Entering its second decade since its revolutionary introduction to Canadian carriers, mobile communications has matured into an industry ready to move beyond its initial market of long-haul trucking fleets. The choice of wireless communications options has suddenly become a lot wider as longtime providers and new entrants compete to provide the wireless service that can make the crucial cost versus coverage equation work for LTL, regional, local and private fleets. It’s these fleets, after all, that own the majority of the trucks on the road.

The surge in mobile communications providers and services is a good thing. But it does make the selection process a tougher one and raises the stakes. With so many options on the market, carriers can use their investment in a specific mobile communications technology to differentiate themselves from competitors. The right choice pays off in fundamental improvements to the way a carrier conducts its business; the wrong choice leaves a carrier saddled with technology that can’t provide a competitive edge.

Whether you are an LTL or regional fleet looking at a wireless communications investment for the first time, or a long-time user wanting to reevaluate the system you are using, the right decision will require a considerable amount of research about what is available and how it fits in with your business strategy. To help you get started, the following report highlights the mobile communications offerings from some of the industry’s best-known providers.

Cancom

Since 1990 Cancom, the leading provider of mobile communications in Canada, has had its Qualcomm-brand equipment installed in more than 25,000 trucks operated by almost 400 carriers.

The strength of its satellite service is ubiquitous coverage in Canada and the U.S., linked service in Mexico and the ability to integrate the mobile data generated with operations software such as dispatch, payroll and accounting. Traditionally, the company’s core product, OmniTRACS, has been the satellite communications offering of choice for wide-ranging TL fleets. Cancom lays claim to 90 per cent of the existing mobile satellite communications for long-haul trucks.

However, Cancom is now expanding its services beyond the TL market with products aimed at capturing the attention of LTL, private and regional fleets while also upgrading services to current TL customers.

Expected in the first quarter of 2001 is OmniExpress, a service that relies on Qualcomm’s CDMA cellular technology to provide two-way data communication, fleet-controlled voice capability and GPS vehicle positioning. OmniExpress provides Cancom with a new tier of service, offering a lower cost land-based product for high-volume wireless data communications aimed at fleets that don’t require ubiquitous satellite coverage.

There are also changes planned for the transceiver used by drivers. A new transceiver, called the MVPc, has been developed for both the OmniExpress and OmniTRAC services. The MVPc runs custom and third-party Windows CE applications that automate load-status updates, monitor jurisdictional crossings for IFTA fuel-tax reports, and customize the information they provide. The new transceiver was developed in partnership with Symbol Technologies, a maker of hand-held computers and short-range or local area wireless systems widely used in warehousing.

Canadian carriers operate more than 400,000 trailers and they are becoming increasingly interested in employing tracking technologies to help them better integrate trailers into their fleet operations. Cancom’s TrailerTRACS suite of products offers options for satellite-tethered and untethered and cellular untethered applications. The untethered products operate independently of the tractor and provide automatic trailer location and status updates. A year ago, Cancom reached an agreement with Vantage Tracking Solutions to distribute its satellite-based trailer tracking system in Canada. The service uses a network of low-Earth-orbit satellites to send and receive short messages.

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PeopleNet Communications

PeopleNet Communications, a recent entrant to the Canadian market, combines GPS satellites, the public cellular infrastructure and the Internet to both simplify and reduce the cost of mobile communications. Communication costs are controlled by using the paging network rather than a cellular telephone connection to send short messages to vehicles. Return messages and other wireless data are transmitted over the cellular system to a control centre.

Fleets using the company’s Intouch G2X fleet communications and tracking system can access data such as fleet location, load matching and automated fuel tax calculations through a secure web site (www.peoplenetonline.com), which eliminates the cost of a dedicated or dial-up land-line connection and does away with integration costs since dispatch only requires a browser to communicate with drivers.

Messages are sent to the driver’s cab and the system notifies dispatch when they have been received and read. Voice mail is another option offered as is an instant notification paging system that alerts drivers who are away from their vehicles that a message awaits them. And drivers can also use the system to e-mail family.

Another cost-saving feature of the G2X system is its over-the-air programming (OTAP) and maintenance capabilities. Getting stuck with outdated or obsolete technology is a major concern for carriers making the investment in communications and tracking equipment. Linda Stanton, marketing manager for PeopleNet, explains that OTAP avoids this problem by sending upgrade and maintenance information over the Internet to a re-programmable chip in its truck-based locating device. The seamless upgrade, of course, also cuts out the downtime associated with service requirements.

“The emphasis is on being able to have something that is leading edge all the time,” says Stanton adding that such frugal use of technology addresses carrier information needs without adding the usual expenses of software, hardware and the personnel required to run the system.

PeopleNet is also looking at trailer tracking options and is developing a product for fleets running in metropolitan areas.

