RFID contract awarded to track Spoornet's rolling stock

7 February 2007 Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT

Ansys Integrated Systems, a specialist technology company, has been awarded an order in excess of R60m from Spoornet for the supply of a vehicle identification system.

Ansys Integrated Systems, a specialist technology company, has been awarded an order in excess of R60m from Spoornet for the supply of a vehicle identification system. The locally-designed system will enable Spoornet to determine the exact location of its rolling stock. The system, linked to Spoornet's management information system, consists of trackside readers and master stations at Spoornet's central traffic control centre.

Teddy Daka, director of Ansys, said that the company had significant experience in the supply of trackside measurement solutions for Spoornet. "While our origins may be rooted in the defence industry, we have been involved in the railway industry since 1991. Ansys was the main contractor for the integrated train condition monitoring system, the automatic vehicle identification system for the Spoornet line between the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and Mpumalanga and the vehicle identification system on the ore line between Sishen and Saldanha.

"We have developed a core competence in rail identification systems and currently supply the entire Spoornet fleet with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and are installing wayside reader systems countrywide," he adds.

Daka said that the technology has already been proven in a number of pilot installations and he expects the first 110 systems to be fully operational by the end of March.

Trackside readers will be installed at predetermined positions along the rail to identify any train passing those positions via the battery-less RFID tags on every wagon. Wheel sensors fitted to the tracks are also able to indicate the composition of the train and the wagon types. The wagon type is determined from its axle patterns or 'footprint'. Other parameters that can also be measured include the date and time, direction, speed, the number of wagons and any possible error conditions.

For more information contact Teddy Daka, Ansys, +27 (0)12 346 3141.

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