Browse Topic: Fleet management

Items (90)
ABSTRACT For large populations of vehicles, it is often difficult to estimate how changes to scheduled maintenance plans will impact future operational availability, especially when component failure rates may not be known precisely or the operational environment changes. The primary objective of this contribution is to illustrate a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) approach which determines the minimum amount of maintenance necessary to keep a given threshold of operational availability. The analysis was performed using discrete-event simulation, maintenance data, and anecdotal information from technicians. The information was combined within a model containing over 15 variables including labor and process constraints. The analysis yielded a decision tool that can be utilized to assess several potential long term storage maintenance policies, focused on cost minimization while meeting readiness requirements
Vergenz, PeterBanghart, Marc
ABSTRACT Defense programs require accurate estimates of future asset performance and cost to manage the life cycles of both new and aging platforms. Traditional forecasting techniques and business intelligence applications typically fall short. Simulation-driven predictive analysis can deliver detailed insights that extend well beyond traditional methods. Advances in computing power and data management technologies now unshackle asset managers from the limitations of traditional forecasting. Clockwork’s simulation platform and predictive analysis approach leverages experience developed through serving defense programs. A case study on the allocation of maintenance resources illustrates this technique. Balancing manpower levels across multiple echelons and multiple geographic locations is accomplished after running nearly one thousand simulation scenarios—each spanning the full life cycle of the complete set of weapons systems. Historical data is merely a starting point—the distinctive
Posadas, Sergio
ABSTRACT Defense fleet managers require maintenance strategies that deliver high readiness, reliable and sustainable combat equipment in the face of operational uncertainty and chaotic tactical environments. Shaping depot maintenance strategy is complex: aircraft, vehicles, and weapons systems operate in unpredictable and dynamic environments while component aging, convoluted maintenance practices, and overlapping sustainment programs all influence requirements. Yet, most predictive analytics efforts are focused on short-term tactics and historical data. As a result, these models cannot deliver the needed long-run precision suitable for depot strategies. Despite new big-data feeds, cloud applications, and innovative visualizations, most underlying predictive models are not suited for the challenge due to a simple reason: The past does not represent the future. Without the appropriate predictive tools, fleet managers lean heavily and cautiously towards doing more maintenance. The
Posadas, Serg
Within the heavy commercial vehicle sector, fleet availability stands as a crucial factor impacting the productivity and competitiveness of companies. Despite this, the core element of maintenance strategies applied in the sector still relies solely on mileage or component usage time. On the other hand, the evolution of the industry, particularly the advancement of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies such as sensorization embedded in components, now provides a vast amount of operational data. The severity levels of application, driving style influence, and vehicle operating conditions can be indicated through the treatment of these data. However, there is still little practical application of using this data for effective decision-making regarding maintenance strategy in the sector, correlating the severity level with component failure possibility. Seeking a disruptive approach to this scenario where data analysis supports decisions related to component maintenance strategy, a
de Moraes Seixas, Ricardo
Commercial transportation is the key pillar of any growing economy. Light and Small commercial vehicles are increasing every day to cater the logistics demand, but there is always a gap between customer’s actual and desired operational efficiency. This is because of lack of organized fleet and efficient fleet operation. The major requirement of fleet owners is timely delivery, high productivity, downtime reduction, real time tracking, etc., Automakers are now providing fleet management application in modern LCV & SCV to satisfy the fleet operator requirement. However, any feature malfunction, consignment mismatch, wrong notification, missed alerts, etc., can incur huge loss to fleet operator and disrupt the entire supply chain. Hence it is very critical to extensively validate the telematics features in fleet management application. This paper explains the approach for exhaustive validation strategy of fleet management applications (B2B) from end user perspective. An effective test
B, SakthivelShams, TausifLalasure, SantoshKarnure, Shabbir LalasoRajakumar, K.
