MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS In-cab phones are fast replacing phoneboxes as hauliers'
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preferred method of keeping in touch with their vehicles. But before long satellite technology is set to revolutionise the way we stay in touch. properly used, modern technology provides a significant economic advantage to those who can afford to make it available to their drivers. Conversely, the have-nots are likely to fall further and further behind in the struggle for survival. Every haulier needs effective communication with his drivers. Without it, opportunities for return loads are lost; customers cannot be advised of delays; changes in instructions cannot be given; deliveries cannot be confirmed and problems remain unresolved.
But many small firms are still unwilling to buy cellular phones. Beside the cost they point out that total geographical coverage has yet to be achieved—and there are a number of stan.
dards that further limit their effectiveness. In Europe GSM is widely used but there are others, including TACS (available only on analogue units and due to be phased out in 2005) and PCN. Even within the GSM standard, which now operates in around 70 countries, there are numerous service providers which effectively reduces the scope for international roaming. Links have been formed between many service providers to allow international calls to be made, but at considerable expense.
Data, as an alternative to voice, offers a number of advantages, including cost, accuracy and speed. But it is the question of cost which really concerns the average haulier. "Drivers love to talk," says the sales manager of one Dutch logistics company "If we wave them a telephone they would always be ringing us. With data communications we do not have that problem and the costs are kept down without any loss of efficiency." It is only in the past 12 months or so that the computer and communications industries have really woken up to the huge potential offered by the mobile data communications (IVIDC) market.
MDC—the ability to send and receive highspeed text messages to and from vehicles (and via hand-held units) is set to revolutionise the industry's ability to keep tabs on vehicle movements, load condition, maintenance requirements and individual driving patterns Electronic capture devices can also monitor every aspect of the vehicle and its load, including acceleration and braking patterns, excessive speed, idling times, load temperature and the closing of critical doors. The latest mobile data terminals (MDTs) have no separate keyboards. They use touch screens and can send pre-recorded messages such as "I have arrived" or "I am now ready for further instructions" simply by touching a menu on the screen. Messages can also be typed out using the onscreen keyboard.
Navigation and route planning GPS receivers can calculate a truck's position to within 100 metres (before long this will be down to a few feet).
What remains crucial, however, is the means by which routine data is communicated to and from the drivers. PMR (Private Mobile Radio) tends to be cheaper than other forms of communication but it's slower and has a strictly limited range. Cellular networks have recently begun to offer a full data service, hut the circuit switch technology means that the user pays for every second that he remains connected. Packet technology offers a way round this problem by allowing several users to send their messages on the same channel, virtually at the same time.
Many organisations throughout Europe provide fleet management services based on one of these protocols. But all these systems suffer from incomplete geographical cover, even within their own areas, and the problem becomes more acute as trucks move further east beyond the borders of the EU.
Hauliers heading east have three options: they can hope for the best; look for a public phone or opt for satellite communications using voice or data.
Five years ago that would have meant Inmarsat, the internationally owned co-operative which still offers the only global coverage. Recently other organisations have begun to launch their own communications satellites, among them Eutelsat. It covers Europe, the Middle East and AMSC (American Mobile Satellite Corporation) whose footprint covers the whole of North America and the Pacific Ocean as far west as Hawaii. Other satellites serve the Japanese and Australian markets, Service providers In Europe several companies offer a range of fleet management systems via the Eutelsat or Inmarsat satellites. San Diego-based Alcatel Qualcomm claims to hold the lion's share of the fleet management business within the EC with its Euteltracs system, delivered through a network of national service providers.
Designed specifically for the haulage industry, the system offers two-way data contact with drivers, gathers real time data on the vehicle andior loads, and locates vehicles to within 100 metres. Travel a few miles east of Moscow, however, and even this service is not available.
Strictly speaking, Inrnarsat simply provides the space segment of a communications system that spans the world. Its latest generation of satellites allows voice, fax and data communications from virtually anywhere to anywhere combined with. It can also locate vehicles to within a single metre.
Access to these services is not direct: Inmarsat trades through a number of service and equipment providers, some of which supply complete fleet management systems. In the UK, BT's Globetrak offers a mobile data communications and vehicle location system; Comtrans and ICS offer the same service in the Netherlands, with Geostar in Finland, Meted Sart in France, Nukem in Germany and Prosoft Consult in Austria.
Inmarsat-based equipment is not cheap. An Inmarsat-C terminal complete with a GPS receiver will cost around.E3,000,compared with about £300 for a radio modem for terrestrial data communications. But there is evidence that many companies are prepared to pay up to stay in touch with their drivers, One such (=puny is Noy Logistics in the Netherlands. As well as moving goods throughout the Netherlands, Noy operates in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. Several years ago the company decided that its route into the 21st century lay in provision of total logistic support for its customers—and that demanded a first-rate communications system. The first step was to invest in an IBM AN400 mainframe computer capable of handling all the administrative functions of the company with sufficient spare rapacity to permit future gmwth. This enables all inquiries to be dealt with speedily and allows managers to maintain an overview of work performed.
Many Noy loads comprise pharmaceuticals and hi-tech durables. The risk of theft was high, making real-time vehicle location all the more important. Concerned with the prospect of losing contact when their vehicles passed through transmission black spots, the company chose to use Logiq Mobile Data Terminals, transmitting over the Inmarsat-C protocol.
Because the medium used is data, the information is automatically stored in the on-board computer, so there's no need for the driver to read it immediately. For Noy this was an important safety feature: not only could the driver be absent from his cab at the moment of transmission, but he could choose his moment to receive the message. At a time of rising public concern over the safety of HGVs on the roads, this was no small consideration, "Vvre were concerned about the safety of our drivers so it was important that we did not distract them from their driving," says Rene Van Der Laan of Noy Logistic:a "The sort of messages that are sent have to do with changes in delivery instructions. The drivers use the data terminal to let base know when they have finished, of any delays, of any refusal by customers to accept shipments and so on." Rapid advances in technology mean that automatic vehicle location for international journeys is no longer confined to satellite communications.
Companies like Datatrack in the UK offer a number of radio systems to feed details of a vehicle's location hack to a central point. "International roaming agreements mean that it is now possible to fit a vehicle with a GPS receiver and transmit the collected data to the vehicle's home yard using packet or circuit switch radio transmissions," says John Rosson, managing director of Terrafix. "
In those parts of the world which cellular radio cannot reach—and that is still most of the earth's surface—we would use a satellitebased radio bearer."
Emergency services
For the future, TETRA-compliant, trunked radio is worth keeping an eye on. It is due to make an appearance with the emergency services next year. Also next year, a new GSM standard will increase the speed of data communications from the present 9,600bps (bits per second) to around 57,600. By 2003 speeds will have increased to about two-million bits per second with the arrival of UNITS, a packet-based standard widely expected to replace GSM. This could allow a vast increase in the range of services that will he delivered to and from vehicles.
Finally, several consortia, including Iridium, ICO and Global-star, are in the advanced stages of planning the launch of a new satellite-based communications service that should see prices tumble. It all adds up to tighter control of your vehicles, and that must be good for business El by Patrick Hook