Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Can you see me now?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 10:39:53 -0400

From the pages of Logistics Management

Can you see me now?
By Robert Spiegel -- 10/1/2003
Kevin Slaughter didn't know the exact location of his 1,500 trailers at any given
time. The vice
president of operations for James Brown Trucking of Lithonia, Ga., a regional
dry-van and flatbed
carrier, says his company relied on drivers to jot down trailer locations when
they dropped off or
picked up cargo from customers. "We also had someone who worked 40 hours a week
doing
nothing but chasing trailer locations," he recalls.

That method clearly was inefficient and costly, and Slaughter was anxious to
change that
situation. "One of our goals was to find out where our trailers were so we could
reduce our
number of trailers or create more revenue from our existing trailers," he
explains.

Since Brown implemented tracking technology from Ottawa, Ontario-based Vistar
Telecommunications, drivers no longer need to record which trailers are sitting at
customers'
facilities. Instead, the carrier electronically receives location data every 15
minutes from devices
attached to its trailers. That information flows from Vistar's system into the
motor carrier's internal
information system. "The integration into our software is as important as the
information itself,"
notes Slaughter.

That newfound ability to get up-to-date location information has had a noticeable
impact on
Brown's efficiency and costs. "What took 1,500 trailers before may take only 1,300
trailers now,"
Slaughter says. When the full-time equipment tracker left, moreover, that position
was
eliminated.

Implementing tracking technology, moreover, may have done a lot more for James
Brown
Trucking than improving the carrier's own efficiency and cost control. It may well
have made the
difference between keeping and losing customers, or even getting new customers. A
recent study
by Edward Frazelle, director of the Logistics Institute at Georgia Institute of
Technology, found
that tracking and communication capabilities ranked among the top five priorities
for shippers
when picking carriers—right up there with on-time delivery, cost, and safety.

As more shippers seek real-time visibility of their over-the-road shipments, they
are pushing their
carriers to incorporate tracking technologies. One of the hottest areas for
equipment tracking
these days is wireless technology, which has gotten a boost not only from
increasing demand for
inventory visibility but also from the need to better manage drivers' activities
and more carefully
monitor cargo security.

Tracking Untethered Equipment

Wireless tracking technology has made considerable strides since it was introduced
more than a
decade ago. At first, motor carriers equipped their tractors with Global
Positioning System (GPS)
equipment. GPS is a radio navigation system that uses orbiting satellites to fix
ground locations
and facilitate communication between drivers and dispatchers through a central
data
management center operated by the technology vendor.

Later on, the adoption of cellular telephone technology enhanced driver
communications. Low
cost has made cellular technology especially popular as a way to send satellite
information to
data centers. "[The cost of] cellular technology keeps coming down, driven by
consumer
demand," says Thomas Doyle, vice president of business development at Qualcomm,
the San
Diego provider of communications technology. "It's finally hit the point where it
can be delivered
inexpensively."

The latest trend in transport communications involves tracking untethered
trailers—that is, trailers
that have been separated from a power unit. "Shippers used to think it was
important to track the
truck, but when a shipper can track a trailer that is carrying its cargo, the
company gets
interested," explains Todd Felker, vice president of marketing for Terion Inc., a
tracking
technology company in Plano, Texas. "The cargo information is important for
security and for
tracking inventory. Shippers are beginning to say, 'If you want to carry our
cargo, you need to
have trailer tracking'."

For companies that simply want to know a trailer's location, the full GPS
navigation processing
system isn't necessary. Instead, many are turning to low-power global location
systems (GLS). A
GLS device picks up a satellite signal and relays it by "Wi-Fi" to a processing
center, where its
location is calculated. Wi-Fi stands for "wireless fidelity." It refers to the
transmission of computer
data by means of radio waves at high speeds over distances up to 300 feet. Wi-Fi
products
operate on the so-called IEEE 802.11 specification for radio transmission.

Since the devices used to monitor trailers only transmit a signal and do not
process location
information, they require very little power. That keeps the cost per unit low.
Devices provided by
SkyBitz of Dulles, Va., for instance, use simple AA batteries. "At one message a
day, the batteries
inside the device last seven years," explains Andrew Wood, chief executive
officer. "So the
carriers only have to touch the asset once in its life."

A different solution from GE TIP in Devon, Pa., blends new and existing technology
to track a
wide variety of data on trucks and trailers. The General Electric subsidiary
utilizes GPS, low-orbit
satellite, and Wi-Fi to manage data. "The tracking device is talking to both a GPS
satellite and a
low-earth satellite, which transmits the signal to a Wi-Fi ground receiver and
sends it to a network
data center," explains Patrick Brennan, communications leader. Once the network
has been set
up to gather and deliver data, whether by GPS, low-earth satellite, or by Wi-Fi,
virtually any type
of sensor can send information to GE TIP's system.

