Radio in the cable car - New York

The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City (USA) and connects Roosevelt Island with Manhattan. It is the oldest urban aerial tramway in North America, built in 1976 and used for public transportation. In 2010, it was replaced by a completely new cable car system from POMA. The aim is to transmit information between the terminal and the two cabins. In addition, the emergency stop function is to be ensured via PROFIsafe.

As the terminal in Manhattan is located at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and 60th Street directly next to the Queensboro Bridge, the cable car has to use the airspace above this street, so it cannot run parallel to the bridge, but only at a very acute angle. The cable car is 945 meters long and has three cable car supports up to 76 meters high. This steep ascent of 76 meters in the middle of Manhattan with many radio interferers, such as WLAN, places high demands on the automation technology. The tight space conditions and winding routes without direct line of sight are a particular challenge for any radio link.

The system equipped with a PROFIBUS Safety PLC should not cause any faults at any time. The DATAEAGLE 3702A radio system is used for wireless PROFIBUS transmission with Bluetooth as the radio technology employed.

• PROFIBUS radio data transmission system
• Radio module DATAEAGLE 3712

Despite thousands of additional radio connections around the cable car, the devices have been working without malfunctions and without the cable car coming to a standstill since 2010.