Application

A tool to track fleets and containers

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology is helping customers track vehicles in transit—in real-time. The technology can help detect vehicle thefts and rash driving. By Abhinav Singh

The rising cost of transportation and the need to track goods vehicles has become a key requirement for effective fleet management and businesses want to integrate this piece of the supply chain with their core applications to streamline their transportation. Most businesses want to keep a tab on the movement of their vehicles; BPO companies want to keep a check on drivers. Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Technology is proving to be a boon as it offers better control over a fleet of vehicles.

Advanced wireless technology

AVL is a computer-based vehicle locating system. These systems have gained popularity with advances in wireless technology and GPS. AVLs can accurately determine the position of a vehicle and send it back to a controlling station. The position determination process and communication methods may vary depending on the requirements. A basic AVL comprises a set of receivers, modems, antenna, and digital radio communications systems. It connects over a network to a base station (equipped with PC, receiver and interface) and communicates the exact location of a vehicle. An AVL system can help in vehicle data collection by pinpointing the latitude, longitude, and speed of the vehicle and appropriately rerouting it as and when required.

Broadly speaking there are three major components of this technology, such as the in vehicle tracking device, the computer hardware, application software with communication modems and the communication medium. AVL units have a GPS receiver chip, GSM modem (GSM Mobile phone), circuit board with on board embedded software and power supply. When this device is installed in a vehicle, latitude and longitude are obtained from the GPS receiver. This information is then passed on to the remote computer wherever it has been placed through the GSM modem. The medium of transmission can be SMS or GPRS. The information is received by the remote computer through a modem. The application software in the system will also have a digital map displaying the location of the vehicle. The in-vehicle device continuously sends its location by means of latitude and longitude and the same is received by the remote computer that displays the information. This information can be made available over the Net through a portal from where information can be had about the location of vehicles. You can constantly and accurately view the location of vehicle on a digital map. The AVL system can be upgraded to track an unlimited number of vehicles. The server side GSM modems need to be updated accordingly.

Optimising transport management

AVL Technology can be put to various uses as it can provide a number of benefits. Basically it improves the efficiency of the dispatching procedure and tracks a driver’s adherence to a route and also informs customers about the estimated time of arrival and communicates directly with drivers. This vehicle locator can also be used for collecting data on trains. An important parameter that can be tracked is temperature. Features like anti-detachment, anti-tamper and anti-tilt alarms are built into train location systems so that operational safety is achieved. Companies have been able to achieve effective cost control over their fleet. It can be a boon for the BPO companies as well—it can help them root out driver misconduct and sound an alert if the vehicle moves out of its prescribed travel zone. The system gets regular real-time information about the route taken by the driver. Through the real time AVL system it is possible to know the exact speed at which the driver is travelling and the exact location of the vehicle thus providing scheduling capability. This helps prevent rash driving. The system can track all unscheduled stops made and optimise costs, minimising stock out situations. It has helped organisations in improving their inventory planning including raw material and finished goods transportation as the system can gain precise control over ‘attached’ or contracted vehicles. The system is also being used to record the distance travelled by a particular vehicle—in this way rental agencies or transporters cannot charge excess fare.

Dinakar Devi Reddy, associate vice president, SatNav Technologies says, “Think of the scenario that you can locate your moving assets accurately every time you wish to know. A trucking company can see the location of all its trucks at any point of time. You can generate history reports of your moving assets at any point of time. This has proved a great boon for insurance companies in the United States as it helps them in settling insurance claims better as they use the logs generated by a vehicle’s AVL system.” There is also concealed tracking of the vehicle as the AVL system can be concealed inside a vehicle without the driver knowing that such a device is on board. This is done primarily to monitor a driver. Reddy says that companies in India are not adopting this technology on a Pan Indian basis as the technology is still on the expensive side. A single device can cost in the range of Rs 15,000-20,000 for a device. Additionally companies also are required to pay subscription charges for the services being offered by GSM service providers. The technology has been widely used in mature markets such as the United States and Europe and is fairly common in those geographies. It will be a while before this technology becomes commonplace in India and a drop in prices of the devices and the subscription rates will go a long way towards making this technology popular in India.