Those questions can now be answered thanks to a new wave of wireless fleet management systems that allow fleet operators to track the day-to-day use of their vehicles. Private corporations have gotten the most out of these systems, but there's no reason government agencies can't use this technology -- and the exploration of fleet management possibilities is just beginning.
The fundamentals of wireless fleet management are straightforward: By means of several small computers, one large central server and software, any organization can identify locations of all vehicles and whether they're in operation -- without operator assistance.
All these systems use the 24 global positioning system (GPS) satellites the U.S. Department of Defense placed into orbit from 1978 to 1994. At least four satellites are above the horizon of every location on earth. Each one continually broadcasts the time and its position in orbit. Any GPS receiver can pick up signals from the satellites to determine the receiver's precise location, either on the ground or in the air.
Although the GPS satellites were designed for military applications, the U.S. government decided in the 1980s to let private companies use the satellites in business applications at no cost. The broadcast signals are degraded for nonmilitary users, but fleet management vendors combine GPS signals with other technology to deliver accurate information.
The Fleet's First Steps
Although wireless fleet management users can customize both types of data gathered and rate of transmission, a "bare bones" model that provides location information will often suffice. The Indianapolis Housing Agency, for example, employs simple location-transmission devices on its 80 vehicles for safety. "If any of their people fall in hazardous situations, they can know where their vehicle is," said Ron Jones, president of GPS Management Systems.
Even this basic system comes with built-in benefits. For one thing, the agency gains an automatic record of whether employees visited every property they're supposed to inspect and how long they spent at each site. Jones said his customers used this data to handle billing complaints. "If Ms. Smith contests her bill for two hours of work, we can verify that the truck was on site for those two hours," he said. If, on the other hand, the data places the truck elsewhere during that time, it's time to send an employee or two to the woodshed.
The Denver Police Department signed on to a fleet management pilot project with Nextel in May 2002 because it lacked a contingency plan for its existing radio system, said Lt. Roger Barker. In addition to functioning as standard cell phones, the Nextel devices offer a "Direct Connect" feature that bypasses the cellular network, instead using 800 MHz radio signals. When "the plane hits the cell phone network," as Barker put it, officers can use Direct Connect -- scheduled to go nationwide by the end of 2003 -- to avoid call outages and overloaded networks.
Even though the Denver Police Department started with just the basic features, Barker said it's working with other agencies to develop an Internet-based directory accessible by phone. "If you're looking for a homicide detective in Denver, you can search by name, department and dispatch center," he said.
The basic location feature, or asset tracking, also sold the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) on a wireless fleet management system from OuterLink. "We're mandated by federal law to know where our aircrafts are at all times, and right now our pilots must call in to a radio operator every 30 minutes," said Mike McCord, manager of Information and Client Services in the Aviation & Forest Fire Management Branch of the Forests Division of the MNR. The OuterLink system will automatically call with latitude, longitude and elevation information every 5 minutes, allowing the MNR to more accurately track their fleet of 33 aircraft.
The OuterLink system will also eliminate the fleet's antiquated mayday system, in which a pilot in trouble must radio repeatedly until someone responds. "The pilot hits a mayday button, and once he confirms it [to show it wasn't hit by accident], the transmission of the signal goes from every 5 minutes to every 10 seconds," McCord said. The pilot can then concentrate on responding to the emergency, secure in the knowledge that MNR knows where he is and is routing other aircraft to assist him.
Furthering Fleet Management's Future
Aside from these basic functions, wireless fleet management offers much more to those who stretch their creative muscles. For example, McCord said the technology should also prove useful for aerial firefighting. "We can have an airplane fly the perimeter of the fire for the latitude/longitude info that we can then share with those fighting the fire on the ground," he said. Previously, such information could only be estimated.
"Every time we drop a bucket of water, we can record that [location] so we know exactly where we're waterbombing," McCord continued. "And we'll be able to see the effectiveness. If we put 50 loads on this area, and it didn't heat up for two days afterward, we'll have better knowledge for the future."
Vendors of wireless fleet management have loads of other ideas as well, starting with the pressing need for homeland security. "Security is now prevalent throughout most of the transportation organizations we deal with: trucking, parcel delivery, even the rail industry," said Henry Popplewell, Nextel's vice president of transportation and distribution.
Many fleet management systems offer "geo-fencing" for agencies to track the movement of hazardous or sensitive materials. Joel Osman, senior manager with Accenture Technology Labs, explained that if a vehicle needs to follow a particular route or maintain a certain distance from populated areas, an alert will sound at dispatch should the vehicle travel outside its permitted route.
Some of these systems also offer remote vehicle control, which ranges from merely locking or unlocking the doors to disabling the starter, hitting the brakes and shutting down the engine. Combine this with geo-fencing, and a stolen vehicle transporting nuclear wastes can be slowed and stopped safely against the driver's will.
Along similar lines, police departments can plant location devices in "bait" cars, which are likely to be stolen, to track and catch vehicle thieves.
Fleet management systems can also help agencies operate more efficiently. In an emergency situation, a police or ambulance dispatcher would always know where the nearest available unit was located. Transportation agencies could send the closest vehicle with a wheelchair lift to a client who requests service. Routine information collected -- number of stops, mileage and so forth -- also helps transportation agencies analyze their routes for duplication, or study fuel costs based on emission data.
Text messaging can be added to the information mix so vehicle operators can send data about deliveries, or dispatchers can send schedule updates or group e-mails.
W. Eric Martin
