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Land Transportation: Wireless Technology and Trucks |
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For truckers, wireless options are limitless. Everything from data relay from the cab to dispatch, truck maintenance information, toll collection and weigh in motion, fuels savings and even entertainment downloads at truck stops can take place wirelessly.
Which means the options can be enormous and befuddling. “The adoption of dispatch and mobile communications technologies has become standard, which has enabled carriers to collect and use real-time data from operations,” says Dave Harris vice president of sales for Integrated Decision Support Corp. in Richardson, Texas, a manufacturer of decision support software for the truckload industry. But he shrewdly adds, it’s how you use the data that counts.
For many truckers, though, the act of gathering the data remains an issue, accompanied by the challenges of sorting fact from fiction when it comes to vendor offerings. Should a fleet manager put drivers on handheld computers, also known as “ruggedized PDA” or go with smart cell phones? Is remote vehicle diagnosis ready for prime time? What are new wireless options for fuel monitoring?
This round up of wireless technology options provides fleet and operations managers a quick glimpse of the many developments taking place in the field—some available for use today and others to prepare for in the next few years.
Wireless devices
The handheld computer, also known as a “ruggedized PDA,” has come of age. Fleets can get handhelds that scan documents, capture customers’ signatures, take photographs and synchronize with onboard computers to relay engine information wirelessly back to the terminal.
They also can contain personal management capabilities like scheduling, an address book and calendar. Some devices offer local and remote security features so the device can be turned off remotely. Newer devices now have embedded global positioning systems for tracking the driver and assets, to name just some of the functions being loaded on devices that are shrinking to pocket size in some cases.
The price of handhelds has been declining, according to industry analysts, but these devices can range from $1,000-$3,000 per unit depending on the functions added. The so-called consumer wireless devices—smart phones, PDAs and tablets—range in the hundreds of dollars per unit. They share functions with handhelds, but are hardly identical. In general, say the experts, the handheld or ruggedized PDA is developed with the trucking environment in mind, meaning it’s designed to take a beating.
Jeff Sibio, Director of Transportation and Logistics for Intermec, based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, says they test their handhelds to exceed military standards, which requires drop testing the device 26 times to various surfaces at specified heights. To meet Intermec’s standards, the device cannot break. Consumer devices, he adds, don’t have “the seal against moisture or dust and just can’t stand up in an industrial setting. Plus, the average turn cycle on consumer electronics is about three months, so you can’t replace them exactly (if they break) where a computer like ours is guaranteed from five to eight years with tech support if needed.”
Gerald McNerney, senior director for transportation, distribution and logistics solutions for Symbol Technologies in Holtsville, N.Y., agrees that customers want hardware “that will last for the life of the purchase, which is five to seven years.” As for consumer electronics, he says those products move so quickly they become out of date long before they break down.
Both McNerney and Sibio warn fleets not to be fooled by the apparent low cost of consumer electronics hardware because those costs can escalate with add-ons like scanners and don’t include network operating costs. Of course, there are network costs for handhelds, but Sibio says Intermec provides options for fleets to negotiate with cellular carriers the way they would with a cell phone or PDA.
Wireless truck maintenance
Huge strides are taking place in the field of wireless remote vehicle diagnostics that are heralding the day when your maintenance personnel will be able a repair a highway breakdown from a terminal thousands of miles away. Right now, though, telematics experts who specialize in the intricacies of networking vehicles say remote repairs made via wireless communication devices are only possible with persistent effort made to tweak today’s technology to meet an individual fleet’s needs. The practice is still limited to the most tech-advanced fleets.
Using today’s technology, the best the maintenance crew can get from engine information that’s collected by sensors and then relayed wirelessly to the terminal are what’s called “fault codes.” Tom Doyle, vice president of Business Development for Qualcomm Wireless business Solutions in San Diego, California, explains that, “it takes a high level of sophistication and expertise to get the diagnostics data to the right users so they can actually do something about it. You have to be precise. We proved there was a value proposition with our remote diagnostics tool JTRACS, but it hasn’t sold well because it’s relatively difficult (to deploy).”
The good news, experts agree, is that early generation communication tools like JTRACS—coupled with networked engines with embedded sensors—have paved the way for user-friendly technology that can be widely adopted in the near future. For instance, managers in the electronics divisions of engine OEMs from International Truck and Engine based in Warrenville, Illinois, to Mack Trucks, Inc. in Hagerstown, Maryland, say the trucking world will see user-friendly telematics tools for diagnostics before the end of the decade.
Wireless technology assists with driver monitoring/fuel savings/safety
Major service providers like Qualcomm are offering carriers the ability to monitor driver performance and provide behavior modification tools for drivers through dashboard display alerts. Tracking software can either work directly through embedded engine sensors or sensors applied manually to the vehicle’s axel and engine to monitor attributes that range from idling to shifting patterns and speed, and then tie this to at specific driver.
According to experts, the driver logs in and then the data is recorded in buckets. The driver can pull up his own history as its being stored onboard and monitor his progress throughout the trip through a display unit in the cab that shows percentages of idling, shifting patterns, over-speeding, or even speeding. Those carriers with Qualcomm’s wireless communication services will be able to get driver assessments shipped wirelessly and as often as they care to pay for the service, says Qualcomm officials.
Companies like Innovative Computing Corp. (ICC) in Brentwood, Tennessee and IDSC offer software solutions that can interface with mobile communication companies like Qualcomm and fuel management companies like ComData Transportation Services also in Brentwood, Tennessee, help enforce fuel purchasing plans. ComData, for example, issues a specialized fuel purchasing card that allows a carrier to track up to 200 days of fuel transactions and utilize a network of 1,000 service center, according to its Web site.
