Bluetooth^® wireless technology in Public Transportation Bus Fleet

ATM SpA., the Public Transport Company of the municipality of Milan, is implementing a Bluetooth solution as a part of the innovative INTELLIBUS system, providing wireless diagnostic and preventive maintenance support for the ATM bus fleet.

The INTELLIBUS system, developed by Centro Ricerche FIAT ScpA of Orbassano and Digigroup Srl of Torino under a license agreement, is installed by IRISBUS/IVECO, the European coleader in buses and coaches manufacturing, on a fleet of 750 new CityClass Cursor urban and suburban buses being delivered to ATM SpA.

The project also includes a ground information and communication system (SIDIT) distributed over the six main bus depots of ATM Spa and a centralised fl eet data-base, interconnected through the Company Infranet network.

The system provides:

• Wireless down-load of diagnostic reports at bus return to depot
• Statistics of vehicle operations
• Predictive diagnosis of effi ciency losses in key systems such as engine cooling.

Key benefits for ATM SpA. are:

• Reduction of vehicle break-downs in line
• Replacement of corrective maintenance with on-condition preventive maintenance
• Improved management of bus logistics

Wireless diagnostics and preventive maintenance support strategies

All vehicles are equipped with a logic unit called IDAC, that connects to the vehicle CAN (Controller Area Network) and MULTIPLEX control networks, as well as to diagnostic sensors in order to gather a complete view of the vehicle operation and diagnostics during service. Vehicle operations parameters are analysed on-board to produce operations statistics. This information will be analysed off-line to detect abnormal trends and early fault diagnostics.

This solution will enable the ATM SpA depot staff to immediately address the buses requiring urgent maintenance. Preventive maintenance shall no longer be organised according to fi xed periodic inspection. On-condition maintenance will be implemented based on the early warnings issued by the predictive diagnostic system.

Wireless communication with buses

When the vehicle return to the refuelling stations after daily service the data are wirelessly down-loaded through the on-board Bluetooth Serial Port Adapter to a Bluetooth Communication Controller in the Depot.

The controller is equipped with a two Bluetooth antennas, one for identifi cation of the queue of busses, the second for data transfer sessions.

The transfer sessions may include:

• Download of alarms logging reports
• Download of operating and predictive diagnostic reports
• On-board VIDAC software updates

About connectBlue

connectBlue™ is a leading provider of wireless solutions for demanding applications in segments industrial automation, medical, instrumentation, diagnostics, logistics / transportation, vehicles and point of sales. Based on Bluetooth technology, Wireless LAN (WLAN) and IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee, connectBlue provides ready-to-use products and modules as well as custom design solutions in both hardware and software. connectBlue has offices in Malmö (Sweden), Chicago (USA) and Pfaffenhofen/Munich (Germany). For more information, please visit www.connectblue.com. The connectBlue word mark and logo are owned by connectBlue AB.

 

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