Historically, the prime application of mobile radio has been to
provide a "stand-alone" two way voice communication link
between a base station operator and the vehicle.
More recently however, the application of modern computer
technology has made the integration of the mobile radio system in
the total fleet management system, a practical proposition
resulting in increased flexibility, improved operational
effectiveness and provision of features and facilities that were
not available before.
To illustrate these developments, this paper describes a large
transport control system, which is designed to manage a fleet of up
to 2,000 vehicles. This is achieved using a computer control
graphics display system in the fleet operations centre which is
linked to the vehicle by high speed digital radio data
transmission.
In addition, a highly accurate automatic vehicle
location/monitoring facility which is an integral part of the
system, greatly enhances the operational capabilities.