ATBD Inc

ATBD Inc.: Your complete railroad transportation Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) Systems solutions provider. Offering sales, installation, construction, information, education, training, surveys, monitoring, maintenance, integration, and/or turn key applications.

F.A.Q.

What is an equipment group code (EGC)? Who manufactures AEI equipment, who are the added value distributors? Who integrates AEI with way side railroad equipment? What data is programmed into the AT5110 standard rail tag? What is T-94, S-918, and S-918A? What are the parts or segments of an AEI message? What data is conveyed/reported by the AEM? What is "clean list logic" and why is it important? What is an equipment group code (EGC)? The EGC is programmed into the tag for the purpose of assisting in identifying the type of equipment and/or application of the tag. Examples of equipment and applications identified by the EGC are as follows: Railcar Locomotive Trailer Chassis End-of-Train Device Intermodal Container Refrigerator Vehicle Dynamic Tag Locomotive Dynamic Tag Railcar Cover Tag Passive Alarm Tag (Type I) Impact Recorder Dynamic Tag (Type I) Generator Set Rail Compatible Multi-Modal Equipment Back to top Who manufacturers AEI equipment, who are the added value distributors? The AAR, in starting the rail AEI project, selected AMTECH Logistics to be the manufacturer and supplier of AEI technology. To increase competition and speed of development, the AAR mandated that AMTECH set up a value added distributorship program. AMTECH was discouraged from dealing directly with the railroads and encouraged to participate in the development of AEI systems. Value added distributors had the responsibility to combine supporting technology with the ability to read tags to produce a wayside consist reporting system. Although many companies have worked in the area of AEI, those still offering equipment are: Southern Technology Corporation (STC), Chattanooga, TN Scientific Application International (SAIC), Kansas City, MO Back to top Who integrates AEI with way side railroad equipment? Today’s leader in way side railroad equipment integration is Southern Technology Corporation (STC), Chattanooga, TN. STC has worked closely with Union Pacific to develop hot wheel, hot box, and sliding wheel detectors fully integrated with AEI technology. Other applications are in the area of scales and wheel impact load detectors. Back to top What data is programmed into the AT5100 standard rail tag? The AT5110 AEI tag has the following fields programmed. This information was deemed required when the tag design was agreed to by the AAR. Although very basic, this information is the backbone of AEI integration. Tag Type railcar, locomotive Equipment Initial (Mark) TTX, NS, CN Car Number 999999, 324 Side Indicator left, right Length equipment length Number of Axle 4,6,24 Bearing Type roller, other Platform Identifier one, a, b, d Back to top What is T-94, S-918, and S-918A? In the early 1990's the Class I Railroads recognized the necessity to standardize the data format of data from the AEI wayside equipment to the host systems. The justification was to expedite the development on the host side by providing a data format standard before the equipment was deployed. Additionally, it was desired that the value added distributors, set up by AMTECH, would be able to speed up development of interoperable systems creating a competitive market place. To this end, the then eleven Class I Railroads worked for two years to develop a standard. In the fall of 1994 at a resort in TanTara the final changes were agreed to and T-94 was born. Although T-94 was an AEI standard it was not an industry standard. In 2001, the AAR formed the AEI Taskforce whose purpose in part was to further the exploitation of AEI, oversee modifications to AMTECH equipment, and maintain stability or standardization. Since T-94 was not an industry standard, the AAR had no direct influence on its development. In 2003, ownership of T-94 was transferred to the AAR for documentation maintenance. At this point T-94 became S-918-A and part of the S-918 AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, Railway Electronics, Standard for Automatic Equipment Identification. Together, the S-918 and S-918A include all aspects for the development and implementation of AEI technology as set forth by the AAR. Back to top What are the parts or segments of an AEI message? The AEI message as defined by the S-918A (formerly the T-94 document) primarily consists of an AEM consist message header, a RRE rail equipment record, and an EOC end of consist segment. Below is a list of all current segments supporting known and future system integration along with specialty equipment and applications: AEM Consist Header Message ALM Alarm Tag AMH AEI Maintenance Header CEQ Conveyed Equipment DED Dragging Equipment Detector DYI Dynamic Impact Recorder DYL Dynamic Locomotive DYR Dynamic Refrigerator ECR Environmental Condition Report EMS End of maintenance EOC End of consist EOT End of train Device GEN Generator Set HAT Railcar Cover HWD High/Wide Detector MMR Multimodal Rail Equipment MTS Maintenance Data RRE Rail Equipment (car and locomotive) RTD Raw Tag Data SIM System Integrity Message THI Tag Health Information TRK Track Identifier TST Test Tag WRD Equipment with Atypical Axle Patterns XAC Acoustic Interface XFW Wheel Impact Load Detector Interface XHB Hot Box Interface XHW Hot Wheel Interface XSC External Scale Interface Back to top What data is conveyed/reported by the AEM? Back to top What is "clean list logic" and why is it important? AEI sites were designed as stand alone systems, self-sufficient in hardware, software, and firmware. The design allowed development of a completely interoperable system usable by any railroad. The standardized data format (S-918A) continued the interoperable theme facilitating the development and integration of host systems. The key to the success of this design is the ability of the AEI site to post process data from all sub-systems and create a “clean list” of passing equipment. A clean list accounts for all equipment, tagged or un-tagged, at all speeds, with or without direction changes, and stop-and-go movements. The clean list is the basis for generating the standard S-918A message. Applications which do not use clean list logic are those intended to report one car or piece of equipment at a time. Scales, humps, spot-pull, lead-out, and dump applications are examples.