OKI Completes Seven-Month Remote Slope Monitoring Demonstration in Indonesia to Improve Railway Disaster Prevention and Maintenance Efficiency
OKI (TOKYO: 6703), together with East Japan Railway Company (JR East), has successfully concluded a seven-month demonstration experiment in Indonesia aimed at enhancing disaster prevention and strengthening railway maintenance practices. Conducted under the JICA SDGs Business Supporting Surveys (JICA Biz), the project was carried out in collaboration with PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), the country’s national railway operator. The initiative focused on testing OKI’s innovative Zero-Energy IoT Series (ZE-IoT Series), a suite of remote monitoring technologies that operate without traditional power or communication wiring. The experiment validated the effectiveness of these systems in improving safety and operational efficiency in challenging environmental conditions.
The demonstration represented a major step toward incorporating advanced IoT-based monitoring systems into railway infrastructure management—particularly in regions prone to natural disasters such as landslides and flooding. With Indonesia experiencing increasing climate-related risks, the demand for reliable, real-time remote monitoring solutions has never been more urgent. Through this project, OKI, JR East, and KAI aimed to address these challenges directly by deploying a resilient, energy-efficient, and low-maintenance monitoring network capable of detecting early signs of slope instability.
Addressing Rising Climate Challenges in Indonesia’s Railway Network
Indonesia, like many countries located in tropical regions, faces a growing number of climate-induced natural disasters. Landslides, flash floods, and intense rainfall pose ongoing threats to national railway systems, frequently resulting in service disruptions, infrastructure damage, costly repairs, and safety risks for passengers and crew. Traditional maintenance approaches—often dependent on periodic patrols, manual inspections, and rapid on-site responses—are increasingly insufficient in managing these escalating risks.
During severe weather, maintenance staff must travel long distances to inspect vulnerable areas, exposing them to hazardous conditions. Delays in detecting slope movement can worsen damage and increase the likelihood of derailments or service outages. Given these challenges, railway operators such as KAI are seeking new technologies that can provide continuous monitoring, automatic data collection, and real-time visual confirmation—all while reducing labor burdens and operational costs.
The JICA-supported demonstration project sought to address these issues by introducing ZE-IoT capabilities and evaluating their performance in real-world Indonesian environments known for high humidity, extreme rainfall, and elevated temperatures.
Deploying OKI’s Zero-Energy IoT Series for Remote Slope Monitoring
The ZE-IoT Series is an IoT solution designed specifically for remote infrastructure monitoring in environments where traditional power and communication connections are difficult or costly to install. The system incorporates wireless acceleration sensors and zero-energy high-sensitivity cameras capable of operating continuously using solar power, batteries, and low-power wireless communication technologies. For this project, the devices relied on NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT), an emerging communication standard optimized for long-range, low-power data transmission.
Installation and Operation
From January to July 2025, OKI and KAI installed ZE-IoT sensors and cameras along slopes located near railway tracks in Purwakarta, Indonesia. These included:
- Wireless acceleration sensors to detect minute changes in slope inclination
- High-sensitivity zero-energy cameras capable of capturing clear images day and night
- NB-IoT communication modules enabling real-time data transmission to cloud platforms
The installation process required minimal manpower and was completed swiftly, demonstrating one of the system’s key advantages: the ability to deploy new monitoring points without complicated wiring or costly construction work. Field operators were able to set up the devices with ease, suggesting potential for rapid scaling in the future.
Stable and Accurate Performance in Harsh Environmental Conditions
Over the seven-month monitoring period, the ZE-IoT system exhibited stable operation despite Indonesia’s high-humidity and frequent heavy rainfall environment. Continuous streams of data—including slope inclination values and visual site information—were successfully collected and transmitted.
Key findings include:
- Reliable operation during extreme weather:
Even under torrential rain and humid tropical conditions, wireless communication and sensors performed uninterrupted. - High detection accuracy:
Acceleration sensors captured subtle shifts in slope movement, enabling early identification of abnormalities. - Clear visual monitoring 24/7:
Cameras produced high-quality images day and night, giving maintenance teams real-time remote visibility. - Significant reduction in manual inspections:
Remote monitoring minimized the need for physical patrols, cutting down travel time, labor costs, and safety risks. - Fast response to abnormalities:
When slope irregularities were detected, teams could quickly assess the situation and take appropriate action, improving overall disaster preparedness.
The results confirmed that the ZE-IoT Series is effective for strengthening railway disaster prevention systems and optimizing maintenance workflows. With accurate, real-time data available remotely, KAI can now detect potential hazards earlier and respond with greater speed and confidence.
Comments from OKI and KAI on the Success of the Demonstration
Takashi Inoue, Executive Officer and Head of OKI’s Component Products Division, emphasized the successful validation of the ZE-IoT Series:
The demonstration experiment clearly demonstrated the ZE-IoT Series’ advantages in terms of ease of installation, power efficiency, and highly accurate data collection, earning significant local recognition. Natural disasters frequently occur across Indonesia, and we believe this technology can contribute to disaster resilience both in the railway sector and in other critical infrastructure fields.
KAI also praised the collaboration and the value of the new technology in advancing its digital transformation goals:
We highly appreciate OKI’s initiative under JICA SDGs Business Supporting Surveys in introducing and implementing advanced sensor technologies directly in the field. This collaboration represents an important step in the transfer of knowledge and the introduction of cutting-edge digital technologies, which align perfectly with KAI’s ongoing digital transformation in railway infrastructure management. We believe that such innovative IoT-based monitoring solutions will greatly enhance the sustainability, safety, and efficiency of railway track operations and maintenance.
These endorsements highlight the shared commitment of OKI, JR East, and KAI to improving safety and operational sustainability in Indonesia’s railway network.
Toward Broader Infrastructure Innovation and Global Expansion
Building on the success of the Indonesian demonstration project, OKI aims to expand the deployment of ZE-IoT technologies throughout Southeast Asia and other regions facing similar environmental and operational challenges. The company sees strong potential for applying the solution not only across railway networks but also in other critical infrastructure sectors such as bridges, rivers, tunnels, and road embankments.
The demonstration supports OKI’s Medium-Term Business Plan, which prioritizes leveraging technological expertise in the social infrastructure domain to deliver global value and address major societal issues such as climate resilience, safety, and sustainable asset management.
Summary of the Demonstration Project
Purpose:
Slope monitoring using acceleration sensors and on-site imaging using high-sensitivity cameras.
Installation Period:
January 2025 to July 2025
Location:
Purwakarta, Indonesia
Objective:
Verification of device usefulness, wireless communication performance, and environmental durability under local climate conditions.
About the Zero-Energy IoT (ZE-IoT) Series
The ZE-IoT Series is OKI’s innovative infrastructure monitoring platform enabling remote, continuous data collection without reliance on commercial power systems or wired communication networks. Key features include:
- Compatibility with solar panels and batteries
- Low-power wireless communication technologies
- Continuous monitoring of slopes, rivers, bridges, and structural health
- Real-time data visualization through cloud platforms
- High-sensitivity cameras providing round-the-clock visual confirmation
Infrastructure managers can access both sensor data and camera images directly from PC or smartphone browsers, allowing for rapid remote assessment of conditions even in isolated areas.
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