Brennan predicts that shippers and carriers will soon use wireless technology to
control trailer
movements. "You'll see the development of 'geo-fences' that let a company
determine where its
trailers are authorized to go," he says. A system including a geo-fence—in
essence, a
predetermined geographic parameter— would send a message to the company's data
center if a
trailer left its authorized geographic area.

Versatile Technology

Providers of tracking technology already have found a host of other uses for their
versatile
products. For example, the combination of geosynchronous (or fixed) satellite
technology,
low-earth satellites, and Wi-Fi lets companies monitor vehicle location, drivers'
activities, and
cargo data with a single application.

This type of solution blends passive GPS map location and active automatic vehicle
location to
give drivers directions to the next stop. The network that exchanges information
with the driver
uses Wi-Fi technology. Sensors gather information about a vehicle's location and
send it to data
centers, which process that data and furnish dispatchers with information about
drivers' activities.
Drivers and dispatchers can then interact through a display terminal mounted in
the cab, explains
Tim Van Cleve, chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based Teletrac Inc., a
tracking technology
company.

That's a benefit for shippers and carriers that track the activities of drivers
who perform multiple
pickups and field-service calls each day. "This technology removes the clipboard
from the driver's
hand and creates a virtual clipboard," says James Quigley, director of business
development for
the Enterprise Solutions Division of Aether Systems Inc. in Owings Mills, Md. "Now
the driver's
day is managed by the virtual clipboard, and the back office has a peek into the
driver's activity,"
he says. "Customer support is right in the truck with the driver."

The increasing emphasis on cargo security also has provided fertile ground for new
wireless
applications. Vistar's system, for example, can tell users much about what goes on
inside their
trailers while they're on the road. "For high-value or high-security loads, we
apply a number of
sensors," explains Vistar President Neil Knudsen. Those sensors can tell whether
the temperature
is rising in a refrigerated unit, whether cargo has been removed before it's time
to unload it, and
whether the trailer is empty when it's supposed to be full, he says. GE TIP's
service offers similar
capabilities.

Wood of SkyBitz says the added security provided by wireless tracking technology
can make it
easier to get cargo insurance coverage. "Some insurance companies won't insure the
load unless
it has good security," he says. But Slaughter says that although wireless tracking
technology has
helped locate stolen trailers and cargo, that hasn't yet translated into lower
insurance costs.

Shippers that are concerned about security also like the reliability of
satellite-based systems.
During the mid-August blackout that covered the Northeastern United States and
Eastern Canada,
for example, Vistar's offices in Ontario went black. But back-up generators kept
its data center live
and the satellites weren't interrupted even as cellular networks collapsed. "We
were not out at any
time during the blackout," Knudsen says.

Beyond Trailer Tracking

Not all loads, of course, are valuable enough to warrant the cost of sophisticated
tracking
technology. That cost varies depending on the amount of data required, the breadth
and depth
of the coverage area, and the frequency of transmission. Per-unit costs (excluding
hardware
installation) can be as little as a few dollars per month if a company only needs
a location
reading once per day. Costs increase as companies add requirements such as
additional sensor
readings and increased data-transmission frequency. Additional expenses come with
systems that
take incoming data and integrate it into software such as an enterprise resource
planning system.

Even if a shipper is moving cardboard boxes, though, there's a benefit in knowing
where each
trailer is located. For that purpose, inexpensive devices that send a signal once
per day may be
sufficient. Fortunately, the variety of technologies available today lets carriers
match their
technology investment to the needs of their shipper customers.

Many experts believe that in the future, wireless tracking technology that's now
being used to
keep tabs on tractors and trailers will be applied to smaller unit loads. "The
progression will go
from trucks to trailers, to pallets, to cartons, to products," forecasts Terion's
Felker. Wireless trailer
tracking, in short, may lead to a host of applications that will make it possible
for shippers and
carriers to "see" their transportation and logistics activities like never before.

Robert Spiegel is a freelance writer who specializes in technology and the
electronics industry.

 Wireless Tracking Providers

 A great many providers offer wireless tracking solutions that utilize a variety
of technologies for
 a host of different logistics and transportation applications. The following are
just some of the
 companies offering these types of products.

 Aether Systems Inc. www.aethersystems.com

 AirIQ Inc. www.airiq.com

 ARINC www.arinc.com

 Axiom Navigation Inc. www.axiomnav.com

 Descartes Systems Group www.descartes.com

 GE TIP www.tiptrailers.com

 GlobeRanger www.globeranger.com

 iNet-Blue Corp. www.tra-x-all.com

 MobileNet Inc. www.mobile-net.com

 Qualcomm www.qualcomm.com

 SkyBitz www.skybitz.com

 Teletrac Inc. www.teletrac.net

 Terion www.terion.com

 Vistar Telecommunications Inc. www.vistar.ca

 WhereNet www.wherenet.com

http://www.manufacturing.net/lm/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA328882

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