COMMUNICATIONS TRUCK LOCATION
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reacted immediately, calling the police on a special phone link. Within seconds police cars were screaming toward the scene through the rush-hour traffic.
Outside the lorry the attackers were dismantling both cab doors. Suddenly the two men leapt from the sides of the cab and ran from the scene. In the distance the driver could hear the welcome sound of police sirens. He stayed in his cab, only unlocking his battered door when the first police car screeched to a halt beside him.
This incident really happened, on 10January this year. Luckily for the driver, and unluckily for his attackers, the lorry carrying the cigarettes was one of 14 vehicles taking part in trials of Datatrak, a vehicle location and security system developed by Securicor and construction company George Wimpey.
Datatrak will be launched on 15 March. Aimed initially at carriers of high-value goods, and at security operations, Datatrak provides operators with up-to-theminute information about their vehicle's location, and instantly alerts the operator in case of emergencies.
The system has been undergoing trials inside the M25 ring and out into the Kent and Sussex countryside. Securicor and Wimpey plan to extend the system to cover all of Britain and most of Ireland by the end of 1989.
Brian Eaton, Securicor Communications marketing manager, says: "The indications are that there is quite a lot of pent-up demand for Datatrak, particularly in security applications. The system has a role in fleet management too, and we can see a massive take-off in 1989 when we achieve full national coverage."
Where Datatrak scores, over alternative vehicle location systems like British Telecom's Pinpoint system is in its economic use of transmitters. Securicor estimates that it will need 14 ground stations to operate the Datatrak system throughout the British Isles. For the Pinpoint system, by contrast, BT was planning to use hundreds of small transmitters mounted on lamp posts; a solution which proved prohibitively expensive.
By the end of next year the 14 Datatrak transmitters will be sending out VHF radio signals to cover virtually the whole of the British Isles. Vehicles using the Datatrak service will be fitted with special aerials and electronic locators roughly the size of a cellular telephone transceiver. The VHF signals are received on the vehicle's aerial, and the locator automatically transmits a UHF response. By monitoring the UHF responses from more than one transmitter site, the Datatrak computer can pinpoint the location of the vehicle to within 50m. The nearer the vehicle is to a transmitter the more accurate the location reading. Customers can choose whether to receive the location informa Lion at their own premises or to get Securicor to monitor Datatrak on their behalf at local bases.
Eaton says the information provided by the radio signals can be used in any number of different ways, so Datatrak customers will be encouraged to use Datatrak on trials to discover the most suitable service for their needs. For example, one London bus company has been experimenting with the system and plans to use it to provide passengers with details of when the next bus is due, on an electronic display at the bus stop.
Surprisingly perhaps, one of the services Datatrak will not offer when it is launched later this month is a vehicle navigation system, though Eaton stresses that the Datatrak system could easily be used as a navigation aid.
"Datatrak has the full facilities to provide vehicle navigation," says Eaton, "but it is unlikely we will offer it until we have national coverage. There is still a question as to whether navigation systems are really necessary. We are looking at all possibilities and in the end what we offer will be market led."
Datatrak has been developed by Wimpey and Securicor from a system designed to locate floating oil rigs over bore holes in the North Sea. A joint company, called Datatrak, will market the Datatrak service to public utilities, the emergency services and the armed forces. Securicor Communications will offer Datatrak to most other customers, including hauliers and bus companies.
Trevor Grant, Securicor Communications' national accounts manager, says Datatrak should prove particularly attractive to hauliers operating on just-in-time contracts, since it can provide up-to-theminute detail on vehicle location. Drivers will be given simple key pads with Datatrak, so they can send delivery details direct to head office.
Eaton can foresee the day when Datatrak is offered as an extension to customer's existing cellular telephone or Band III radio systems. By that time the location transmission from the vehicle will be broadcast automatically via the vehicle's radio or telephone, rather than on the UHF radio wave band.
Securicor Communications is confident it will be providing Datatrak for up to 2,000 vehicles by the end of this year. Eaton says the Tobacco Advisory Council has awaited the launch of Datatrak with particular anticipation, since its members stand to gain most from the system's introduction.
Grant estimates that there are over 224,000 vehicles operating in Britain whose owners could benefit from Datatrak. There are more than 3,500 distillers' trucks and 800 vehicles carrying tobacco. The emergency services use more than 35,000 vehicles, and taxi operators run a total of 69,000 vehicles.
When Datatrak is launched on 15 March, it will have a capacity for 20,000 vehicles, but this could be increased by adding extra channels. One particularly intriguing prospect is that Securicor may decide to develop the system into Europe through its Continental subsidiaries.
The basic price for the Datatrak equipment and network subscription will be around £10 per vehicle per week. Operators can then decide whether to monitor the fleet in-house, or to subscribe to Securicor's bureau monitoring service. Running costs of the system to the operator would then depend upon how frequently his fleet is monitored. A fleet monitored every other minute will cost more per vehicle on Datatrak than a fleet monitored every half hour, for example.
With the launch of Datatrak, and a new radio paging service also starting this month, Securicor is developing one of the widest ranges of mobile communications services in the business. Although the company has operated two-way radios since 1959, its recent growth in interest in the market derives from its 40% shareholding in Cellnet, one of the two cellular radio operators in the UK.
Sales of cellular radios have exceeded all expectations in this country. Celhiet already has more than 120,000 subscribers and this growth has enabled Securicor to develop its interest in mobile communications through partnerships with other companies.
Just as Datatrak was developed through a link-up with George Wimpey, and Cellnet has grown up under joint control with British Telecom, so Band III Radio is being developed by Securicor in conjunction with Philips, Racal and Digital Mobile Communications.
In three years Securicor has developed from a specialist transport company operating around 5,000 vehicles and providing two-way radio services, to a specialist transport company with a mobile communications division that generates 20% of company profits. Watch this air space. . . CI by Richard Scrase.