Health management is a relatively new term in transportation system operations. Within embedded computing platforms, health management technologies deliver the ability to verify systems’ integrity and operational capacity to perform as specified. The health management information provided needs to be precise when relating the computer’s vital status of critical and major resources. In case of loss or defect of one of these resources, it is important that any malfunction be detected, logged and reported so distant operators can remotely access critical status data in order to make actionable decisions. Furthermore, uptime and customer satisfaction can be better managed from essential system resources such as power supply signals, temperature probes, watchdog counter, heart beat signals and major system components that include the main processor, memory subsystem, or interfaces.
To meet the demands of ensuring safety and reliability while reducing maintenance and operations costs, Kontron developed its modular TRACe™ transportation computer system portfolio that features integrated health management capabilities. TRACe allows online access to comprehensive information on the status of each unit giving operators an innovative resource to control the real reliability and effectiveness of the whole installed base.