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Smart Transportation - Rail

Solution BRIEF

Intel is Powering theWorld’s Intelligent Railways

Growing demand is driving the need for innovative approaches to railway operationsThe global rail market is expected to continue its path of steady growth, with the highest growth rate in urban transit.1

At the same time, rail traffic volume has increased 84% since 1981, without a corresponding increase in the size of the railroad network.2 This rapid expansion coupled with limited network puts significant strain on railway operators looking to accommodate the next generation of passenger and shipping demands.

Governments around the world are pushing to improve mass railway transportation to accelerate the delivery of goods and alleviate congestion

China’s “One Belt One Road” Program is a $1T

planned investment in overland corridors and maritime shipping lanes, passing through through 71 countries which represent over half the world’s population. The program will include large-scale energy, transportation and high-speed rail infrastructure investments that will empower the next generation of smart transportation.3

The Smart, sustainable “Rail 2050 Vision” is an EU

rail proposal to implement automated trains, near real-time rail communication networks and more, motivated by need to comply with emissions regulations and hit energy consumption targets.4

California’s High Speed Rail project will involve an

estimated 77B+ projected investment with an estimated

$10B+ invested in completed projects by 2018. The rail project will include 800+ miles of railway, 5 and could significantly reduce congestion by transporting up to 5x more people per hour than highways during rush hour traffic conditions.6

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There are challenges to implementing a truly smart railway network.Since sensor and camera data is historically processed most often in the cloud, it can be difficult to maintain rail network uptime with real-time access. When systems are over-reliant on shipping data to the backend datacenter, network bandwidth is quickly overwhelmed by the massive amount of data coming from sources such as high-quality video streams of stations and railcars. Meanwhile, latency issues can cause connectivity failures and delays that impact safety, security, and efficiency.

And when railway operators look to take advantage of their vast railway sensor networks, they often find that data siloed or hard to access in real time. Disparate sensor and camera providers can cause proprietary bottlenecks, and a lack of nodes that bridge the divide between endpoint and cloud can make it challenging to unlock the end-to-end visibility needed to drive insights across the railway network.

Finally, rail decision-makers are facing the perennial challenge of gaining a competitive edge against other modes of transportation. While IoT technologies promise to provide competitive advantages, the network limitations mentioned above make it difficult to unlock them. To enable the next generation of capabilities such as machine learning, predictive maintenance, interactive infotainment, and automated locomotives, decision-makers will need to leverage a truly comprehensive, integrated, and streamlined suite of smart rail offerings.

Intel and its ecosystem are uniquely positioned to offer components and solutions to deliver the future of smart railway technology.

Turn data into new insights with intelligence from edge to cloud

Transportation data is only as useful as its timeliness, relevance, and reliability. By driving device data at the network “edge”, Intel-based solutions can pre-process data to deliver real-time information to rail operators. From on-vehicle sensors (rpm, vibration, temperature) to cross-infrastructure platforms (infotainment screens and HD video), Intel’s low-power, low-latency and high-performance Intel Atom®, Intel® Core™, and Intel® Xeon® processors reveal actionable data to improve efficiency and safety for passengers and cargo.

Streamline operations across transportation infrastructure through consolidated, end-to-end network solutions

Intel and its ecosystem are adopting the latest workload consolidation technologies, such as containerization and hyperconverged infrastructure. Combined with a focus on edge compute, Intel-based devices perform multiple, modular functions that enable scale and maximize the value of each network asset. And thanks to ultra-compatible, industry-standard Intel processors, a wide array of devices and software can be easily integrated to provide holistic views across the entire network.

Prepare for the future with technology differentiators in vision, AI, and autonomous

Intel technology is prepared for the future with 5G connectivity and a wide array of AI and vision products. Intel® Vision Accelerator Design Products, based on Intel® Movidius™ VPUs and Intel® FPGAs, can support new, performance-hungry tasks at the device and gateway level; these tasks include vision applications for use cases such as terminal safety, predictive maintenance, facial recognition and more. Intel® vision technologies can be easily implementedand optimized across platforms using the Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit.

Intel is also delivering the future of vehicle automation, including Intel autonomous driving systems and consolidated multi-camera systems based on Intel® Xeon® Scalable Platforms. These platforms are optimized specifically to run high-performance analytics and deep learning inference, offering unprecedented support for autonomous and intelligent transportation, and more.

Advances in smart rail technology enable operators to actively manage railways.Today’s locomotives, railcars, stations and other infrastructure are equipped with hundreds of sensorsand cameras that can deliver crucial information to help railway operators maintain the safety and security of passenger and cargo.

If this data can be properly utilized, it can go beyond providing passive safety to improve operations and gain efficiencies across the rail network. Railroads are utilizing historical big data resources to enable predictive maintenance and apply machine learning to solve problems in unprecedented ways.

Operators are also leveraging smart technologies to deliver integrated digital experiences such as driver-machine interfaces, HMI, and infotainment to drive positive experiences and efficiencies for drivers and passengers.

