GE (General Electric) Transportation and Intel have joined forces claiming to make the trains run faster and smarter. Both have introduced ‘superbrain’ platform solution for locomotives that will make use of data analytics and mobile technology to transform trains into mobile data centers. According to the partnership, the solution will enhance operations, fuel efficiency, horsepower and emissions. The announcement was made at InnoTrans 2016 featuring GE’s
GoLINC and
6th Gen Intel Core i7 processor to allow better data management and video analytics for locomotive.
GE Transportation President and CEO Jamie Miller said, “Our partnership delivers the most advanced connectivity across the rail industry to create a smarter rail ecosystem. It enables operators to transfer data, host applications and interface with third-party systems, and can boost operational productivity.”
How will it work?
The trains will make use of GoLINC which the company states to be the ‘brain for the train’, a network, communication, and application management platform for the railroad environment. It is a mobile data center that offers processing, wireless communication, networking, video, and data storage. GoLINC connects locomotive and third party systems to make data available, and features onboard wireless capability for easier data transfer.
According to the company, the trains will be ‘like an iPhone’, where railway companies can develop and use their own applications on the platform. Superbrain is an enhancement to the GoLINC that saves time and reduces costs by lowering the amount of data transferred over cellular connections, and will enable the rail industry to perform better.
GE mentioned in a
blogpost that has installed an efficient computer system with storage solutions into the train. This is where sensors such as high-definition cameras provide information regarding payload or the state of the tracks. The computer processes data in real time and relay it to the train’s control system. So far, GE claims to have installed the system in more than 6,000 locomotives.
Earlier this year,
GE and Intel partnered to make cities smarter, including projects that involve making their headquarters buildings into ultra-connected and instrumented places. GE also acquired ShipXpress, a provider of cloud-based software solutions to deliver information and transaction services for railroad customers around the world.
