Rolling-stock data logger for Siemens Rail

After some initial telephone conversations with Siemens engineers, Impulse and our software partner MPEC visited the Siemens depot in Manchester with a suite of hardware to better understand and qualify the project requirements. Impulse then worked with Siemens engineers to provide railway industry test and compliance information for the proposed hardware in order to accelerate the internal approval process required to fit the hardware on-board the rolling stock.

Returning to the depot a week later, the initial proof of concept was temporarily fitted to the vehicle in order to test the combination of railway embedded box PC, 4G SIM, antennas, and isolated connection to on-board train systems. Our software partner MPEC had customised their software platform to read and translate various hex codes from the train sub-system which are picked up from Network Rail RFID tags along the Thameslink routes. The Impulse and MPEC team were able to demonstrate a railway compliant hardware, software and communication solution within two weeks of the initial telephone calls, which gave the Siemens project team confidence to move forward with a wider project rollout.

As an IIoT and industrial solutions provider, Impulse worked with two technology partners to deliver the solution within the tight deadlines required by Siemens. Axiomtek, a global leader in Embedded and Industrial computing solutions, manufacture EN50155 and EN45545 rolling stock approved computing hardware which Impulse build and configure to specification in our 50,000 sq. feet UK facility. The software element of the project was developed by MPEC who quickly created a customised version of their remote condition monitoring software CENTRIX, a platform already well-established and proven in the challenging applications of the rail industry.

Impulse built, configured and tested the hardware and communication solution whilst the software was being customised. We then set up and installed the logging software, pre-registered and logged each 4G SIM against specific logging hardware / trainset and validated the software install on the cloud portal. This process vastly reduced configuration time for Siemens and simplified the installation process; essentially each logger was fitted to the correct vehicle and simply turned on, no further configuration required. As soon power was applied, the system acquired a cellular network connection, established communication with the CENTRIX cloud software and began data transmission allowing Siemens engineers to access the information in real-time, or analyse various scenarios via a playback and analysis tool within the software, from anywhere in the world.