4K/UHD content – but weren’t quite ready to make the move financially.

 

After hearing from a number of broadcasters about their frustrations with this dilemma, we knew there must be a way to help them find middle ground. And that’s where Belden’s 4K UHD Coax Cable for 12G-SDI enters the picture.

 

This cable supports a bandwidth of 12 GHz and maximizes 4K/UHD transmission distance over a single link, decreasing the bulk and expense associated with dual-link and quad-link configurations. The 4K UHD Coax Cable for 12G-SDI also exceeds return loss specifications for the performance required for such high-speed signals.

 

Using this solution, broadcasters can now continue using SDI standards and coax cable instead of IP or fiber solutions – while still achieving a 4K/UHD picture (and without dealing with four cables to transmit one signal).

 

Instead, broadcasters simply plug in one coax to send a high-quality, 4K/UHD signal. Instead of rushing to take on a new level of broadcasting complexity, this innovation allows them to shift to IP or fiber when they’re ready – and when it makes financial sense to do so.

 

Creating the cable was only one part of the equation, however: Equipment manufacturers also had to be ready to support the required connections. Although many broadcasters wanted to use the cable, much of the camera and broadcast equipment on the market lacked I/O to accommodate it.

 

To make this happen, production and broadcast leaders sent an open letter to equipment manufacturers with a plea: to include 12G-SDI ports as standard features on all video equipment capable of working in 4K/UHD mode.

 

As a result, if you take a close look at today’s broadcast equipment used around the world, you’ll find 12G-SDI ports integrated to support this innovation that began with Belden. Broadcasters now have a way to give viewers the resolution they want without having go compromise on quality, embark on a complete technology overhaul or make a large capital investment.

 

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