Visualizing an end-to-end smart railway solution

In the cloud, innovative big data analytics powered by machine learning libraries translate video data and incidents into actionable insightsA security operations

center equipped with Intel processor-based servers can improve incident management and communication between stations

Surveillance systems and network video recorders run low-latency analytics and support automated incident detection and response, alerting station management to issues as they arise

Wayside control, supervision and communication, infotainment, and security systems are embedded onboard vehicles, leveraging greater insights to increase efficiency and profitability

Vehicle and station cameras gather security and safety data and transmit real-time warnings or notifications to security center

Gateways are located at the vehicle edge to enable easy integration and stable connections with CCTV and IP cameras

Onboard vibration and temperature sensors analyze locomotives and cars to give insights into health and energy usage

Enabled by powerful visual displays, pertinent scheduling information and entertainment is relayed to passengers onboard trains

Passengers can use e-ticketing applications with their mobile devices, allowing transit authorities to easily collect real-time data on ticketing and capacity

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Monitor station assets from edge to cloudReact in real time to information from sensors and devices using low-latency edge compute

Sensors onboard vehicles monitor temperature, vibration, and health status of trains, providing real-time data to control centers and allowing for immediate responses to emergencies and delays. Real-time data gathering at the edge enables more proactive maintenance, leading to more efficient rail operations and longer vehicle lifespans.

Increase safety and security, both in stations and onboard vehiclesMaximize passenger safety with centralized video surveillance and real-time video analytics

Surveillance systems equipped with Intel processor-based cameras and network video recorders automatically detect and respond to safety incidents, alerting security personnel both in stations and onboard vehicles to potential threats. Cameras provide real-time video analytics and improve communication between stations.

Optimize display of passenger infotainment and conductor interfacesAdvanced infotainment, public address and emergency announcements, and visual displays with real-time information about delays and route schedules help increase passenger experience.

A centralized content management system enables transit authorities to relay pertinent information about routes, delays, schedules, and emergency notifications to passengers in real-time, with visual displays at the edge. Vehicles also prioritize passenger satisfaction, providing wireless connections for streaming and other entertainment.

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Intel technologies’ features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation. Performance varies depending on system configuration. No computer system can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer to learn more. Cost reduction scenarios described are intended as examples of how a given Intel- based product, in the specified circumstances and configurations, may affect future costs and provide cost savings. Circumstances will vary. Intel does not guarantee any costs or cost reduction. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Intel, the Intel logo, Atom, Movidius, Xeon and Arria are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. OpenVINO and the OpenVINO logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. Copyright Intel Corporation.

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Learn more about how Intel-based solutions are making railways smarter for businesses and citiesFor more information about Intel technologies and solutions for smart railway and smart transportation, please visit::

Smart Cities Transportation Home Page

Intel® Vision Products Home Page

Intel® IoT Market Ready Solutions Home Page

Cisco Connected Rail* with Davra

Challenge: Network Rail needed to increase UK rail system capacity to accommodate increased public demand. Existing rail telecom infrastructure couldn’t accommodate the transformation program required to improve network safety and reduce downtime.

Solution: Cisco Connected Rail* with Davra defined a meta-model framework for designing and architecting a carrier-grade network and IP-based command and control system

Technologies: Cisco switches, Cisco UCS, mobile and edge platforms powered by Intel® Atom® to Intel® Core™ to Intel® Xeon® processors

Results: Reduced operational costs by more than 20%, reduced capital expenses by 21% over multiple supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) networks, and provided wireless access for 1.3 billion trips per year.

Kontron LoRa Connected Devices*on High Speed Trains

Challenge: Connecting and operationalizing sensors across locomotives is expensive and adds unneeded fuel cost through weight— train operators require a solution that can to enable wireless asset management while overcoming the limitations of cloud-only solutions for monitoring in real-time.

Solution: LoRa Networking Platform* from Intel and Kontron enables secure train-to-ground station communication, providing reliable transmission across LoRa-connected devices and directly on trains. LoraWAN is a wireless network that allows the train operators to connect to sensors along the train without the need of cables, reducing implementation and maintenance costs but also weight and fuel. This new platform compliments the existing Kontron TRACe portfolio of Intel-based railway certified computers, enabling a single gateway to cover connected devices inside a whole double-length high speed train.

Technologies: TRACe™ LoRa-MQTT based on Intel Atom® processors

1. Arthur D. Little & UITP, “Future of Urban Mobility Study”

2. Association of American Railroads, “Freight Railroad Capacity and Investment,” Oct 2018

3. Lily Kuo and Niko Kommenda, “What is China’s Belt and Road Initiative?” The Guardian, 30 Jul 2018

4. The European Rail Research Advisory Council, “Rail 2050 Vision,” 2017

5. California High-Speed Rail Authority, “2018 Business Plan,” 1 Jun 2018

6. US High Speed Rail Association, “Congestion Relief with High Speed Rail,” 2018