How an engineering degree led to deeptech start-up Telemattica
Complex systems and big data are influencing rail and heavy industries in a range of ways.
For Tom George and Tim Vale, it was this multidisciplinary approach to railway engineering that led to them founding Telemattica, a deeptech start-up aimed at synthesising a myriad of data sources to pinpoint where damages to trains and rail networks were occurring.
Their journey started when Tom was studying a Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Honours) and Tim, a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours) with the Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Sydney.
Choosing Sydney
For Tom, his deep interest in understanding how things worked was simply a life constant that led him to pursuing engineering at Sydney.
“I always had a deep interest in how small improvements could make a big impact on how a device or a system works,” he says.
I wanted to be able to learn a wide range of skills to be able to design systems that used lots of different areas of engineering and technology.
While he was tossing up between electrical and mechanical engineering, it was ultimately the mechatronics degree that sealed his decision.
“Sydney had the best reputation for mechatronic engineering,” he explains. “In particular the Australian Centre of Field Robotics (ACFR) was a very attractive addition.”
Meeting of the (mechatronic) minds
With the wealth of industry experiences and collaboration opportunities available as part of the degree, Tom looks back on his time at the university with very fond memories.
“One of the best and most impactful experiences was my participation in the Formula SAE (FSAE) team,” he says.
Spending time on a student-built racing car, it was “where Tim and I met and spent many hours using the engineering principles we were learning in real practical and fun ways.”
It was also an amazing way to learn collaboration with other engineers and designing and building a complex system with others.
It was also the variety of experiences in the mechatronics that expanded Tom’s horizons. “They helped define for me what technologies exist and areas that I wanted to explore further in more detail.”
A rail revolution from Sydney to the world
Life after graduation found Tim and Tom working together, discovering the confluence of how different projects and real-world engineering worked together to build a number of hard and soft skills needed to thrive in the industry.
“I worked as a project engineer where I was responsible for systems engineering tasks,” shares Tom. “These included requirements discovery, concept development and design, verification and validation and many other things.”
Telemattica came about after a few years working together, Tom remembers. Their Pantograph Collision Detection System (PCDS) product has now reached 25 different rail operators around the world, including France, US, and Brazil.
Our mission was to leverage modern Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to revolutionise maintenance and operation of heavy industry, with a particular focus in rail.
“Somewhat indirectly, the FSAE team is the reason I work in the rail industry now, because Tim and I met there,” Tom explains. “When Tim graduated, he went to work at a railway engineering company and asked if I wanted to come and work with them on railway systems.”
Taking Telemattica into a data-rich future
In a network of complex systems in rail damage monitoring, Telemattica addresses a missing piece in the maintenance process.
“Telemattica was born out of an idea to help railway maintainers find issues with the overhead wiring that are damaging the trains and causing delays and expensive damage.”
“We were made aware of the need when we worked on a project to monitor damage of the trains with laser scanners that would find lots of damaged trains but no way of finding where the damage was occurring,” says Tom.
With the rail maintenance tool, the duo are now looking to expand its capabilities by “leveraging low power computing, communications and sensing to provide autonomous inspection of more assets in the railway corridor using in service trains.”
“Heavy industry and rail in particular are trending heavily in the direction of using data to make operational decisions and to manage asset life cycles with massive economic and performance benefits,” Tom explains.
One of the challenges in this area is that it requires a heavily multi-disciplinary approach which is not traditionally how these organisations are set-up, so engineers who are able to operate like systems engineers and understand the entire system will be far more successful.
From classroom to unconventional careers
For Tom and Tim, it was a great honour to be one of the finalists for 2024’s Cicada x Tech23, especially “alongside so many amazing companies that can have such a disproportionate impact on the world.”
“We were also very fortunate to participate in the Startmate program,” says Tom. “It was a great way to expand our understanding of what it takes to scale a startup.”
The real highlights are when a customer gives us feedback that our system was able to prevent a major incident, which would have cost taxpayers a million dollars or more and caused massive delays for commuters.
When asked what advice they’d give to students thinking of studying at Sydney, they are open and frank about the student experience.
“Try and find a balance between meeting and socialising with the other amazing students by soaking up as much information and learning new skills as you can from the many opportunities that are available to you,” they share. “In particular, try and find areas that get you really excited because there are so many jobs and career paths that you will almost certainly be able to find a job.”
“If you love what you are working on you will be more successful but also far happier.”
Explore mechatronic engineering degrees at the University of Sydney.