BNSF eyes wireless for numerous projects

Computerworld - LAS VEGAS -- Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. wants to transfer much of its wireless operations from its own systems to commercial cellular service provided by major carriers such as AT&T Wireless Services Inc. or Sprint PCS Group, according to BNSF CIO Jeff Campbell.
But, Campbell, interviewed here at the Comdex trade show, said he wants to do more than just buy commercial wireless voice and data services. He wants to form a partnership with one or more cellular carriers.
Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF owns and operates a private microwave system that covers 14,000 miles of right of way in 27 Western states, with electronics and microwave dishes installed on some 700 towers. Campbell envisions using the towers to house cellular antennas and related electronics to serve BNSF trains as well as customers in rural parts of the U.S. that are poorly served by cellular carriers. Campbell said he hasn't yet signed any deals.
BNSF has under development a number of wireless systems: voice-recognition systems that turn radio calls into data files, remote-controlled engines run by industrial-strength Wi-Fi systems, and active and passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Those projects are designed to streamline operations "and provide our customers with near real-time information," Campbell said.
Last month, BNSF completed a test of what Campbell called radio-telephony integration (RTI), which uses voice-recognition technology to turn calls from train crews into data, which can then be stored in railroad applications just like any other piece of data, Campbell said. The railroad environment adds an extra challenge, because the speech-recognition systems have to filter out noise from a locomotive cab. But the test -- which used one train crew -- worked well enough that Campbell said he now plans to roll out RTI "over the next 18 months to all our divisions."
Campbell said BNSF also plans to use active long-range RFID tags to monitor all of the railroad's rail cars, providing updated information on the mechanical status of those cars, such as wheel wear. At the same time, BNSF intends to use passive short-range RFID technology to track shipments. The passive technology has already been embraced by both Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the U.S. Department of Defense.
BNSF has started to deploy Wi-Fi wireless LAN systems extensively in rail yards to allow crews to remotely control engines used to make up trains. These Wi-Fi systems are connected to a control panel that mimics the control panel of a diesel locomotive -- "You can even blow the horn," Campbell said --and are both more efficient and less hazardous than manned locomotives.