Foot Crossing Obstacle Detection Using AI
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on the Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Seibu Railway is to start testing a newly-developed AI-assisted warning system for detecting obstacles on foot crossings at two stations on the Ikebukuro Line in the suburbs of Tokyo.
The article is a detailed description of how the Japanese are using technology to make foot crossing a lot safer.
I can see applications for this technology not just on the rail system, but in other situations as well.
ARM: Can ‘Crown Jewel’ Of UK Technology Be Protected?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the introductory paragraphs.
The UK government is “looking at options” to protect and ensure future investment in Cambridge-based ARM Holdings, which is being bought by US tech giant Nvidia from Japan’s Softbank.
This is a much more relaxed attitude than the government took when Softbank bought the world-leading chip designer in July 2016. At that time, Softbank announced it had agreed to legally binding commitments to increase investment, headcount and preserve its headquarters in the UK.
It is not too late for the government to impose conditions, but conversations on whether to impose them or what they might be have not even started.
Some of the original founders of ARM Holdings, would appear to be not very happy.
I have followed the company for a number of years, as I was in the same class at Liverpool University with Robin Saxby, who was ARM’s first CEO.
At great surprise to myself, I made a nice sum of money by investing in the shares at the right time.
I am less unhappy, as I think two opposite outcomes would be good for the UK.
- It all goes pear-shaped and large numbers of talented engineers in Cambridge create several children of ARM.
- Nvidia decides that the ARM model and location is better and moves the headquarters of the group to the UK. Trump and his policies could make this likely, by picking fights with countries where Nvidia and ARM have large markets.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
Financing For 135 Hybrid Trainsets Agreed
The title of this post, is the same as this article on Railway Gazette International.
This is the introductory paragraph.
The European Investment Bank agreed a €450m financing package on July 23 which will support Trenitalia’s plans to order 135 electric-diesel-battery hybrid regional multiple-units at total cost of €960m.
The trains are from Hitachi’s Caravaggio family and will be built in their Italian plant at Pistoia. Their operation is described in this sentence.
They will use conventional overhead electrification where available, with ‘cutting-edge’ engines for operation onto non-electrified routes as well as batteries to eliminate emissions for the ‘last mile’ and in urban areas.
That sounds extremely sophisticated to me.
Is The Powertrain Technology Transferrable To The UK?
I have republished this post with a link to the original article, as it occurs to me, that Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway. LNER and other train operating companies could be in need of a train with a sophisticated Diesel/Electric/Battery Hybrid powertrain.
So will Hitachi be using a powertrain like this in the UK?
Digital Displacement Project On Track To Reduce Rail Emissions
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the introduction paragraph.
With challenging targets to radically reduce railway CO2 emissions, Artemis Intelligent Power is looking at the potential of Digital Displacement® hydraulics as a novel route to lower emissions for freight locomotives, shunters and on-track plant.
Artemis Intelligent Power are an Edinburgh-based company, who are owned by Misubishi and claim they are global leaders in digital displacement technology.
The company has a section on their technology on their web site.
Effectively, they have designed a very efficient computer controlled hydraulic pump. When used in an application, there is often a fuel saving of several percent.
The Great Electric Air Race Has Begun
The title of this post is the first sentence of this article in The Independent, which is entitled Electric Planes: Could You Be Flying On A Battery-Powered Aircraft By 2027?.
This is the full first paragraph in an article by respected travel writer; Simon Calder.
The great electric air race has begun. Three European industry heavyweights have teamed up against a US startup and Britain’s biggest budget airline to develop the first commercial electric aircraft.
So is such an aircraft feasible?
When you consider that the three European heavyweights are Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens, I suspect that the proposed project is serious.
It should also be said that the companies are not aiming for an all-electric aircraft, but a hybrid plane with a very efficient on-board generator and a two-tonne battery.
The key to success will probably include.
- Batteries with a very high energy density.
