infraView
Revolutionizing the Railway Ecosystem with Predictive Maintenance

Over the past few years, businesses worldwide have begun to invest time and money in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) projects to accelerate the age of IT-driven smart industrial automation. As every industry undergoes a tremendous change powered by IoT, the railway industry is seeking smarter alternatives to perform all of its operations. As the IIoT becomes more widespread, the use of integrated knowledge that goes beyond the paradigms of classical railway engineering is being sought after to optimize the rail car maintenance sector. However, even in the modern technologydriven world, when considering an aging rail network, failures are bound to occur, resulting in capacity constraints or delays, train stoppages, and so on. Today, although railway assets are outfitted with sensors and sophisticated builtin diagnostics, there is a need to optimize the maintenance process to be more efficient and faster in order to keep up with the fast-paced world. This has necessitated the demand for a technologically sophisticated solution that can not only offer the benefits of data science to the railway sector but also holistic predictive maintenance of assets.

Enter infraView. Germany-based infraView in cooperation with DB Netze, the infrastructure operator of the German railway network, has developed a DIagnosis and ANAlysis solution called the DIANA platform, which enables railway personnel to monitor, control, and obtain diagnostics of vehicles and distributed railway infrastructure systems. As a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting, infraView offers IoT solutions and digital services for holistic railway lifecycle management. By integrating existing railway systems with DIANA and big data analytics, the company aids the railway sector in adopting predictive maintenance for their systems through the requirements and risk analysis, interface and sensor planning, IT project management, and AI model implementation. “With our technical expertise, domain know-how, and a decade of experience in the IIOT industry, we are able to proactively identify potential or real failures in railroads,” says Simon Giovanazzi, CEO of infraView.

Predictive Maintenance Made Easy

infraView’s unique IoT platform, DIANA, provides a comprehensive picture of rail ecosystems and facilitates the paradigm shift from reactive, time-based maintenance to sophisticated predictive maintenance.

The platform collects comprehensive data from every aspect of the railway ecosystem to provide predictive maintenance. The copious data collected comprises information from wayside camera checkpoints, geomonitoring devices, continuous track monitoring, operations, maintenance acitivities, weather and other information from inbuilt sensors. This data is collated through the DIANA platform that provides maintenance teams with an overview of potential failures that are bound to happen. In an attempt to revolutionize the railway industry, infraView’s platform provides a digital maintenance system that strives to improve rail infrastructure and rolling stock components from a long-term sustainability perspective. Essentially, DIANA is an ‘all in one platform’ that increases the availability and longevity of infrastructural facilities and vehicle components. Railway personnel can leverage this platform to decrease maintenance, repair and procurement expenses while providing total customer satisfaction attributable to a more independable and safe railway operation.

In addition to providing its in-house developed DB E&C sensors, infraView’s solutions can integrate with third-party sensors and offer clients 24/7 monitoring point machines that can spot probable defects and anticipate failures. The infraView products can continuously monitor and control IoT devices linked to the DIANA platform, enabling the company to provide proactive device monitoring and investigate device disconnections. The company also offers several degrees of device connectivity assistance, including 2nd level support for configuring and upgrading edge devices. This not only allows clients to plan and be more organised but also fosters an effective workflow throughout the business.

Next-Gen Railway Automation

As a digital pioneer in the railway infrastructure monitoring industry, infraView is working to build more efficient monitoring technologies that will help to avoid or decrease unexpected repairs. infraView is now taking the first step toward optimizing regular maintenance, which will have a huge influence since high-touch safety-relevant norms and regulations on AI in Europe are being implemented. The company also has a DIANA inspector system specifically designed to make optimization easier and compliant with changing regulations. The DIANA Inspector systematically digitalises and optimises deadline and inspection work through condition monitoring and diagnostic data. Through a data-supported analysis based on the DIANA platform, the inspector enables an innovative and forward-looking digital pre-inspection with immediate comparison to the digitised inspection plans. The result shows an early comparison with the next upcoming inspection and the already digitally available condition data. This product is currently in the development stage and is projected to make a significant impact this year. For instance, when a train enters the workshop, the infraView technology ensures that no one needs to measure the wheelset anymore.

Another significant plan on the company’s roadmap is to automate the railway sector using robotics and other cutting-edge technologies. Soon to be unveiled is DIANA Workshop Intelligence, an intelligent automation system that would enable maintenance teams to understand the status of the rail car without even opening it up. To accomplish this, infraView’s DIANA platform will record the train’s entire condition from the outside using internet monitoring and from the inside using onboard diagnostics and then send the vehicle condition data to the Workshop Intelligence system. “We bring in technical know-how from across the world to create a revolutionary intelligence system to understand what’s happening in the railway maintenance industry and adapt to its changing requirements,” concludes Giovanazzi.