Meeting London´s bus emissions goals with the power of an IoT platform

IoT meets the road

Sensor-Technik Wiedemann (STW) is a leader in automation, electrification, and digitalization and a specialist in large vehicle and equipment telemetry. So, when the City of London set an ambitious goal to create the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London by 2020, STW was the name everyone knew would be connected to the effort.

“One of the key tools for hitting London’s target is real-time monitoring of soot particles [PM] and nitrogen oxide [NOx] emissions from a fleet of over 5,000 buses that ply the city’s streets,” says Dr. Michael Schmitt, CEO, STW. “No one had accomplished anything like this before, but with the Cumulocity platform customized and branded as ‘STW machines.cloud’ we knew we could pull off a world’s first without missing a step.”

The confidence is warranted. That’s because STW machines.cloud has relied on Cumulocity for years, delivering class-beating results for more than 100 companies that harness its power across industries as diverse as municipal vehicles, construction, agriculture, heavy vehicles, and maritime.

With more than 150 buses connected via TC1 wireless systems by July 2018—and ready for next-gen IoT networks and 4G as it rolls out—STW’s system is transmitting data to the cloud. The data shows that London is well on the way to meeting its goal to reduce PM and NOx, thanks to its buses cutting particulates by 99% and NOx by 90%. Users can visualize live data on dashboards seamlessly on PCs, mobile devices, or the web, leading to real-time diagnostics and calibration—and cleaner air for London.

CANbus to cloud

By 2021, more than 5,000 buses in London’s public transport network will be fitted with sensors, such as HJS Emission Technology’s Selective Catalytic Reduction Technology, which uses cutting-edge particle filters and catalytic converters to dramatically reduce emissions. But in today’s world, blind implementation isn’t enough to meet the strictest of emissions guidelines—London needs to know what every single vehicle is doing in real time. The best solutions go further, gathering and parsing data with even better visibility into any individual vehicle’s operating data and module systems.

To do this in London, STW is adding its TC1 telematics modules to the city’s buses. By tapping into industry-standard CANbus vehicle data systems and transmitting the gathered data wirelessly, users can access everything from real-time emissions data to vehicle faults, GPS-based locations, and fuel consumption with the click of a button.

“Thanks to the foundation of Cumulocity, all this data gets sent to the cloud in intervals of two minutes,” says Schmitt. “STW machines.cloud provides user and device management to connect, monitor, and analyze bus operations in real time.”

This made it a breeze to meet legal certification obligations that the data also be recorded centrally and stored for 60 days while providing live access for remote condition monitoring of exhaust gas treatment systems.

Best of all, because of the tight partnership between Cumulocity and STW, the implementation of intelligent algorithms inside the telemetric modules turns big data into smart data—enabling automatic fault alerts and predictive maintenance actions ahead of when they are needed.

Where data can drive itself

To unleash the power of the data the London bus system is gathering requires the “perfect combination” of STW’s digitalization and automation technology and mobile machine expertise with Cumulocity’s carrier-grade IoT platform. Step one was getting the hardware and software systems in place to monitor and visualize the right things. Step two is about making that data drive itself.

“It’s really clear that today’s solutions must have the longer-term view of tomorrow’s needs, which is one of the reasons we rely so heavily on Cumulocity,” says Schmitt. “Soon we’ll need to bring the power of big data, advanced streaming analytics, and machine learning to bear on achieving an even higher level of efficiency in London—and Cumulocity is already set up to do that.”

Once finished with the full installation, HJS will have the ability to pick and choose its capabilities, such as machine learning to optimize routes and operating parameters for better balancing emissions and expenses.

And because Cumulocity is an open, secure platform, London’s solution isn’t locked into any single vender ecosystem. With a wide range of third-party products and services already available, STW can evolve machines.cloud with additional technologies as it needs to without delay or uncertainty.

“We have taken Cumulocity and rebranded it ‘STW machines.cloud’ as our IoT solution for the collection of data from on-board devices such as our TC1 telematics modules. STW machines.cloud provides user and device management and can connect, monitor, and analyze operations in real time. HJS will use it to gain significant insights into the vast amount of data streaming from the embedded devices in retrofitted buses in London,” said Schmitt.