Com4 has won a IoT contract with Bane NOR. The victory is largely due to Com4 being the only contender able to deliver custom made solutions for future demands. Com4 will deliver machine-to-machine communication for the electricity metres on Norwegian trains.
Mohammad Ali Koteich, IKT business analyst and head engineer at Bane NOR, said they were looking for a supplier that had the necessary technical flexibility needed to meet the future head on. A new CENELEC- protocol (European Committee For Electro technical Standardisation) is being developed which requires a different form of communication with the electricity metres than the one currently used. Com4 were the only ones that showed the flexibility needed to handle this, he says.
New electricity metres on Norwegian trains
Stein André Larner, CEO of Com4, said that there is currently work being done relating to new electrical metres on Norwegian trains. The metres will communicate using M2M-SIM-cards. Most of the trains only travel throughout Norway, but a few of the routes will include other European countries. The metres will communicate with different operators on separated networks, he says.
New generation
Norwegian railroad companies started using energy metre onboard trains in 2006. Reidun Jørgensen, senior engineer and an expert on energy measuring systems at Bane NOR, says that this year there will be introduced a new generation of energy metres. In addition to delivering energy data the new metres will also deliver diagnostics from the electricity metres.
The energy metres can also deliver voltage data, so that the voltage on the contact wire network can be surveilled by the owner of the infrastructure which is Bane NOR. The SIM-cards from Com4 will be put into service in the new energy metres that are now in the roll- out phase at Norwegian railroad companies, she say.
CENELEC-protocol
The new CENELEC-protocol is a new standard which specifies how communication will work between electronic measuring systems onboard trains and the ground systems. Mohammad Ali Koteich explains that this entails that the new metres need the ability to “talk” with all the data collection systems in the same language. As it stands today this is not standardised, which will now be demanded.
Com4 was the only one that could, and showed goodwill to adjust to this challenge. The Web Portal presented gave an extra reassurance that they could deliver a total solution that covered our needs. Shortly Com4 was selected due to flexibility, quality of service, administrative interface and security, he says.
Delivery
Com4 will deliver custom made SIM-cards that withstand temperatures from -40 to +105 degrees Celsius, they also withstand jolts, vibrations and humidity. The framework agreement is for two year, with the possibility of adding two more years for ten years.
The energy metre solution entails elements like energy metres, sensors form electricity and voltage signals, and a communication solution for transmitting data to the energy settlement system Erex. The implementation of a new energy metre solution requires a close cooperation between the railroad companies and Bane NOR.
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