• Track repairer Jack Burton marks 50 years at Alaska Railroad (11/18/2014)

• Assistant Vice President Bridges & Structures

5/18/2016

Wi-Tronix: Hello, Violet

By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor

Wi-Tronix LLC on May 17 formally introduced Violet™, a Locomotive Data Acquisition Recording System (LDARS), at its 5th annual conference in Chicago.

The unveiled system offers a major feature for each of a violet’s five petals: a Violet onboard platform; Violet Live! live event recorder; Violet View continuous data fusion/analysis; Violet VI (visual intelligence); and Violet VR (virtual reality).

Violet offers Wi-Tronix’s multipurpose Wi-PU functionality via the onboard platform, which includes an event recorder, digital video recorder and crash-hardened memory module. Violet View provides “unprecedented” data fusion capabilities, enabling access to a continuous flow of information anytime, anywhere in the world, said Wi-Tronix President and Chief Technology Officer Larry Jordan at the conference.

“We’re super excited about this feature,” he said.

Violet VR offers “fewer cameras and more reality” in a locomotive cab by providing a single ultra-high-definition camera that “puts you on the scene,” said Jordan.

“You’ll see things as if you were there,” he said.

Wi-Tronix officials unveiled Violet, which they believe makes existing LDARS obsolete. Photos: Jeff Stagl

Meanwhile, Violet VI is designed to provide visual intelligence software and unprecedented video analytic capabilities, enabling users to “be the eyes on the railroad” and reduce safety risks, said Jordan.

Wi-Tronix leaders became inspired to develop Violet because of the unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that presumably crashed in 2014. They posited: What if the flight recorder had streamed data all the time instead of storing it in a “black box” that crash investigators need to find to retrieve all the flight information?

“We felt is was our duty to move this technology forward in the rail industry,” said Jordan, adding that Violet can provide “ultra-efficient” live information in real time.

Wi-Tronix leaders then put the company’s event recorder expertise to the test and thought about what end users would want from a more advanced LDARS, he said. Enter Violet.

“We obsoleted LDARS five times over,” said Jordan.