The railway industry needed to improve and reduce the cost of existing methods for controlling railway crossings. They wanted a safe, fast and reliable advance warning system to activate the crossing arms and lights.

Southdale Integrated Systems Inc., in Burlington, Ontario, has developed a robust warning and monitoring system that needed to communicate with railcar sensors approximately 1 mile away from the rail crossing. Cable solutions were both costly and prone to failure.

An approaching train is detected by the train sensor which is connected to a Wuta Web modem via its RS-232 serial port. The information is transmitted by the Wuta Web a distance of approximately 1 mile (line of sight) to a receiving Wuta Web at the the crossing controls. The rail crossing lights and arms are activated to allow safe passage of the train.

Benefits

Wuta Web was able to provide a reliable and cost effective communications link via the Wuta Web radio. Unlike other data radios, Wuta Web requires no site license and can be used anywhere in North America with no regulatory hassles.

Equipment Used

4 Wuta Web plus Modems

2 Southdale sensors

2 Yagi antennas, pole mounted

Southale failsafe computer