Project Introduction: In an attempt to improve efficiency, an increasing number of high capacity railways are installing Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) systems which ensure that every passenger has a valid ticket when they enter the railway and that they pay the correct fare for the journey taken. Meanwhile, AFC systems also automate the ticket accounting and selling processes as well as providing detailed information on system usage to cut down on ever increasing fraud by passengers and staff.

System Requirements:
Because the gate control devices are in a semi-closed state, the industrial communications products have to be of a higher quality regarding thermal and power consumption; moreover, their limited space required embedded products. Regarding the complex installation environment, the communication cards have to meet industrial specifications and provide anti-interference capabilities. In order to facilitate system expansion, the multiple serial card design is required to satisfy the various payment methods and future proof the design for different media.

Project Implementation :

IPC-610	Classical 4U 15-Slot Rackmount IPC
PCA-6603	Cost-effective Socket 370 SBC with Pentium III/Celeron Processor (Tualatin) Card with VGA/LAN/HISA/LCD (133 MHz FSB)
PCI-1620	8-port RS-232 PCI Communication Card
OPT8C	8-Port RS-232 Connection Box/Male DB25 Connector

System Diagram:

System Description:
Running on Advantech’s PCA-6603 single board computer with a PCI-1620 serial communications card in an IPC-610 chassis, the ticket checking system is able to provide the best performance and stability. The PCI-1620, which is especially suitable for making the system reliable in multitasking environments, is installed inside the IPC-610 chassis and connected to the fare monitor and voice prompt device via RS-232. Meanwhile, the IPC-610 controls the ticket checking machine via an 8-Port RS-232 connection box - OPT8B which is designed to work with the PCI-1620 to extend the customer’s RS-232 network to PCI/PCL cards and serial devices as well as replace cumbersome octopus cables

Conclusion:
In this case, Advantech’s solution not only represents a higher price-to-performance ratio on our platform but also assists our customer in designing a stable payment system and improving its efficiency. With Advantech’s industrial-grade computers, communication cards, digital IO cards, and anti-interference capabilities, the ticket checking system fully controls outside devices and smoothly executes the process in the harsh environment to provide statistics and analysis on passenger traffic and related data.