Kontron has expanded its TRACe™ family of operational computers designed specifically for the transportation market with a gateway and multi-vehicle bus (MVB) controller.

Kontron developed the comprehensive TRACe line to provide proven, feature-rich building blocks and ‘plug and play’ middleware that facilitate design flexibility that addresses any train program profile.

Both the Kontron TRACe gateway and MVB controller feature a rugged design that ensures virtually maintenance-free operation in harsh environments, and are optimised for any rolling stock application such as passenger information and infotainment systems, video streaming and storage servers, security surveillance and train management systems.

Kontron will showcase its entire TRACe portfolio at InnoTrans (International Trade Fair for Transport Technology) in Berlin, Germany September 23-26 in Hall 2.1b, booth 320.

The Kontron TRACe G304-TR transportation computer gateway offers excellent Wi-Fi connectivity capabilities making it well-suited for passenger infotainment or operator remote control and maintenance. The Kontron TRACe M304-TR MVB Class 4 controller is an Ideal computing solution for train control management systems (TCMS).

Kontron’s two new TRACe products offer high mean time between failures (MTBF), high reliability, long-term support of eight years or more and are EN50155 Class Tx compliant.

The Kontron TRACe family benefits from the inherent flexibility advantages of Kontron’s COM Express® Computer-on-Module (COM) that features the Intel® Atom™ E3845 processor with up to quad core 1.91 GHz performance.

These platforms feature high performance density and low power consumption in a small footprint, low profile design that offers integrators higher flexibility in terms of the number of available I/O. The family also provides long-term support by design based on its modularity and seamless technology insertion of the processor, storage, I/O and power supply unit.

All Kontron’s TRACe transportation computing platforms integrate advanced health management tools, an intelligent power-on built-in test (PBIT) solution, which provides a modular and scalable set of uniform test routines to assess the health status and configuration of the complete system.

Equipped with a dedicated microcontroller to monitor all functions, TRACe enables operators to permanently, continuously and independently monitor and report the status of the application executed in parallel with normal operations. The result is enhanced security along with improved diagnostics and maintenance that, in turn, minimise the need for system debugging.

This makes TRACe ideally suited for fleet management of a large number of units in the field. Its health management tools enable operators to monitor the entire fleet to better manage and anticipate maintenance, reduce turn-around times and increase the overall availability of the units.

Kontron transportation business line manager Robert Negre explains: "TRACe is a key solution to meeting the requirements of trends in transportation such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and enhanced connectivity. For example, rolling stock systems operate in wide ranging and varied landscapes where connections may or may not be possible.

"TRACe delivers the necessary excellent connectivity (3G / 4G / Wi-Fi) along with health-management middleware to open new capability possibilities for operators while giving them increased reliability and maintainability in the field."

"Because TRACe is a comprehensive family of EN50155-certified transportation computers it brings unique reduced support and maintenance cost deployment benefits. Furthermore, TRACe provides the essential technologies railway industry operators need with the added advantage of health management capabilities."

For more information, contact Kontron.