Railway station
The software and hardware platform kSense can be used to improve railway station (RS) performance by analyzing passenger and employee behaviors and the efficiency of utilities and logistics. The platform will enable railway station owners and managers to have automated control over:
- Real-time traffic density;
- Efficient passenger flow distribution inside the train station;
- The number of passengers serviced;
- The number of trains handled;
- The condition of station equipment and systems;
- The analysis of passenger and employee activity in different parts of the station;
- The analysis of luggage logistics within the railway station;
- Efficient arrangement of service points inside the railway station;
- Queues, including those at ticket desks;
- Unusual or suspicious events, and identification of abandoned items;
- The optimum climate conditions on RS premises.
This list may be extended upon the customer's request.
The platform comprises the following equipment:
For the platform to work, the above mentioned units need to be installed at the railway station first, after which data collection can commence, followed by its transmission to the kBrain module hosted on the server. In the absence of a local server, the data can be processed in Microsoft Azure or a similar cloud service. This requires that the facility be equipped with a communication channel that transfers data at a rate of at least 2 Mbps. |
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The on-premise kHUB subsystem accumulates sensor data and video stream data and exchanges information with the platform's cloud components. The data is encrypted and transferred to the platform's server/cloud subsystem. A mathematical model processes the data and produces a set of controllable parameters to find an efficient way to improve the surveyed facility's performance and to provide forecasts.
After the data has been processed and analyzed, kHub receives the reports required for analysis and, if necessary, a set of instructions to automatically optimize the facility's systems.
Solution architecture:
- kFace
- kBrain
- kHUB
- Utility infrastructure
- Railway station software
- Actuating devices
- Sensors
- Video cameras
- Display
Defining RS efficiency and further development options
The facility's performance is assessed by kBrain, the platform's compute kernel which processes the data it receives from kHUB. Two embedded systems – a predictive analytics system and an expert system – carry out real-time data analysis and time series statistical analysis. Having analyzed the data derived from utility systems and video analytics, the movement patterns of personnel and passengers, and the resources exploited, the platform automatically performs as follows:
- Identifies factors that inhibit the efficiency of RS services and systems;
- Prepares recommendations on how to improve passenger traffic control efficiency, the performance of Digital Signage systems and the efficiency of retail areas and engineering systems;
- Maintains and controls the optimum operating conditions for the railway station and the engineering systems, i.e. the temperature, lighting and humidity, thereby reducing energy consumption;
- Identifies factors behind crowds gathering in localized areas (except for pick-up zones) and generates recommendations on how to manage them;
- Identifies factors that impair the efficiency of RS logistics;
- Controls employee operational discipline and adherence to compliance standards;
- Identifies abandoned items and individuals whose behavior may be dangerous to others or may lead to an unfavorable situation.
To optimize staff work, the platform generates individual recommendations. The recommendations and other background information are displayed on an additional monitor or on wearable devices.
Integration with the RS utility system and information systems can be carried out step-by-step. There will be no need to change or adjust the previously installed parts of the kSense platform.
Presenting results.
kFace is the platform's interface subsystem. The results of the data processing are displayed via dashboards pre-grouped in kFace. The results can be easily uploaded to the railway station's software-based accounting systems.
Summary
The kSense platform helps improve efficiency with which the RS handles passenger flows – by 20%, the performance of utility systems by 17-20%.