Periodic Reporting for period 1 - vmRail (The on-board railway track & vehicle monitoring system)
Reporting period: 2018-12-01 to 2019-03-31
Virtualmech is a spinoff of the University of Seville (Spain) that applies computational mechanics to improve the design of machines, vehicles, and industrial equipment. Developing complex models of all types of machines and simulating their behaviour under realistic circumstances, we help our clients to reduce design costs, while also improving the final product. We are now applying our expertise in simulation, combined with sensor networks and signal processing, to create vmRail, a tool for condition monitoring of railway tracks and rolling stock. Our product has already received interest from Spanish metro and regional railway operators, and from rolling stock manufacturers.
vmRail has been in development 6 years now. After a preliminary version of the simulation software was created in 2013, and subsequently tested at a Finnish crane company, an early prototype was developed to be used in a project with one Spanish regional railway operator. The next prototype has been repeatedly tested and validated in collaboration with one of our most important partners, Metro Seville. The system has reached TRL6 and is ready to enter the final development stage to reach a commercial product. Meanwhile, a feasibility study performed during Phase 1 of the H2020 SME Instrument has shown that the product can be successfully introduced in the railway maintenance market. It also gave us the opportunity to expand the scope of our development, having a better understanding of client´s needs and the competitor´s landscape.
Maintenance of railway tracks and vehicles represents a huge business opportunity since all stakeholders are searching for solutions to reduce maintenance costs of all the elements of the system, improve user experience through safer and more comfortable travel to the passengers, and increase the efficiency of the system by reducing delays through better traffic control.