Skip to main content

RFID eliminates overhead wiring for trams

A new RFID system developed by UK company Harting allows electric trams or buses to operate without overhead electric wiring in areas where it would be unacceptably obtrusive, such as historic town centres, or where it might cause interference to sensitive equipment.
May 11, 2015 Read time: 1 min

A new RFID system developed by UK company 8098 Harting allows electric trams or buses to operate without overhead electric wiring in areas where it would be unacceptably obtrusive, such as historic town centres, or where it might cause interference to sensitive equipment.

The use of RFID enables a vehicle to detect the location of a charging station in advance or to determine which operating mode it is permitted to drive in. Harting Ha-VIS RFID systems permit approach detection to a charging station with positioning accuracy of better than 50cm. In addition, the RFID transponder contains information on the authorised operating mode. The RFID transponder may be mounted on a platform, on the track or at a stop, even within concrete to protect from vandalism.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Developing a wireless cooperative traffic management system
    March 14, 2012
    The use by MDOT of 90-foot concrete poles on which to mount CCTV equipment reduces the number of poles needed to monitor a given area and incidences of occlusion
  • Calculating the cost of stellar solutions
    August 10, 2016
    The increasing availability and accuracy of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is opening up low-cost options in many areas as David Crawford finds out. Boosting commercialisation of European global navigation satellite system (EGNSS) technologies for ITS initially depends heavily on demonstrating competitive and cost/benefit advantages obtainable from the deployment of EGNOS (the current European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), and ultimately the EU’s Galileo constellation (see box). So,
  • Washington State’s Community Transit launches real time bus information
    October 25, 2012
    Community Transit in Washington State in the US is equipping all its buses with GPS, automatic passenger counters and other technology that will improve operations, enhance the customer experience, and eventually allow customers to get real-time bus information by phone, computer or mobile device. The Transit Technologies pilot project was launched on a small set of commuter buses to downtown Seattle
  • Flexible, demand-based parking charges ease parking problems
    April 10, 2012
    Innovative parking initiatives on the US Pacific Coast. David Crawford reviews. Californian cities are leading the way in trialling new solutions to their endemic parking problems. According to Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California in Los Angeles, drivers looking for available spots can cause up to 74% of traffic congestion in downtown areas. One solution is variable, demand-responsive pricing of parking.