- A highly-efficient and quiet gas turbine, that generates a lot of energy.
- Radical air-frame design to take advantage of the technology.
In my view, the batteries will be the key, but making more efficient batteries with high charge densities will also do the following.
- Improve the range and performance of battery and hybrid road vehicles like buses, cars and trucks.
- Improve the range and performance of trains and trams.
- Transform energy storage, so wind and solar power can be stored and used in times of high demand.
- Allow every house, apartment or office to have its own affordable energy storage.
In all of these applications, the weight of the battery will be less of a problem.
This leads me to the conclusion, that we may see smaller electric plasnes in a few years, but the technology that will make it possible, may well improve other modes of transport so much, that electric planes are never an economic proposition.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens!
I think most travellers and members of the oublic will benefit in some ways.
Internet Age Just Starting, Says Tech Guru
The title of this post is the same as the title of a short article in the Business section of the Sunday Times.
It is a summary of an interview with Marc Andreesen onside the Business section.
Some points raised.
- The next wave of technological disruption will affect law, medicine and construction.
- The basic cost of starting an Internet company has fallen dramatically
- There’s something really special happening at the intersection of medincine and computer science.
I certainly agree with the title of the article.
Technology Doesn’t Have To Be Complex
This article on the Rail Tecjnology Magazine web site is entitled Easing The Capital’s Cramped Carriages.
On the London Overground, the Class 378 trains are Electrostars with an air suspension.
Note the rubber suspension bag between the bogie and the car on this Class 378 train. As more people, dogs, buggies and heavy bags are loaded into the train, more air is pumped into the suspension bag to keep the train level, so that the train rides better and passengers don’t have to step up and down to get in.
The pressure in the bag gives a very good estimate of the number of passengers in each particular carriage in the train.
The Rail Technology Magazine article describes how this information is collected and then processed and distributed to the iPads and iPhones of station staff, so they can direct passengers to the least crowded parts of the train.
I have read that other train manufacturers are working on sophisticated head-counting software using CCTV cameras, as I saw deployed on a 141 bus in Transport for London’s Latest Plot To Get Us To Climb Stairs. That device has disappeared, so I suspect there were problems, privacy issues or it just cost too much.
The system on a Class 378 train must be a lot simpler and cheaper to install, especially if the train has been wi-fi enabled. The Class 378 trains don’t have wi-fi, but many Electrostars do.
As information is always key in any system, it can lead to various developments.
- Modern station displays can be updated to show the train loading.
- There may be cases where train loading affects the platform a train would use at a terminus.
- Automated messages about train loading could be displayed on the train.
- Detailed train loading information must be useful in designing a train interior and also station layouts.
I suspect that those behind this project have got lots of applications.
The Globalisation Of Health Care
This article on the BBC is entitled World’s smallest MRI helps tiny babies.
It shows how healthcare is becoming an increasingly global collaboration.
The idea for the machine was developed in the University of Sheffield and the machine was built by the American company; GE Healthcare.
Medical research is like this, with often more than two companies and countries playing their parts in producing a successful breakthrough, often many years after the original idea.
I just wonder how Trump’s America First and tax policies will affect developments like this.
Will his new tax rules, mean that if an American company is involved in a development like this, that the device will have to be manufactured in the United States, when perhaps to manufacture it in the country, that owns the IPR might be better?
I can see researchers not wanting to get involved with American companies, when other countries can offer deals with no nasty strings attached.
There’s only going to be two winners with some of Trumps tax ideas; lawyers and accountants.
Theresa Mentions The B-Word
On today’s Andrew Marr Show, Theresa May has just said that she has setup a review into battery technology.
I can’t find anything else.
However, I did find this snippet in The Sunday Times, when I bought the paper.
Ministers will pledge to invest in digital, energy, construction and transport infrastructure in each region. Funding is already earmarked for an institute to develop new battery technology.
That is probably something we need.
The Anonymous Widower 