Intelligent connectivity, seamless travels

 

The Challenge

• Finding a computing solution that can handle frequent exposure to shocks and vibrations
• Finding an edge computing solution that can handle a wide range of temperatures
• Finding an edge computing solution that can reliably operate when exposed to unstable power supplies, power loss, or power surges
• Finding an edge computer that can interact with the vehicle's battery for ignition sending to ensure that the system properly boots up and shuts down to avoid data corruption

 

The Solution

• Rugged edge computing solutions are ruggedized, enabling them to withstand frequent and continuous exposure to shock and vibrations

• Rugged edge computers can withstand a wide temperature range from -20⁰C to 70⁰C thanks to passive cooling that leverages heatsink to cool down internal heat-generating components
• Rugged edge PCs come equipped with built-in overvoltage protection (OVP), overcurrent protection (OCP), reverse polarity protection, and wide range DC power input

 

The Benefit

• The RCO-1000 Series is the ideal solution because it is powerful yet compact enough to fit in spaceconstrained environments.
• The RCO-1000 offers protection from dust and debris that may be present in the environments, making it great for deployment in harsh environments
• The RCO-1000 comes equipped with the Intel® Bay Trail SoC that is produced using leading Tri-gate 22nm process technology
• The RCO-1000 is powerful yet extremely energy-efficient, allowing it to operate reliably in environments were stable power is not always present

 

The Company

The company that we offered our edge computing solutions is responsible for operating public transportation in a Nordic Region. The company is responsible for operating public bus transportation, high-speed boat transportation, and ferries in the entire region. In total, the company that C&T partnered with operates more than 450 buses, ten speed boats, and three ferries.

In Nordic regions, public transportation is essential because it is used by thousands of commuters daily. With thousands of people utilizing public transportation, the company decided that the time had come for it to modernize its transportation system by equipping its transportation vehicles with edge computing systems that will provide travelers and commuters with the most up-to-date information on the status of the transportation vehicles.
 

C&T’s solution allowed the company to provide commuters with real-time information, as well as use data gathered by edge computers to plan maintenance, plan routes, and optimize and streamline its operations. That said, to make this possible, we offered the company an edge computing solution that could withstand deployment in harsh environments that are exposed to frequent shocks, vibrations, dust and debris, as well as wide temperature variations.
 

Additionally, the edge computing solution that we provided the company was equipped with I/O ports and connectivity options that would allow the computing solution to integrate with the transportation vehicles for realtime processing and data telemetry.
 

C&T, a leading provider of edge computing hardware, partnered with the company to deploy C&T’s industrialgrade computers on its large fleet of public transport buses and ferries. The C&T solution that they deployed was compact yet powerful enough to provide the performance necessary to enable the machine learning required by the company to improve its public transportation system's operational efficiency.
 

​Why C&T?

C&T Solution Inc. is staffed by experienced professionals and highly trained engineers. It is headquartered in Taiwan and focuses primarily on providing industrial/embedded computing solutions for industrial automation, medical computing, transportation, networking, and other industries. C&T strives for the highest standards in innovation and technology, enabling the company to supply a wide-ranging portfolio consisting of industrial embedded systems, display systems, and industrial boards that can withstand extremes in environmental conditions, such as shock and vibration and wide temperature ranges.
 

​What Makes the RCO-1000 industrial computer different?

The RCO-1000 Series is designed for applications in harsh environments that are space-constrained. The RCO-1000 is powerful yet energy-efficient for ultra-low power consumption.

• ​Compact Form Factor for Deployment in Space-Constrained Environments
• Ultra-low Power Consumption
• Fanless & Cableless designed for improved ruggedness
• Intel® Bay Trail Atom™ or Celeron™ Processor
• 9 to 48 VDC Provides Wide Range Power Input to Support AT/ATX Mode and Power Ignition
• SIM Slots for Cellular Mobile Communication
• TPM 2.0 Support for Data Security

 

The Challenge

The company wanted an edge computing system that could help it transform and modernize its transportation system. So, C&T partnered with the company and provided it with an edge computing solution that would gather data from transportation vehicles that includes GPS data in order for the company to provide travelers and commuters with accurate access to information so that they are better able to plan their routes, thus improving the overall service that they're providing to those utilizing public transportation.

C&T assisted the company with meeting its goals of providing all commuters with real-time information wherever they may be so that they're better able to plan their commutes. Also, if there is a delay, the company wanted commuters to be aware of it so that they could plan their routes accordingly. The company developed software that enabled commuters to pinpoint the exact buses’ location as it relates to their schedule to give passengers who are waiting at bus stops an accurate estimate as to when the bus will arrive or whether the bus will be delayed for any reason.
 

Additionally, the edge computing solution provided by C&T allowed the company to use machine learning to ensure that the information it provides to its travelers is as accurate as possible. All the vehicle's telemetry and information gathered by the edge computing solution will be sent from the transportation vehicle to the cloud for real-time monitoring and analysis.
 

In addition to providing commuters and users of public transportation with the most up to date information, the company was able to use the information that's gathered by its rugged edge computer to operate the transportation vehicles more efficiently, thus reducing the cost of operations and improving the services provided by them.

The Solution & Benefits

C&T offered the company the perfect solution for its transportation needs. The solution was to deploy the RCO-1000 Series edge computer. The company was impressed with our solution because the RCO-1000 is able to withstand freezing cold and scorching hot temperatures yet was compact enough to be deployed in spaceconstrained environments in transportation vehicles.

 

The RCO-1010G has power ignition management, which is something that the company required the edge computing device to have. Power ignition management handles the edge computing solution’s power supply when starting up and shutting down to ensure that the data on the device is not corrupted.

 

Additionally, C&T delivered a rugged edge computing solution that’s capable of operating in environments where the system would be exposed to frequent shocks and vibrations thanks to the fanless and cableless design of rugged computer systems.

 

The company has had tremendous success deploying our edge computers in buses, trains, and ferries to track transportation vehicles across the Nordic region. Buses and ferries have become smart, providing real-time location status to thousands of commuters who utilize public transportation daily.

 

This was all possible due to the rich connectivity features of the RCO-1000 Series, which features a SIM module that enables the edge computer to connect to the internet to transfer telemetry data and GPS coordinates to the cloud for remote monitoring.

 

In addition to providing real-time data to commuters, edge computing systems make it easier to plan routes by using less congested areas, predictable maintenance, analysis of fuel consumption and mechanical performance of transportation vehicles, and better-optimized routes to traffic conditions.