ESA title

SaMoLoSa

  • ACTIVITY-
  • STATUSCompleted
  • THEMATIC AREATransport & Logistics, Safety & Security

Objectives of the service

The SaMoLoSa project aims at demonstrating a monitoring service for critical parameters during transports carrying hazardous goods in unpowered transport assets such as rail tank cars and intermodal tank containers. After identifying stakeholder needs, the monitoring device is configured for the required parameters and a software platform is developed to provide an answer to these specific needs.

The collected data of the assets location and vital parameters provides large amounts of information that can be exploited for optimising business logistics and identifying areas for improvement in the supply chain, both in historic analysis and in real time. The latest version of the Ovinto Sat unit sends all data 3 times/hour during min. 4 years.

Another goal of the project is the reduction of risk and the integration of a digitized EU railmap. 

Next to all of the above, the SaMoLoSa project aims to offer a new commercial model towards the different stakeholders, minimizing the ‘entry barrier’ and costs regarding these monitoring services while maximizing their return and profit for all implied stakeholders.

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Users and their needs

The transport of dangerous goods is mostly executed via rail or boat to reduce the risk of incidents on the road.

These transport assets don’t have a proprietary power source causing  major problems to:

  • determine the location of the transport assets
  • register critical data such as mileage, temperature, pressure, shocks, leakages...
  • get notified when critical parameters change during transport

End users and other stakeholders in the transport of dangerous goods via unpowered transport assets (emergency services, logistic operators...) want to be kept informed about the overall status during the transport and they want to be alarmed when specific critical parameters exceed predefined limits (e.g. temperature, pressure, shocks....), in ‘real time’, worldwide.  

Target users

  1. The (petro-)chemical & gas industry as hazardous & dangerous goods transporter, for optimisation of security, know the whereabouts of their hazardous transports as well their condition
  2. Their respective logistics departments , in order to reduce operating costs.
  3. The leasing companies as a basis for invoicing and preventive maintenance
  4. Producers of tank containers & tank rail cars who could supply their products with integrated monitoring devices.
  5. Professional interest organizations (Cefic, ITCO, Essenscia, …) who play a role in regulating the sector
  6. Insurance companies
  7. Government in close cooperation with the civil service, fire brigade, SAR, …
  8. Satellite communication providers

 End users represented in the project are based in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France.

Service/ system concept

To be able to provide this service, we need to measure and register these vital parameters on the unpowered asset, interpret the data and communicate these values and alarms from all over the world to customers and users all over the world. 

So in short the Ovinto Sat Monitoring Service provides: 

  • Monitoring equipment, connected to the necessary measurement sensors, on the unpowered transport assets,
  • Monitoring, registering and the communication of all relevant data,
  • The interpretation of all data according to the wishes of the customer and present these data in the format desired by the customer, provided as Data as a Service.

Space Added Value

Unpowered assets such as train wagons and tank containers are hard to monitor in real time using GSM technology due to its relatively high power consumption, the lack of global coverage as well as not being adapted for use in very explosive surroundings. Satellite technology is able to solve this, and Ovinto battery optimization allows for a unit working long enough to be useful for the users.

GNSS is a cheap, universal way to locate assets everywhere on the globe. 

The following short video, which was created by the SaMaLoSa consortium, explains the advantages of their approach:

Current Status

After a successful completion of the SaMoLoSa project which focused on transport of unpowered assets carrying hazardous goods, Ovinto decided to develop a new hardware prototype, followed by a pilot test case. This follow-on focused on developing the new Ovinto Sat V2, which was presented in the Final Review meeting at ESTEC.

Ovinto Sat V2 Prototype

Apart from a slimmer and more lightweight design, the new Ovinto Sat V2 comes with many new innovations. One of these innovations is the usage of both Satellite-based IoT and LPWAN communication, through a combination of Globalstar and Sigfox. This results in a higher messaging frequency and reliability, and it is a real innovation within the sector.

Additionally, the device can be connected to many different sensors simultaneously. While the original Ovinto Sat had 10 I/O ports, the new Ovinto Sat V2 has a total of 20 dedicated I/O ports, which is again a real breakthrough. This means that the it can be connected with a thermocouple sensor, multiple PT100 or PT1000 sensors, multiple pressure sensors and others, all at the same time and without having to adapt the device.

Prime Contractor(s)

Ovinto UK Ltd

United Kingdom

Website

Status Date

Updated: 06 April 2018