Close WindowDENVER, Co. PRNewswire | Aug. 20, 2001 Lat-Lon, a provider of remote monitoring and GPS tracking devices to the railroad and intermodal industries, announced at the Association of American Railroads Damage Prevention Conference in Ponte Vedra, Florida this July that it was in full deployment of its new RailTough™ product line.
A RailTough™ package consists of Lat-Lon's compact X-8 transmitter that is mounted on an asset (typically a railcar, trailer or shipping container) and one or more remote sensors that communicate via wireless transmission back to the X-8. This unique architecture allows customers to upgrade their systems easily and economically by simply adding or changing remote sensors. Typically, no wiring between the sensor and X-8 is needed. RailTough™ sensors currently available include open door alarms, break wire detectors, hot bearing alarms, truck hunting alarms, and running/not running indicators.
"The real benefit of our open architecture system," said Lat-Lon president Dave Baker, "Is that our customers will be able to use their existing X-8 transmitter units to monitor and report information from sensors that haven't even been developed yet. Who knows what information will be of critical importance to people in the shipping industry one, two or even three years down the line?"
The X-8 transmitter at the core of the new RailTough™ product line has been in deployment in rail service for over a year. They are currently running on a number of Class-1 railways including UP, CSX, and CN. X-8 units have been proven under a wide variety of climate conditions, including Canadian winters, desert summer heat, and tropical storms. Lat-Lon broke new ground in the tracking and monitoring industry by making the X-8 a completely self-contained, industrially hardened, solar powered unit. Equipped with an optional magnetic mounting system, it can be installed on a rail car or other mobile asset in minutes, and may be moved if necessary to allow flexibility in cars being tracked.
Lat-Lon employs Aeris.net's patented MicroBurst® technology, which uses the underutilized control channels of the cellular network. Lat-Lon telemetry units transmit data via the MicroBurst network to Lat-Lon's Web server for a very low cost. Data received at Lat-Lon can be automatically sent to a customer's fleet management software, and viewed on-line at www.lat-lon.com. Customers can access location histories, current fleet reports, and view asset locations with an interactive map with color-coded rail lines, towns and other features.
Lat-Lon, LLC is based in Denver Colorado. It is a member of the Terminal Grain group of companies (established 1918) and is privately held. For further information contact John Felty at +1-303-937-7406 or email john@lat-lon.com.
Aeris.net, headquartered in San Jose, Calif., provides web-to-wireless connectivity and control for a broad array of short packet signaling and messaging services using its proprietary MicroBurst® utility. MicroBurst technology employs the control channel infrastructure of the cellular network as a transmission medium to achieve low cost of service and ubiquitous coverage. Aeris.net currently has contracts deploying MicroBurst technology in cellular service areas in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Initial applications include vehicle position and condition reporting, security and equipment monitoring and utility meter reading. For more information on Aeris.net, call 888-Go-Aeris or visit www.aeris.net.
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