Maybe you’re one of those guys who believes that the only sure thing when it comes to tracking trailers is what you can see in your own yard. Maybe there’s a piece of you that’s from Missouri, even if you’re really from Moncton.

Well, maybe it’s time to re-think your attitude about satellite-based trailer tracking.

Don Schneider has. The president and CEO of Schneider National Inc., which pioneered the use of satellite-based tracking and communications in the trucking business, plans to equip its 43,000-trailer fleet with tracking devices developed by Vantage Tracking Systems.

Vantage is a division of Orbcomm Global, a partnership of Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and Teleglobe Inc. of Montreal which operates a network of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. The $350 million system consists of 28 suitcase-sized satellites circling the globe just 400 miles above the surface. Traditional satellites, like those used by Qualcomm Inc.’s OmniTRACS communications system, orbit 22,000 miles up.

Of course, the smaller, lower satellites can transmit and receive much less data, but they require much less power to do it. Therefore, transponders on earth can be much smaller and batteries will last long enough for practical use.

Orbcomm has promised the near-universal coverage of satellite systems at a price that’s not much more than land-based systems with coverage limited by cellular networks.

A LEO-based solution is just the ticket for Vantage and Schneider National, which have been working for two years to develop a low-cost, efficient system that can monitor a trailer’s location and other data from anywhere in North America. Schneider will begin installing the equipment and software this month.

The Vantage system relays information directly to Schneider’s fleet management and logistics systems via Orbcomm’s LEO satellites. A transponder and sensors on each trailer can detect when a trailer is connected or disconnected from a tractor, if it is loaded or empty, as well as its GPS position among other status reports.

While a number of companies are working on trailer tracking solutions, including some that use Orbcomm satellites, with Schneider, Vantage has made the marketing breakthrough that brings their system into the mainstream of the truckload industry.

Indeed, trailer leasing and rental giant Transport International Pool, with a fleet of trailers numbering 300,000, also endorsed the Vantage system and is making plans to install units on its rental equipment.

Such interest certainly caught the attention of Qualcomm, whose OmniTRACS system is the predominant satellite-based equipment tracking system in North America. Qualcomm has announced an alliance with Orbcomm to integrate their respective satcom products for the tractor and the trailer.

As for Don Schneider, he says his company is constantly looking for ways to increase the value of service his company can offer. In 1988, Schneider National became the first major transportation provider to install OmniTRACS satellite communications and tracking systems throughout its fleet, providing real-time shipment status to customers.

“Untethered trailer tracking represents the next major breakthrough in transportation technology,” he says. “We expect our trailer productivity to significantly improve, meaning better service to our customers.”

BEYOND TRUCKS AND TRAILERS

Considering other recent developments in the field, tracking technology won’t stop at trucks and trailers.

At a meeting last month in Winnipeg, provincial and federal transport regulators decided to develop a list of ITS priorities for Canada to pursue. Tracking vehicle movements for the purpose of enforcing driver hours of service is one topic the group plans to explore.

In the United States, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS), a Washington, D.C.-based association of high-tech companies, government agencies, and transportation interests, is researching ways to equip the nearly 700,000 intermodal chassis used by ocean, rail, and truckers with devices to track equipment location and utilization.

“There are major, hopefully quantifiable benefits that could be achieved by knowing the identification and location of the carriers’ chassis,” ITS said in its request for proposals on the matter.

The trade group is proposing a test in three operational environments. one for each mode of transportation. One test would focus on internal terminal operations, gate procedures, and customer delivery, a second would involve trucking services, and the third proposal would concentrate on long-haul rail transport.

INTEGRATING WITH IS

With the infrastructure in place to track equipment using satellites or cellular networks, the next frontier for the companies that offer tracking technology is to integrate their products with fleet-management systems at the carrier’s home base and on the vehicle.

Mississauga, Ont.-based Cancom, which distributes Qualcomm’s products in Canada, and Maddocks Systems of Vancouver have worked together to integrate Maddocks’s TruckMate for Windows software and Cancom’s satellite communications services.

The result is a package that allows information currently entered by drivers and dispatchers to be captured, transferred via OmniTRACS, then updated automatically into the TruckMate for Windows dispatch system.

The companies say drivers can record 90% of dispatch events-from arrival at the shipper, to hours worked, and delivery of the load, cutting hours of entry and giving dispatchers more time to find backhauls and reduce empty miles.

In a similar vein, Pickering, Ont.-based AirIQ has announced a new service called Automated Fleet Inventory, which also links vehicle tracking with fleet management software.

This will let fleet managers take an inventory of their vehicles without leaving their premises. Vehicles can automatically report their location at a pre-programmed time, and the position will be logged and transmitted to AirIQ customers via a management report.

“Traditionally, staff would manually count vehicle assets in order to complete a physical inventory, a process that might require employees to walk around vehicle yards on a weekly basis,” says Anne Taylor, director of the rental division at AirIQ. “With Automated Fleet Inventory, fleet managers can select a report time that would permit their inventory listing to be ready and waiting for them as they arrived at their offices in the morning.”

AirIQ’s fleet-management products use an on-board computer with integrated GPS access and a wireless transceiver that communicates to a PC-based digitized mapping system.

Capabilities include location on demand, out-of-bounds reporting, excessive-speed detection, as well as the ability to remotely disable vehicles.