The transport of dangerous goods (TDG) is a field where the precision of control, measurement and event data of electronic equipment is crucial. To ensure the necessary level of precision, high-level standards are fundamental. Therefore, new EN 15969-1:2022 ‘Tanks for transport of dangerous goods - Digital interface for the data transfer between tank vehicle and with stationary facilities - Part 1: Protocol specification - Control, measurement and event data’, which addresses this need, is a welcome addition to CEN’s portfolio.
EN 15969-1:2022 describes the digital protocol for data transfers between a tank vehicle for the delivery of liquids and finished products supplying household customers, construction sites, petrol stations and airports and the supplier’s stationary equipment. It helps the dispatcher monitor deliveries, check missing quantities, and pick the goods with immediate stock control and invoice printing at the customer's site through integration into the accounting system. By linking monitoring signals from the measuring and control devices with GPS data on the tank vehicle, the vehicle's position is constantly recorded, and unauthorized product removal or other incidents are reported immediately to the dispatcher.
More precisely, on the technical level, the standard specifies data protocols and data format for the communication between electronic equipment (TVE), on-board computer (OBC) of the tank vehicle, and stationary equipment. It includes the requirements for the basic protocol FTL used in the communication (basic protocol layer), the format and structure of FTL-data to be transmitted (data protocol layer), and a description of the content of the FTL-data.
This revised version of the standard sees the addition of a series of elements, such as data fields for aircraft refueling or fields for data records, and the elimination of some errors. Thanks to these updates, the standard allows transport of dangerous goods operators to adapt efficiently its electronic equipment and procedures, thus improving their safety.
EN 15969-1 was developed after extensive work by CEN/TC 296 ‘Tanks for the transport of dangerous goods’, one of the key CEN technical committees developing TDG standards, especially the European standards referenced into two major International regulations for the transport of dangerous goods: the ADR (Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road) and the RID (The Regulation concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail).
Marc-Antoine CARREIRA DA CRUZ
macarreira@cencenelec.eu
