Pictures of the Future      Spring 2005

Information Autobahn

Remote services help to detect possible malfunctions in passenger cars, trucks and trains. As a result, fleet operators can reduce downtime and serve their customers more quickly. An electronic pathfinder helps to save lives.

Iserlohn, a town just outside of Dortmund, has one of the fastest fire depart­ment in Germany. In about 90 % of all cases, the city’s rescue service is at the scene of a fire within eight minutes. As soon as a caller reports an emergency over a fixed line network, his or her address appears on a monitor at the control center. With a click of a mouse, the fire department sends the data to a rescue vehicle’s navigation system. Until now, the rescue worker in the passenger seat often had to look up the shortest route—which isn’t surprising, given that the team members are usually young, and don’t know every street, even in a city like Iserlohn, which has a population of barely 100,000.

"We weren’t able to use a standard fleet management system here, of course," says Ralf Hoffmann, a communications specialist at Siemens VDO Auto­motive, which supplied the system. "So we had to make adjustments to the equipment and software to ensure that the route appears on the display with­out any buttons having to be pushed—before the engine is started." Remote services means more than using electronic pathfinders to steer vehicles faster, safer and more efficiently. These services also help to detect and correct possible damage and malfunctions in advance, and they make it possible to determine a vehicle’s position at any time, so that customers and suppliers know exactly where their valuable shipments are.

A number of developments have made this possible. Sensors have been steadily getting better, smaller and less expensive, and they can continually collect data related to a vehicle’s operation. Fast onboard computers process this data in real time and transmit it via GPRS to a control center. And software is increasingly taking over the hardware functions, which means that remote services also can be retrofitted with relative ease. Finally, the broadband infra­structure is being expanded. That will make it possible to transmit large volumes of data to and from fast-moving cars and trains. In addition to the rescue services in Iserlohn, Siemens VDO offers customized telematics solutions for shipping firms, fleet management companies and towing services. These solutions allow a control center, for example, to transmit loading and delivery addresses via SMS to a truck cab. Here, the data is accepted by the navigation computer, ensuring that the driver takes the shortest route—even in a foreign country. What’s more, the system can determine a truck’s position at any time via satellite and find possible shortcuts that improve on the originally planned route. Especially when it comes to transporting valuable goods, customers usually specify a mandatory route in order to make theft and hijackings immediately apparent. A control center using such tracking and tracing also becomes aware of worrisome delays ahead of time. "When it becomes clear that an agreed-upon delivery time can’t be met, we phone the customer," says transport company operator Peter Lüllau, who uses the Siemens VDO system. This speedy reaction avoids aggravation and helps to maintain a good image with customers.

In the meantime, even fully automated tracking of shipments has become a reality. Since June 2004, Siemens VDO has been offering the Datcom S-Box, which can be installed in unmanned vehicles such as truck trailers, semi-trailers, railroad cars and freight containers. Primarily intended for use with valuable goods shipments, the system automatically reports every change of location and informs the control center if the doors of a vehicle or container are opened. The S-Box, which was designed to ensure long service life and minimal energy consumption, operates for years without maintenance or an external power supply.

Silent Revolution. The intelligent networking of navigation systems with tele­matics also makes new services possible for private passenger cars. For instance, a driver using C-IQ software from Siemens VDO always receives up-to-date road maps and information on speed limits and stationary radar check­points for speed limit enforcement. The system provides tips on hotels, restaurants, museums, stores and filling stations. The TMC—Traffic Message Channel—issues the latest reports on traffic congestion, road construction and route changes. "Nevertheless, drivers must never lose sight of the system’s limitations," cautions Jutta Huber of Siemens VDO. "Navigation system suppliers and related services cannot assume liability for the completeness and accuracy of the reports; as in the past, drivers must still accept responsibility for their behavior behind the wheel. Even the most advanced system can only support a driver; it can’t take responsibility for safe driving."

Disclaimers aside, remote services can contribute significantly to safer driving. Sensors will be able to collect data related to all of a vehicle’s drivetrain components—from the steering and engine to the transmission, axles and brakes. This data can be transmitted to service centers for analysis. By comparing the data with reference values, technicians can determine mal­functions, component wear and possible component failure in advance.

Before a vacation, for instance, a vehicle owner would be able to transmit his vehicle’s "vital signs" to a service center. The data would be compared with statistics related to the probability of breakdowns. The resulting information would allow the vehicle owner to make an informed decision as to which repairs to implement before the trip, and which to put off until after the trip. Market researchers at Frost & Sullivan forecast that approximately 5.4 million passenger cars with remote diagnostics will be sold in Europe in 2009. In 2002 the total was 250,000 vehicles. According to the study, "Remote diagnos­tics is the silent revolution now taking place on Europe’s automotive market."

Though telediagnostics is still an exclusive feature in a handful of luxury cars, it will soon be standard equipment in medium-priced vehicles. By 2009, the average price of a remote diagnostics system is expected to drop to 350 €. Automakers are pleased by this development because it is expected to lead to reduced warranty costs and improved accuracy in statistical data associated with malfunctions. Design flaws will become evident more quickly, allowing manufacturers to correct problems sooner.

In similar fashion, technicians, engineers and software specialists at Siemens Transportation Systems (TS) are working on integrated remote services for rail vehicles. A notable example is the Dispolok—basically a rental locomotive for private rail companies. A key customer here is TX Logistics, which offers about 300 rail connections for freight transport throughout Germany and neighboring countries. Rail company managers benefit from knowing the location of their trains at all times. And at TX Logistics, a locomotive’s position can be dis­played anytime with the click of a mouse.

As with cars and trucks, the vital operating components of rail vehicles can also be monitored via remote diagnostics to ensure that they function properly and avoid possible damage. If the telematic system reports data indicating a mal­function, Siemens maintenance specialists contact the locomotive’s onboard computer to analyze the situation.

Info Services for Trains. Remote services also make rail travel more convenient for passengers. Plans call for Germany’s high-speed ICE trains to be equipped with wireless LAN networks (WLAN), which allow the reception of passenger information, among other advantages. "The data can be transmitted even when trains are traveling at 300 km/h and in tunnels," says Hermann Dorn, head of the Trains business segment at Transportation Systems. All that’s needed are antennas at tunnel entrances. "This technology will be ready for everyday use in one to three years," he says.

Using WLAN hotspots, information on train connections, weather reports, and travel destinations can be provided via cell phones, PDAs and laptops. And of course rail passengers can also surf the net. And the day isn’t far off when any ticket agent will be able to send seat reservations to a moving train—even shortly before its departure time.

Passenger safety is another major focus of remote service. For example, a control center could use video cameras and a broadband connection to monitor every rail car, which would be especially important for local trans­portation systems. Remote video services would also be able to determine the numbers of passengers using a transport system at different times of day, during different seasons, and during major events, thus providing information on probable demand. In Switzerland, commuter train operators have already introduced systems that count passengers when they board and disembark trains. This makes it possible for rail operators to adjust service to actual demand more effectively than was ever before possible.
                                                                                                         Günter Heismann