The New York City MTA IT department hosted an “executive demonstration” to show the installation of ultra-wideband sensors on the 42nd St shuttle track “via a robotic arm”.
As a refresher, ultra-wideband, or UWB, is a form of wireless communication that may be applicable to communications-based train control, or CBTC, an upgraded signaling system currently used on the L and 7. Governor Cuomo appears to be of the mistaken belief that UWB is different from CBTC. It is not, nor is it in use in any train system of any kind anywhere in the world. But UWB, if proven viable, could make installing CBTC quicker and cheaper.
I’ve seen UWB described recently as suitable for high definition positioning systems associated with modern 5G communications. The technology is fairly old and was proposed for all kinds of high bandwidth low power local wireless data links, but so far has been a commercial failure for communications. It can also be used as a very accurate and dependable radar system for positioning however and even object recognition, but needs a dense mesh of antennae which is possibly why MTA may need a robot to place large numbers of individual components around the network accurately and efficiently. I’ve also read of a system using the technology specifically for detecting object or human incursions onto the track at rail stations, so perhaps they may be looking at new type of sensor network using UWB that might be used for various purposes including closing up spacing of moving trains in station platforms and incursion detection as part of a CBTC scheme.
Thanks Mark T, I didn’t know the background of UWB.
@LBM – Here’s a paper about UWB and indoor positioning systems (IPS), meaning asset and people tracking in complex indoor environments, factories, warehouses retail stores etc. I guess subway stations could be described as such. UWB is seen as a most promising technology in this arena.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4883398/