Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Australasia
John Aitken qualified as an electrical engineer at the University of NSW. He worked initially for Telstra in cable and conduit installations throughout NSW and then in radio communication systems implementation. John was heavily involved in the installation of the first modern mobile telephone system in Australia.
For the last twenty five years John has been the managing director of Aitken & Partners, a consulting engineering practice based in Sydney, Australia. Aitken & Partners have designed, specified and supervised the implementation and commissioning of major train radio systems in Sydney and throughout New South Wales, Australia. The largest train radio project was the development of Countrynet in New South Wales, pioneering the use of GPS and satellite telephone systems for railways.
John designed and specified the National Rail AWARE system and followed it through the tortuous path to field-testing. He also designed and specified the Pacific National Communications Control Centre. John is the author or AS7660, the Australian Standard for radio communications for train control.
Train radio is not the only interest of Aitken & Partners. The practice has designed and specified microwave radio and broadcasting networks and has a particular interest in medium wave AM radio. Other areas of interest are platform video, electromagnetic compatibility and medical electronics. One of the more innovative systems is the Driver Assistance Video that is used for the Perth electric trains.
John has a particular interest in human factors and systemic issues in railway communications. With on-track experience on railway lines in most of Australia, John has seen at first hand the confusion and error that radio systems can introduce. He is a keen proponent of an approach to radio system design that provides a consistent, error-tolerant interface to the users of the train radio systems.
For a number of years John Aitken has been on the IRSE Australasia committee and has been the Chairman of the organisation since 2008. He is also a member of the IRSE UK Council and a director of the organisation. IRSE Australasia is a very active professional association that is dedicated to improved rail safety, rail standards and education.
Appearing:
Stream A: Signalling, Communications and New Technologies
4.50pm
The getting of wisdom: adding vision to competent engineering
Are railways seeing the benefits from faster, cheaper and more reliable communications and computer technology?
Standards and Type Approvals – minimising cost and delay without compromising reliability
Developing competence in safety critical systems engineering
Mr John Aitken,
Chairperson, Institution of Railway Signal Engineers Australasia
David Marchant
Rodd Staples
Chris Lock
Shashi Verma
Peter Bentley
Bob Menzies
