An M2M Solution That Will Float Your Boat

by Advantech B+B SmartWorx

January 9, 2015

in M2M, Managing Mobile Assets, Success Stories

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The Challenge
A transportation system operates 27 ferries and services nearly 40 different stops on 7 different routes around a large harbor. Like land-bound subway or bus systems, the ferries are far more useful if they can operate on a predictable schedule, and if the intervals between ferry arrivals can be properly controlled. The ferries must be able to report their GPS positions to the central control office in real time. They must be able to provide the transportation authorities with real-time data about variables like fuel levels and the status of shipboard equipment. And they must also provide Wi-Fi Internet access for the passengers. To accomplish these tasks, the transportation authority needed to create local area networks on each ferry, and to move data back and forth from ship to shore. That called for a wireless Ethernet solution.

The Solution
One of B+B’s value-added resellers solved the problem with B+B cellular routers, which can provide Internet connections for both local area networks and individual devices. With multiple built-in hardware interfaces, as well as Wi-Fi capabilities, the cellular routers are able to aggregate disparate protocols and technologies that include Wi-Fi, Ethernet, RS232/422/485 and even Modbus. They communicate with the central control over the cellular data networks using TCP/IP. They can provide Wi-Fi hotspots for Internet access, and they support robust security protocols. The cellular routers ensured that all of the ferries would remain fully connected to the central control at all times, no matter where any individual boat happened to be sailing at any given moment.