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Terion Canada

Terion Canada Communications is another new addition to the Canadian mobile communications scene. The company currently operates in the U.S. and eastern Canada with expansion of Canadian coverage continuing during 2000 and service in Mexico scheduled to commence next year.

Terion’s two-way communication system uses the FM radio frequency range to transmit text messages between trucking companies and their drivers. When a dispatcher sends a text message, it travels through a Terion server which is in constant connection with the fleet. The message is relayed to an FM radio station in the vicinity of the intended recipient which sends it to the driver’s terminal in the cab. The driver’s return message travels via digital high frequency to the ionosphere where it bounces back down to a series of ground-based loop array antennas. The digital signal is relayed back through Terion’s server and returns to the dispatch terminal. All of that happens in about a minute for a typical message.

Since receiving its Industry Canada approval in October of 1999, Terion had been selling communications systems to fleets operating from Windsor to Montreal. But an agreement with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for FM coverage throughout Canada (the CBC operates over 2000 radio and television transmitters across the country) allows Terion to expand its coverage to include all the heavily traveled truck corridors, according to Bruce Caven, vice president and general manager of Terion Canada Communications.

Another cost-effective move is throwing the Internet into the technology mix. Its Tfleet software provides a Windows-based interface that resides on Terion’s server, removing the need for carriers to invest in a local server. Tfleet software includes messaging, tracking and m
apping capabilities.

Terion’s FleetView, meanwhile, is aimed at addressing trailer-tracking needs. The company has entered into a strategic agreement with Wabash National Corp., the largest trailer manufacturer on the continent, to factory install FleetView.

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AirIQ

The Pickering, Ont.-headquartered AirIQ offers a two-way fleet management service that integrates existing wireless, GPS, computing and digital mapping technologies. The result, according to Miguel Gonsalves, vice president, commercial transport, is a system cost effective enough to measure the cost per vehicle in the hundreds, not thousands of dollars.

To further reduce the cost of mobile communications, AirIQ also launched an Internet-based product for the trucking industry at the recent Truckworld 2000 show. This solution allows fleet managers to access information about their vehicles in real-time by communicating with AirIQ OnLine using a standard Internet browser.

Another source of savings is the system’s open architecture. Gonsalves explains that AirIQ’s communication gateway has been designed with a wide-open interface, making it possible to communicate with two or more wireless technologies at the same time.

The complete package is based on an intelligent on-board computer with integrated GPS communicating over a wireless network to a PC-based digitized map and host computer system. In addition to recording information such as vehicle location, direction and speed, the AirIQ system can also be used to remotely unlock vehicle doors, disable stolen vehicles and to predetermine the parameters under which vehicles will report. When an exceptional event takes place – e.g. a vehicle is speeding or has left its standard route area – the onboard computer sends an alarm to the centralized host computer. Such management-by-exception technology means dispatch can be more productive because it doesn’t have to monitor everything that happens to every vehicle in the fleet; only the exceptions to the predetermined company standards.

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@ Track Communications

According to @ Track Communications, data and voice are both essential tools in communicating with drivers and fleets shouldn’t have to choose between the two. Its Series 5000 integrated communications solution combines voice and data communications with satellite-based GPS tracking for long-haul applications.

The onboard microprocessor allows the GPS data to be stored until it’s actually needed, an important difference to the “exception reporting” offered by other companies, according to @ Track. The system continually works to compare location data with set route parameters. That way dispatch is alerted only when the computer detects a problem.

The voice, data and location information are transmitted over the company’s exclusive cellular network, which @ Track says covers 98 per cent of the available wireless service areas in the U.S. and 100 per cent of the A-side coverage in Canada. @ Track, formerly called Highway Master, has agreements in place with 66 wireless carriers in 703 markets in North America.

The company also offers an untethered-trailer-tracking package. The service uses a technology called cellemetry, which relies on the existing cellular infrastructure to provide an economical remote messaging service.

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Infosat Telecommunications

A Canadian company founded in 1986 and headquartered in Coquitlam, B.C., Infosat Telecommunications is a subsidiary of BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises), Canada’s largest communications company. Combining satellite communications (MSAT) and onboard computers, Infosat has partnered with several other high-tech companies to deliver fleet management solutions.

The TraxSat system, the result of a partnership with Traxis, provides two-way messaging and real-time positioning via the MSAT satellite network. It combines secure satellite communications with a customized fleet management system that includes the ability to define and then monitor special parameters within which fleet trucks must operate. For example, dispatch can monitor vehicles for speeding in school zones, use of engine brakes in residential areas, and safety checks made in designated locations.

TrackPro is a shipment tracking option that employs handheld and stationary bar code readers in trucks and warehouses to communicate freight routing, delivery and EDI billing instructions to employees. GlobalWave (formerly InfoTrack) provides a system that combines satellite communications, global positioning, and Internet access to offer affordable positioning and tracking for small- to medium-sized fleets.