Enable-Network To A Bus

E-lins H685 and H820 router Application in Sydney’ bus.E-lins Perfect solution when we’re dealing with a constantly moving, rattling bus!

E-lins  Wireless has been dealing with that problem recently. It’s supplying the on-bus 3G Wi-Fi routers for Sydney’s Opal transport smartcard, which is supposed to catch NSW up to the rest of the nation by actually introducing a work on-train smartcard.

As part of a supply contract with Opal’s main developer Cubic Transportation Systems to fit out 5000 Sydney buses, E-lins had to customise one of its existing designs. Many of the features on the router would be recognisable in most networking contexts: it has eight on-board ports, and can switch between using Telstra’s 3G networks when on the road and Wi-Fi signal when in maintenance areas. But it also required some changes.

“We’ve specialised the device so that it copes with vehicles being turned on and off which can cause spikes and currents in the available power,” E-lins Wireless’s Evan zou told us. “It’s also vibration-proof.”

The bus rollout is currently half-completed (though only two routes in Sydney are active), and scheduled to finish by the end of 2014.