The ICC software creates an interface between a carrier and card company so that a driver’s card only works when he’s under dispatch, says Ernie Betancourt, ICC’s President. The software can also interface with mobile communication companies like Qualcomm to monitor truck behavior on the road, he adds.
IDSC’s tools can tag drivers who aren’t complying on specific fuel purchase locations. Carrier customers report that the package provides a specific location where the driver is to buy fuel, including the actual numbers of gallons. This is given to the driver at the time of dispatch by the driver manager, who is responsible to make sure the driver follows directions. The software provides the driver manager a full report back on where the driver has fueled.
And in Kalamazoo, Michigan, diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation has introduced its next generation VORAD(r) safety system, which Eaton says will provide the trucking industry with several options to meet the individual safety demands of fleets and owner operators through the extraction and real-time wireless transfer of data on functions such as how close a truck is following another vehicle.
“Our goal is to take VORAD, already one of the most effective driver safety systems in trucking, to a whole new level by making it an integral part of overall fleet safety,” said Phil Warmbier, marketing manager for Eaton’s Vehicle Solution Business Unit.
Wi-Fi for truck entertainment and downloads while en route
Wireless communications “hot spots” that allow for Internet access based on short-range radio technology are sprouting wherever truckers roam, allowing them to do everything from connect to families to ship to dispatch in real time. For example, every state-managed rest area and seven welcome areas in Iowa provide wireless networks, or Wi-Fi, according to rest area administrator for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT).
SBC Communications, Inc. started providing its Freedom Link wireless Internet access at service plazas along the Ohio Turnpike almost two years ago, says a company spokesman. And big-gun truck stop conglomerates like TravelCenters of America (TA) and Flying J have embedded Wi-Fi throughout hundreds of their North American facilities, both inside restaurants and throughout their parking areas.
Although the experts say the Wi-Fi presence in carrier terminals is more of a trickle than a wave, there are carriers exploring creating hot spots for drivers within their terminals for everything from employee retention/satisfaction purposes to increasing productivity. For example, SiriCOMM, Inc., a Wi-Fi service provider based in Joplin, Missouri, has begun to begun to roll out Wi-Fi at highway weigh stations and carrier terminals. In June, SiriCOMM announced that Celadon Trucking Services, a division of Celadon Group, was installing its Wi-Fi Hot Spot at its Indianapolis truck terminal to make their job “more efficient and enjoyable.”
“Celadon is continually on the lookout for new technologies and services that help put our drivers on the road to success,” said J. Michael Gabbei, chief information officer, pointing out that Wi-Fi can be a valuable driver recruiting tool at a time when driver retention is a major industry issue. wt
Sidebar: Turn-by-Turn Voice Directions in Real-Time
The combination of GPS (global positioning) and GIS (geographic information systems) is creating an explosion in new offerings that provide truckers the most accurate directions yet wirelessly, in real-time and sometimes by voice.
What’s new is the ability to apply accurate mapping information to dispatchers and drivers during the course of a shipment, says Carlos Bernal, manager of marketing and public relations for Maptuit in Burlington, Massachusetts, a major provider of mapping information for the transportation arena.
Until recently, Bernal says that GIS applications have been great for managing a fleet, but fell short in addressing the truck driver’s needs. Solutions designed to provide both accurate road network data and truck routing to specifically aid the driver “have been slow in coming because of limited on-board capabilities, the expense of communications coupled with low-bandwidth, and limited screen displays,” he said.
But in recent months he’s seen the release of vastly improved systems for delivering information to drivers so that truckers are beginning to access turn-by-turn voice driving instructions, as well as audible cues for all the other information the GIS are capable of generating. Vendors are also upgrading the screens for cell phones and navigation devices, replacing keyboards with vastly improved touch screens and graphics, all of which make systems safer and more user friendly.
Bernal says another important new use of GIS involves a tri-modal delivery of information that routes communications from dispatchers to truckers automatically through the most efficient and cost-effective methods. So, when a truck is in range of Wi-Fi reception, for example, the messages will be received that way. But signals can also be accessed through cellular phone networks. When neither of those modes is available, Bernal says communications are sent by satellite, although this approach is more expensive.
Ed Siciliano, ALK Technologies’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing has witnessed major growth in the trucking industry for GIS-based products like ALKs PC*MILER solutions that as of 2005 allow for voice-activated spoken turn-by-turn, street level and truck-specific routing information that can run on both embedded navigation equipment or cell hones. As of now, the company reports 21,000 companies are using PC*MILER, including “90 percent of the ‘top 100’ North American motor carriers and 96 percent of the ‘top 50’ global logistics companies.”
And IDSC now offers a suite of software solutions to interface with Netgraf(r), a GIS system that graphically displays complex business data making it easy to analyze historical lane flow, real-time power and load data, real-time fuel networks, fuel purchase information, real-time out-of-route information, capacity and demand balance, and more. Like ALK Technologies GIS-based map, Netgraf graphically charts fleet operations on a map of North America using real-time, historical or hypothetical data.
As the technology for transmitting and receiving GIS technology improves, vendors like ALK, IDSC and others are building out their product lines to meet a myriad of trucking needs from toll, fuel and rating capabilities to functions that help meet the demands of its tech savvy customers. “We’ve had to innovate to create more (mapping) overlays onto the route, including functions such as providing precise calculations on the location of toll barriers and authorities, along with providing the exact toll amount per class of vehicle,” explains Siciliano.
Submitted Date: Jun 02, 2007
Source: World Trade
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