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Over the past
fifteen years the Class I Railroads have paved the way,
bore the expense, and worked to controlled cost of
Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) technology
within the rail industry. By working together,
encouraging competition within the vendor community, and
standardization, the Class I Railroads have successfully
developed and implemented AEI at an estimated cost of
$300M. Today there are over 2500 mainline AEI sites in
North America and the technology has been implemented
world wide.
The
experience gained through this North American Railroad
effort is available to the Short Line Railroads and Rail
Customers.
Application
Technology By Design (ATBD Inc.) employees have been
involved in every aspect of AEI development since 1990.
Their range of experience extends from the successful
tagging of equipment to data standardization and AAR
representation
ATBD Inc. is
pleased to offer the American Short Line Railroads and
their Railroad Customers the following Automatic
Equipment Identification products and services:
Information
Introduction
to history of AEI development and standards.
Similarities
and differences of manufacturer’s software and hardware.
Lease
purchase financing on total project not just equipment.
Equipment,
software, hardware, and vendor selection.
Implementation
Site to host
functions, communication protocol, and connecting road
sharing.
AEI database
structure and access programs.
AEI tag
programming.
Handheld AEI
tag readers for tag health and rail inventory.
Installation
Site
location, do’s and don’ts equipment placement for
optimum performance.
Front end
processing of AEI data and “off the shelf” solutions.
Power and
communication requirements and performance.
PC to AEI
site system configuration and software.
Site
selection documentation and survey.
Development
of short and long term AEI implementation strategies.
Integration
Proven and
recommended AEI site installation practices and
configurations.
AEI site
programmed/preventative maintenance procedures.
Maintainer
training and basic troubleshooting.
Project
management and scheduling.
Turn key
system installation.
Exploitation
Class I
railroad and connecting road interface to exploit
foreign equipment.
Site
placement to support RMI Train Management System (TMS)
software.
Maintenance
and Support
Installation
training and qualified supervision.
AEI data
quality and system health monitoring software.
Site
inventory configuration management and parameter
database.
AEI system
health monitoring, and web based management reports.
AEI repair,
relocate, upgrade, and disaster recovery.
Typical Solution Provided
Our
customers are typically in one of four stages of
development: 1) Simply want to become more familiar
with AEI technology 2) In the planning stages, wish not
make mistakes, and want assistance in developing an AEI
strategy 3) Own and/or have inherited equipment and
require some assistance in integrating the systems into
their own host or with RMI 4) Have an infrastructure,
front end processor, feeding data to RMI, however,
require some assistance in selecting proper site
placement and host setup to support RMI’s Train
Management System (TMS).
ATBD
Inc. representatives specialize in making you successful
in the exploitation of AEI technology.
Basic Services
For a
nominal charge, ATBD Inc. will come to your facility,
answer your questions, survey your equipment, understand
your requirements, and provide a to do list to assist
you in reaching your AEI exploitation goals.
Everything in Between
Complete Turnkey Systems
We
take the time to understand your requirements, budget,
and goals then provide a complete solution from
installation to integration. When we are finished, you
have a system you can use, monitor, expand, and support
with all the tools and training to do so. |
