metros
Metros, Lightrails
The overall network topology of a metro or a light rail service typically consist out of several rail lines or sections, a central control room taking care of the line operations and one or more depots for storage and maintenance of the rolling stock.
One line is typically 5 - 20 km long and is servicing 10 to 20 stations. Each station can have several platforms, corridors, areas for the public as well as for the maintenance, operations and surveillance personnel.
Various communication devices allow to operate such a metro or light rail service at the best satisfaction of the customer.
Personal computers, camera's, loudspeakers, emergency telephones, various detectors for power supply & heating, video monitors; in summary, a myriad of devices and applications which need to communicate with their peers in remote stations, with the central control room or depot, even beyond the limits of the metro & light rail premises.
Communication Backbone Requirements
The number of applications used in a metro & light rail environment is significant: various types of voice communications (administrative telephony, help points, emergency phones), public address, radio, SCADA, passenger information systems, access control, train supervision, ticket vending machines, turnstile systems, CCTV for surveillance, etc. .
All these multiservice applications have to be transmitted via a single, reliable communication backbone.
Many of these applications requires a non stop availability of the communication backbone.
Rail operators need a cost effective solution, not only in terms of procurement, but also in terms of maintenance and expansions.
A simple system with an efficient learning curve, flexible enough to support new applications and increasing bandwidth requirements is a must.
As passengers safety and security is a concern to each operator, high quality integrated CCTV must be supported.
Use of Fiber Optics
The use of fiber optic cable is very attractive in this hostile (EMC/EMI/RFI) environment. Indeed copper cabling should be kept to a minimum. Usually, two separate fiber cables are installed on both sides of the track for redundancy purposes.
OTN Benefits
OTN supports this mixture of applications so typical in the metro & light rail environment. Voice, video, radio base station connections, high speed LAN as well as low bandwidth serial data, all connected, directly, without hassle, to the Open Transport Network nodes.
Many interfaces, many protocols, but one simple product, completely transparent communication, simple to learn, to manage, to maintain and to use.
A family of scalable nodes in terms of interfaces and bandwidth. Flexible via its user friendly windows based network management system. The double fiber ring structure and redundant control sustains its resilience.
Your environment is stretched, multiservice and needs non-stop communications : OTN is a perfect fit !
Railways (Passenger - Freight)
There's more to operating a public transport system than driving the trains... It's about getting the job done during the rush hours, about minimum down times, organizing the safety and comfort of the passengers, dealing with emergency situations, keeping operating costs down, etc. . In freight railway environments, its about getting the ore from the mine site back to the port, making sure the local produced or sourced products get in a controlled, reliable way to the loading - unloading destination, whatever that is, nearby a city, off shore, way in the outback or remote areas, etc. . The driving force to achieve improvements in all these area's is information and communication technology. The newest developments in telecommunications, computers and software allow to operate the transport system faster, more accurate, safer and ... at less cost. In order to perform that satisfactorily, a reliable and integrated telecommunication network incorporating all the various elements of transmission, switching, monitoring and information systems is indispensable.
Communication Backbone Requirements
The main features of the railway network will be the transmission of speech, control data and video via optical-fiber cable and a digital transmission system with as much redundancy as possible. Railways have a massive requirement for transmission capacity on various levels. This can be on a "local" level, e.g. a marshalling yard (2-10 square km), along a railway line (30-300 km) or country-wide.
Freight rail requirements are looking for a communication backbone system allowing to combining site to site communications with the track specific signaling requirements (e.g. ATC systems, radio base stations along the track, signaling and video at sidings and cross-overs)
Different networks constitute the current railway's network infrastructure. The voice network comprises PBXs of different brands and technologies. The data network is linking the different PC-type applications together. The railways also have very specific networks such as:
voice services for signal boxes, emergency services, dispatching services, public address, CCTV, etc. Much of this signalling equipment is processor-based and requires communication between its peers and its central control point. This is also true for SCADA systems.
Many of these applications requires a non stop availability of the communication backbone.
Rail passenger and freight operators need a cost effective solution, not only in terms of procurement, but also in terms of maintenance and expansions.
A simple system with an efficient learning curve, flexible enough to support new applications and increasing bandwidth requirements is a must.
As passengers and precious materials safety and security is a concern to each operator, high quality integrated CCTV must be supported.
Use of Fiber Optics
One of the major safety requirements is the guaranteed integrity of the overall network. The exclusion of a complete station should not affect the remainder of the transmission system. Sufficient spare capacity for future expansions and an easy way to add data services in future is a basic requirement for an expanding transportation medium such as railways. Evolving standards, applications and requirements ask for a wide variety of interfaces, fully transparent for all services and able to carry all services simultaneously, and this, even in a hostile (EMC) environment.
To satisfy these requirements, railway companies have decided to chose fibre optic as their prime choice of transmission medium. The use of fiber optic technology has many advantages, as compared to electrical cabling. The major benefits of fibre are the very low transmission losses, no crosstalk problems, no radiation along the length of the cable, no sensitivity to external interference fields, electrical isolation and low weight
OTN Benefits
OTN is a fiber based system for voice, data, LAN and video information. One can connect filely any electronic device that needs to transmit information such as telephones, computers, CCTV cameras, PLC's (Programmable Logic Controllers), audio systems, etc.. OTN makes sure all this information gets to the other end in a fast, transparent and reliable way, just as required in the passenger and freight railway environment.
The railway resilience is accomplished via OTN nodes which are connected in dual ring. This structure allows the network to work around cable breaks and product failures, without affecting the devices connected to the nodes, thus achieving optimum network availability and availability of the railway.
The distance between the nodes can go up to 150 km and more allowing OTN rings exceeding 2,000 km to be constructed.
A unique feature of the OTN system is its capability to handle video services. In the past, it often happened that two entirely separate networks were installed, one handling all the voice and data whereas the other handled all video signals. This construction will disappear as all voice, data and video services can now be handled by the OTN.
Railway operators rely on OTN to make sure the freight track is always under control, available and secure, that the passengers can travel fast, safe and well informed, and all this, based on a cost effective communications backbone with respect to procurement and maintenance.