NYCT qualifying Kontron-powered on-board communications

MTA New York City Transit is qualifying the TRANSIS®-Train communications system from CSiT, a supplier of integrated communication and security technology for transit, under a loan agreement. TRANSIS®-Train is powered by TRACe™ transportation computing technology from Kontron, a provider of ECT (Embedded Computing Technology).

The trial “is designed to test and validate in an operational setting the multi-modal integrated communications capabilities of TRANSIS-Train,” Kontron said. “These include public address and intercom, passenger infotainment with media/advertising capabilities on LCD displays, passenger information on LED displays, train operator user interface on displays and CCTV.”

TRANSIS-Train is installed on a four-car R68 trainset and will be tested over the next year. Kontron said. “The advanced communications capabilities provided by CSiT and Kontron have never been available on NYCT trains before, and are part of the smart cities evolution that is being implemented by municipalities and transit agencies.”

TRANSIS-Train provides the ability to network and integrate information across an entire fleet and operational network that connects information from multiple data sources into a single information reference. TRACe platforms “are completely compatible with CSiT’s system solutions, helping to make the ‘connected train’ for smart cities a reality,” the company said. “ Our 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.”

For the NYCT trial, TRANSIS-Train is running on Kontron’s TRACe B304-TR and TRACe V304-TR EN50155-certified fanless transportation computers and two TRACe HMI D104 driver consoles that have been fully validated.

“The key to deploying effective and reliable communications is interoperability between disparate sub-systems, which would not be possible without proven standards-based technologies,” said CSiT President Denis Poliquin. “Kontron TRACe matches our needs exactly by providing the COTS feature-rich hardware that not only simplifies development but also allows us to focus on our uniquely differentiated intelligent software solutions and powerful integrated systems. This R68 installation of TRANSIS-Train follows the TRANSIS-Kiosk implementation onto a portion of NYCT’s On-The-Go (OTG) kiosk interactive information network providing integrated multimodal, real-time information within 26 NYCT subway stations.”

“Our TRACe transportation computers are helping to drive the data revolution benefits of the connected train,” said Kontron Transportation Business Development Manager Valentin Scinteie. “Because they are modular COM Express® and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled platforms, TRACe products are inherently scalable, allowing CSiT to future-proof their design investments. All that is needed is to switch out the carrier board if a customer wants to upgrade to the latest high-performance Intel® processor, all while maintaining capability with existing installed rail systems.”