Nomad Digital
The Future of the Connected Bus
- This article first appeared in the Bus-News magazine Issue 1 2022.
The ‘hydrogen bus’ is a term you will be becoming more familiar with, should you be part of the travel sector or simply watching the news. The days of petrol and diesel are on their way out, as the transport industry strives to reduce its carbon footprint. Governments, councils and operators are looking towards the future, as the hydrogen bus is set to grace the roads of the United Kingdom and rest of the world. Nomad Digital aims to support bus operators around the globe in their quest for a greener solution by providing the innovative technology which enables ‘the connected bus’ – enhancing passenger experience and safety, encouraging ridership and ultimately a more sustainable way to travel.
The Nomad Solution
The connected bus consists of a Nomad high-powered processor which is integrated with a CCTV/network video recorder (NVR) system hosted within the processing unit, driving all cameras, and essentially providing images to various on-board screens. Between the processor/NVR and monitors, the system can convert from analogue to digital, assisting the process of delivering images on to the screens. Furthermore, the connected bus has a telematics unit which captures the output available from the ‘CAN Bus’. The ‘CAN Bus’ is a bus system which feeds back information of all critical and non- critical bus systems: brakes (data), engine temperature, oil levels, tyre pressure, cabin temperature, battery level, battery top-up and so on. The data is fed to Nomad’s domain in the required protocol so that Nomad can interpret, unpack and produce the required, alerting and reporting. Nomad then provides the data to the customer within a user-friendly dashboard.
