128 Business View - August 2015
LOGISTICS
and the ability to transfer data over a wireless plat-
form. So what Wi-Tronix sought to do was to integrate
all of the available control and monitoring equipment,
such as the digital video recorders (DVRs) and event
recorders (ERs) on a locomotive, and pair them with
a Wireless Processing Unit (Wi-PU,) in order to convert
real-time data into actionable information which could
be wirelessly transferred, instantaneously, to a mobile
asset’s management or control center.
The result of this application was that a railroad man-
ager, however far away from the locomotive the opera-
tions center may be, would now immediately be able
to receive wireless notification of critical information in
the event of an emergency brake application or other
serious system anomaly. In addition, on-board opera-
tor actions would be viewable with video looking out
the front of a locomotive or cab car. With these syn-
chronized systems in place, management would have
the ability to respond appropriately to a potentially di-
sastrous situation before it can result in dire conse-
quences.
The Wi-Tronix system can use any mode available, such
as satellite, Wi-Fi, or cellular. What makes the compa-
ny’s products so valuable to its customers is that they
can be made to work, and be compatible with, any pre-
existing infrastructure regardless of manufacturer or
model. “Our core competency is systems integration.
We pride ourselves on being able to integrate, essen-
tially, any available technology,” says Heilmann. “There
really isn’t anybody that interfaces or integrates with
the number of on-board sub-systems that we do. Our
system can be deployed across the customer’s entire
fleet, whether the locomotives are brand new or fifty or
more years old.”
Wi-Tronix devices, themselves, are always upgradeable
