Vahle upgrades data communication system

Vahle has improved the speeds of its SMGX data communication system which allows rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes to utilise conductor rails as a power source.

The SGMX system uses conductor rails rather than motorised cable reels to share data, and Vahle has announced that the system now has a data transmission rate of 350 megabytes per second (Mb/s), up from 210 Mb/s.

While fiber optic cables can provide speeds of 1 gigabyte per second, heavy motors and cable weights slow down speed. Using conductor rails and a single telescopic arm, the SGMX system allows speeds of up to 600 m per second.