Kontron highlights transportation computing capabilities at RI2015

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
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Augsburg, Germany-based Kontron, a supplier of ECT (embedded computing technology) and an IoT (Internet of Things) consultant, showcased its line of standards-based transportation computers at Railway Interchange 2015 in Minneapolis.

“Kontron solutions are designed for PTC (Positive Train Control), ETCS (European Train Control System) and ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) applications in locations ranging from dispatch centers to decentralized, unmanned remote control centers and rolling stock,” the company announced.

IoT is a term used to describe the network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity that enables such objects to collect and exchange data. Kontron says its offerings include “a broad range of embedded computing solutions optimized for signaling and rail control systems; autonomous health management for enhanced safety/reliability that also reduces costs; TRACe™ B304-TR integrator-friendly baseline operational computers; TRACe™ HMID104 rugged display computers for driver displays and other mobile applications; extremely quiet industrial servers offering long-term availability in a ruggedized platform; rail video surveillance recording and monitoring systems using TRACe™ NVR/HMI, ONVIF-compliant IP cameras and video management software integration; and a comprehensive portfolio of standards-based VPX boards and COMe modules that deliver maximum design flexibility.”

Kontron’s TRACe™ family of flexible transportation COTS (commercial off the shelf) computers “give railway system integrators and designers a baseline to easily customize and rapidly deploy specialized applications and new infrastructures,” the company notes. “TRACe™ addresses the full breadth of modern, connected rolling stock applications allowing multiple applications to run on the same platform. Our IoT-based COTS solutions are designed to easily manage the implementation, evolution and integration of transportation systems.”

The Kontron TRACe™ B304-TR transportation operational computer is now available for distribution through Arrow Electronics. “Arrow’s broad transportation market support is important in helping us meet increased rail customer demand for embedded computing solutions that help developers ease customization and accelerate time to deployment of new specialized applications and infrastructures,” the company notes. “Integrator-friendly, the TRACe™ B304-TR offers a baseline computer enabling railway system integrators and designers to address the full breadth of modern, connected rolling stock applications permitting multiple applications to run on the same platform. Delivering a broad line of standards-based, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and cloud-enabled solutions,

Kontron recently introduced new boards and modules based on the new Intel® Celeron® and Pentium® Processors N3000 product family. “The new products from Kontron are more powerful and energy efficient than prior generation products,” the company says. “The focus is on the development of especially low-noise systems where one of many features is that CPUs do not need any active cooling. For POI/POS or applications demanding high graphics quality, the boards and modules support independent 4K display devices. The Intel® Celeron® and Pentium® Processors N3000 product family is based on Intel®’s next generation of system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors. They include multicore processors based on a new microarchitecture and manufactured on Intel’s latest and Industry leading 14nm tri-gate manufacturing process. This product family is primarily targeted at cost-sensitive all-in-one computer architectures with powerful graphics.”

“This new product family will make it possible to develop power systems with greatly optimized energy efficiency,” Kontron said. “Thanks to the low power dissipation, passive cooling is easily possible for the CPUs that are used. This feature means that the overall system is particularly low-noise and maintenance-free, and is especially suitable for environments calling for virtually silent technology. Additionally, these systems offer 3D graphics performance that is twice as high as the predecessors, while offering 4K display resolutions. There are additionally advantages to high resolution video encoding of H.264 and decoding of H.264 and H.265 video streams.”

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