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With mobile-phone use restricted. andpenalties hi the rules, how do you
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messa • es to
Words: Sharon Clancy
here was atime when if you needed to ntact a driver urgently, you simply picked up the phone d rang him on his mobile. But the introduction last year f tougher penalties for using a phone while driving and tearer employer responsibilities under 2008's Corporate anslaug,hter Act are prompting some hauliers to rethink how they communicate urgent messages to drivers.
The view in some quarters is that if the traffic office rings the driver, who then has an accident because he was distracted by answering, the company has to bear some liability because another of its employees made the call.
The Road Haulage Association is warning its members to avoid even hands-free calls following a court case in July in which a driver was jailed for four-and-a-half years for causing death by dangerous driving. He had been speaking for 23 minutes on a hands-free mobile phone when he ploughed into the back of stationary traffic, killing one person and injuring another two.
It has been an offence to use hand-held mobile phones while driving since 2003. It is also an offence to use the phone when waiting in traffic and drivers can be prosecuted for using a hands-free phone if they are not in control of the vehicle.
So what other methods are there for getting those urgent messages out there?
Non-verbal communications
Data communications is one way. "More firms are now interested in adding two-way data communications to our tracking package," says vehicle tracking provider Masternaut managing director Martin Port. -All you need is an in-cab data terminal. Drivers can receive all sorts of messages from pick-up instructions to navigation aids and traffic updates. Often there is'a set of pre-programmed responses that the driver selects with a single key."
Vehicle tracking firm Cybit concurs that small and medium fleets too are adopting the data-only communications tactic: "Our data terminals have an incab touch screen. The data input options for the driver can be limited to a single tap. Safety features include not being able 10 enter data once the vehicle starts moving or when the satnav screen is displayed," says John Wisdom, sales and marketing director.
Citizens' band radio
CB radio has been in use since around 1973, but only became legal in 1982. Approved CB radios carry either a CB27/81 or CB934/81 logo. Since December 2006, you do not need a licence so long as it meets certain conditions: it must operate on the FM freweincy only, have a maximum of four-watts power ourand operate on one of two 27MHz offset channel frequencies — 27.60125MHz or 27.99125MHz. There are now 80 channels available, but the frequency can be subject to bad interference. Channel 19 is the truckers' or mobile calling channel, Channel 9 is the emergency channel, although it's not legally recognised in the UK as such. With mobile phone use increasingly curtailed, aficionados believe CB radio could make a comeback. capability. You can do SMS messaging or simple datacapture operations.
With improved technical performance, it's time transport operators took another look at how PMR networks can reduce costs, says Ian Snead, managing director of two-way radio network specialist Zybee. "With a PMR-based network, the upfront costs are small and there are no recurring call costs. It saves time if you need to deliver the same message to all your mobile workers. You simply use the group-call or all-call facility to call or send an SMS message to all the radios on the network."
Motorola estimates that a two-way radio solution can typically pay for itself in less than 18 months and points out that users need little or no training.
Point-to-point calls
PMR-446 is a free-to-use short-range radio service that operates on eight frequency channels. Because they are designed purely for short-range communications, PMR handsets operate on low-power — 500 milliwatts compared with CB radio's 5 watts. Like mobile phones, they can be used only for direct radio-to-radio communications, not for calls via a base station.
"Eight channels might sound limited for the whole of the UK," admits Snead. "However, by combining them with tone codes, each channel can have more than 100 A Masternaut's in-cab variations, which helps eliminate interference,Each user vehicle data terminals has to establish an available channel and tone manually allow drivers to receive by trial and error, says Snead. "It takes a bit of time, but messages from base once you've done that, it will be OK for 90% of your communications needs. You won't have to search for a channel each time you want to use the radio." However, you will need a separate radio for each driver or mobile worker. Direct radio-to-radio communication can also work between drivers who might need to liaise with each other over collections, for example.
Network calls
11 you want more than direct radio-to-radio communication, you'll need a radio transmitter and aerial, which means buying a PMR licence from the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the government regulatory body that oversees everything to do with telecommunications. Licences are allocated for operation on a particular channel or channels and cost between £75 and £200 depending on the number of radios. For this, you are allocated what in effect is virtually an exclusive channel for your area with a range of at least 15km from the base station. Ofcom will consider operational needs when allocating band: courier companies, for example, may receive a channel with a range of up to 30km.
Most suppliers will ask to see a licence before selling you handsets, so they can programme the radios to the matching frequency.
Wider coverage
Two developments are extending the appeal of PMR networks. One is the use of corrununity repeaters to extend the range. Companies such as Zycomm are establishing base stations positioned on hill tops and then hiring out channels to individual users on a monthly basis, This trunking of PMR stations extends the range of the PMR and is already being used by local haulage companies in the Peak District, says Zycomm.
The latest development with PMRs is to link them via a gateway to your internet network. it can link farflung radios to each other using voice-over-internet protocol systems.
Satellite communications
GSM and GPRS coverage can be patchy in some Eastern European countries and even when it does work, roaming charges can mean unexpectedly large bills. The alternative is to deploy a system that includes satellite-based voice and data communication — and one of the cheapest ways to do that is as part of the vehicle tracking package. Once seen as far too expensive, commercial satellite tracking companies such as Qualcomm Europe now understand the market better and have developed lower-cost systems that allow oneor two-way data communications between vehicle and base.
You won't be able to add on satellite communications if you are tracking your vehicles with a system that uses the free-to-use US government-owned global-positioning satellite system (GPS). These simply tell the vehicle its latitude and longitude, which it then reports to base via the GSM cellular phone network.
If you want to add satellite communication you need to sign up with a company using one of the commercial satellite networks, such as Eutelsat, Iridium, Globalstar or Inmarsat. With these satellites you pay for the tracking connection but you can add data and sometimes voice to the package with an in-cab phone or data terminal. The terminal connects to the satellite, which in turn connects to a land-earth station, which relays the information to and from the operator's office. Oualconnu's EutelTRACS, for example, is a closed user-group system that uses the Eutelsat's Sesat 1 satellite, which hosts a dedicated data messaging and positioning service for the road haulage industry across western and eastern Europe and the Middle East. Eutelsat claims more than 35,000 vehicles are live on Sesat 1.
Satphones
If you are happy with your current tracking arrangement but want voice for when vehicles are in really out-ofthe-way spots, a satphone is a potential solution. The image of a brick-style satellite phone with costs that only international correspondents reporting from war zones could justify is much outdated, although costs are still fairly high.
To use satphone data and voice requires a one-off phone actuation fee, a monthly access fee and per-call charge.
Globalstar, for example, charges €50 actuation fee, €30 monthly access fee and 70 euro cents a minute for each call. You can prepay on Iridium and Inmarsat, buying and topping up credit in a similar way to mobile phones. Iridium charges start at £150 for a 4,500-unit voucher that gives you 75 minutes of call time and three-month validity. There's no activation or access fee and no charge to receive calls.
Some satphones can send and receive data as well, although it depends on the network as well as phone capability. Inmarsat offers high-speed data on its BGAN network. •