Technology Focus Series

Augmented Reality (AR) is an interactive composition of both, physical and digital elements. AR technology has the potential to improve productivity and safety of the workforce and may bring additional benefits for business development.

A drone is any unmanned vehicle, remotely operable or autonomous, that is capable of various tasks from simple travel to complex programmable missions. The term “drone” encompasses Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV). Drones can be fitted with equipment such as cameras and sensors for monitoring, can be equipped with payloads, and often use GPS for stabilisation and tracking. This report will be focusing on UAV Drones.

Robotic exoskeletons are mobile machines consisting of an outer framework worn by a person, which is powered by a system of motors and hydraulics that delivers energy for limb movement. They are used to assist the wearer by enhancing their strength and endurance.

A blockchain is a “secure by design” distributed digital ledger, or distributed database, which is used to record transactions in a peer-to-peer network in a permanent and verifiable way. Each record is called a block, contains a timestamp, and a link to a previous block in the chain. 

Gateless gates are systems that use technologies such as video analytics, biometrics, and Bluetooth or vicinity/proximity sensing technologies such as RFID/NFC in place of physical ticket validation, to grant access to an area with minimum effort and time spent from the user. These technologies allow the gate to be barrierless which improves throughput (from 33 persons per minute currently to 60+ ppm) and experience as well as ensuring revenue protection: staff can be notified when people without access rights go through and past a barrier (e.g. fare evaders).

Vibration based Energy Harvesters convert mechanical vibration into electrical energy. The railway industry can use vibration-based harvesters to power sensors located in the infrastructure and the train. This technology can decrease dependency on the gridline and create a wider system.