Vehicle Tracking

Emergency vehicle tracking requires sophisticated control mechanisms and software to ensure accurate, usable, real time information about the vehicles under your control. 
 

System Architecture

Tracking of emergency vehicles differs from the tracking of commercial vehicles in that the update requirement (the frequency positions are needed) varies continuously. For example, an ambulance 'at station' or preparing a patient for transport at the scene of an incident may not need to be polled  at a high rate. However, when a vehicle is 'mobile incident' or 'mobile hospital' one would generally need to access it's position more frequently. Updates are transmitted to the despatching system in real time so that operators are able to make informed decisions about the despatching and redirection of vehicles.  

(Note: in an emergency environment it is possible for a vehicle to be 'linked' to more than one incident at the same time. Multiple vehicles are often linked to the same incident. ESS software handles both of these requirements)

Vehicle status is transmitted to the control centre by depressing an appropriate key on a Mobile Data Terminal or on the status panel supplied with the vehicle tracking device. Status changes automatically update the despatching software as well as the occurrence book.

The CAD system and ESS Maps support the following:

• Any number of vehicle status codes can be defined
• User-defined polling intervals can be specified for each status code. These are automatically applied unless manually overridden.
• Easy to use facilities are provided to request a position update or to manually change the polling rate of one or more selected vehicles
• Dynamic control of polling is provided when the capacity (particularly if using a radio frequency) is limited.. For example, should the tracking system operate close to capacity, the software will intelligently manage data transmission volumes by automatically adjusting polling rates.
• The tracking history of all associated vehicles is linked to the incident
• The software allows the positions of all, or just selected vehicles (and incidents), to be displayed on the map as required by individual operators
• Vehicles are identified through the use of labels. If appropriate, the incidents to which the vehicle is linked is also displayed
• Enhanced data displays can show vehicle status and time, incident details and crew.
• A library of icons is supplied which, under software parameter control, can visually differentiate between different incident types and different statuses of vehicles.
• A replay function of mapping activity can be initiated at any  workstation and variable replay rates can be used.