Panasonic has a range of ruggedised solutions designed to optimise wireless communications and information flow in the rail industry.
Communication solutions in the rail industry
Panasonic’s ruggedised tablets and laptops minimise the amount of paperwork involved and optimise company workflow, especially in adverse weather conditions.
Working outdoors or on-the-go in the rail transport sector presents significant challenges in terms of effective communication across departments.
Panasonic enables its clients in the rail industry to achieve far more in the sector than ever before, thanks to the high-quality connectivity, performance, portability and unrivalled durability of its devices.
Ruggedised laptops for the rail industry
Panasonic manufactures the Toughbook range. Each Toughbook can withstand high temperatures and is resistant to dust, water, and high-pressure and impact falls.
There are three types of Toughbooks available, including:
- Fully ruggedised: resistant to dust, water, high temperatures and vibration
- Semi-ruggedised: scratch and water-resistant, can withstand impact and drops of up to 76cm
- Business ruggedised: shock-absorbent, withstand pressure of up to 100kg/f
Depending on the model, Panasonic’s Toughbook devices include a variety of features such as touchscreens, LCD displays, shock-protected hard drives, versatile docking solutions, in-vehicle mounting options and a 7h battery life.
They also feature built-in trusted platform modules (TCG V1.2 compliant), which generate cryptographic keys that allow secure authentication.
All devices produced by Panasonic are tested by a national independent third-party test lab, following IEC 60529 Sections 13.4, 13.6.2, 14.2.5 and 14.3.
Rugged tablet devices for business use
Capable of operating outdoors in a variety of remote environments and adverse conditions, Panasonic’s range of Toughpad tablets improve efficiency and productivity.
The Toughpad series includes a variety of reliable, user-friendly models, suitable for the construction industry, field sales and the public sector, due to their capability to perform under challenging conditions.
Features of the Toughpad range include:
- Multi-touch outdoor display
- Various connectivity options
- Voice capability (FZ-E1/ FZ-X1)
- up to 14h battery life from a single charge
- Choice of either Android or Microsoft Windows®
Panasonic’s rugged device case studies
Panasonic has been approached by German public transport company Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe to supply Toughbook notebooks to its staff working in hazardous environments, due to the laptop’s dust, moisture and knock-resistant structure.
Construction firm Diatech uses Panasonic’s Toughpads and Toughbook tools to perform non-destructive testing. The devices’ practicality, rechargeable battery, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity provide reliable diagnostic results without the need to buy additional software, making them a cost-effective solution.
In 2012, the train drivers at the National Belgian Railway Company (NMBS) trialled the Panasonic’s CF-H2 Toughbook to optimise and digitise information flow and reduce the amount of paper used for documentation. The lightweight, robust design and user-friendly interface of the laptop is now implemented by NMBS’s 4,000 drivers.