Nexxiot Introduces New Vector Sensor

Nexxiot's Vector sensor enables rail participants to manage operations more safely and provides vital insights for the successful delivery of cargo.

Nexxiot announced April 4 that it has released a new multipurpose Vector sensor to monitor handbrakes, hatches and doors on freight railcars, “complementing a growing portfolio of Nexxiot Asset Intelligence technology, which is used by leading transportation companies to remove uncertainty and risks associated with safety and cargo quality.”

“The demand for reliable rail cargo transportation increases as urbanization and resource insecurity rise,” Nexxiot stated in a release. “Rail companies are determined to provide safe, high-quality cargo delivery services to meet growing demand. Multiple damaging incidents in transportation over recent months are accelerating the need for innovation, which is changing how the industry operates.”

According to Nexxiot, the design of Vector sensor “creates optionality for clients to address multiple use cases with one versatile architecture.” With a guaranteed service life of more than 15 years, the device, Nexxiot says, measures the distance in real-time between two objects to provide data on handbrakes, access hatches and railcar doors. It connects wirelessly to the Nexxiot Globehopper gateway using Bluetooth LE (BLE) From there, the data is sent to the Nexxiot Connect Intelligent Cloud for processing and analysis. Clients can easily access data and enhance decision-making capabilities and responses, Nexxiot adds.

Until now, Nexxiot says, the only way to monitor railcar handbrake status, hatch opening or closing events and door usage was to conduct physical inspections and manual reporting. With automated data collection, essential safety-related checks, and component condition monitoring, possible future points of failure are identified as they occur.

“Both rail operators and cargo owners benefit from this innovation,” said Nexxiot CTO Paul Wielsch. “With increased attention on safety, compliance and resource security, Vector sensor offers multiple stakeholders the opportunity to monitor processes and demonstrate to their clients that they take maximum care when it comes to safety and cargo quality.”

Nexxiot, which, through close collaboration with industry leaders, clients and partners, “co-creates technical innovations to solve long-standing industry problems,” is currently digitalizing entire fleets of shipping containers and railcars with zero-maintenance IoT gateways. Now clients, the company adds, “benefit from real-time asset intelligence across the entire cargo journey.”

Nexxiot is the supplier to TTX in a program to equip certain railcars in its fleet with telematics.