In a rush to move towards a sustainable future, the number of electric vehicles has risen significantly in recent years. With this, the need for power to charge those vehicles has also increased. In any electric vehicle fleet location, there could be many vehicles with different arrival and departure times and energy requirements, which might vary every day. Depending on the geographical location, the available solar energy might differ. The electricity costs might change on an hourly basis. This in total can affect the charging costs. In addition, a non-optimal sizing of the energy components could result in an under-sized system, where the energy demands are not met, or it could result in an over-sized system, where the owner must invest more than required. Based on all the information related to vehicle charging load, electricity charges, energy intensity profile of renewable energy generation like solar and wind, an optimal size of components, operational cost, and investment
Munirajappa, ChandrashekaraShrivastava, HimanshuPrasad P, Shilpa
In recent years, the automotive industry has seen an exponential increase in the replacement of mechanical components with electronic-controlled components or systems. engine, transmission, brake, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), lighting, driver-assist technologies, etc. are all monitored and/or controlled electronically. Connected vehicles are increasingly being used by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to collect and transmit vehicle data in real-time via the use of various sensors, actuators, and communication technologies. Vehicle telematics devices can collect and transmit data about the vehicle location, speed, fuel efficiency, State Of Charge (SOC), auxiliary battery voltage, emissions, performance, and more. This data is sent over to the cloud via cellular networks, where it can be processed and analyzed to improve their products and services by automotive companies and/or fleet management. This data can also be used for a variety of purposes, including enhancing the
Kumar, VivekZhu, DiDadam, Sumanth Reddy
With the increase of heavy-duty transportation, more fuel efficient technologies and services have become of great importance due to their environmental and economical impacts for the fleet managers. In this paper, we first develop a new analytical model of the heavy-truck for its dynamics and its fuel consumption, and valid the model with experimental measurements. Then, we propose a bi-level optimization approach to reduce the fuel consumption, thus the CO2 emissions, while ensuring several safety constraints in real-time. Numerical results show that important reduction of the fuel consumption can be achieved, while satisfying imposed safety constraints
Zhu, JiaminMichel, PierreZonetti, DanieleSciarretta, Antonio
This SAE Information Report attempts to provide a list of potential digital data recording devices that may be interrogated for forensic purposes. This list may not be exhaustive, but it lists sources of data that may be useful in the investigation of incidents such as motor vehicle collisions. This list is not intended to give instruction on how to access and preserve the data. This list is only to inform investigators that these known data sources may contain important information and should, if applicable, be searched for and queried. It is recognized that as the state of technology advances there may be additional data sources that become available
Crash Data Collection and Analysis Standards Committee
This paper proposes a practical optimal-time window-based path-planning approach for a fleet of autonomous vehicles. Specifically, autonomous vehicles in this work refers to fleet of tractors that performs spraying operations in a vineyard field. The approach involves two main steps. In the first step based on a behavior and actions of the tractors that mimic manual spraying operations, a linear integer programming (ILP) optimization model is constructed. The second step then seeks a solution for this MIP model to obtain paths for autonomous navigation of the tractors in a vineyard field. The simulation results on a real-world data collected using Google Maps application for Sula vineyards located in the Nashik region [1] is reported. The obtained results show effectiveness of the proposal with respect to manual operator driven fleet management
Patil, BhagyeshBhansari, VeerJadhav, Vinoba
Connected vehicle data unlock compelling solutions for vehicle owners and fleet managers. In selecting machine learning algorithms for use in predicting a connected vehicle signal value, time series dependency is critical to understand. With little to no time series dependency, conventional machine learning models may be used with a feature set that has few or no lag variables. If there is a lot of time series dependency including long-term dependencies, deep learning architectures like variants of recurrent neural networks (RNN) may be a better approach. Further, at any time step, RNN features may be specified to use some number of past time steps to predict the latest value. This paper seeks to identify time series dependency of connected vehicle signals, and selection of the number of time steps to look back in the features set to minimize error
Meroux, DominiqueTelenko, CassandraJiang, Zhen
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) statistics is a key parameter which has many applications, such as the assessment of vehicle quality, evaluation of driving behavior and oil consumption, and other applications in vehicle monitoring system. In the earlier studies, the calculation of VMT usually focused on improving the accuracy and frequency of vehicle GPS data, but the VMT estimation error due to them were getting smaller with the development of positioning technology. Nowadays in the practical application of internet of vehicles, errors due to the out-of-order location data which caused by communication mechanism have become increasingly obvious. In this paper, we propose a VMT estimate method based on improved ant colony algorithm and local search method which is suitable for dealing with timestamp chaotic location data sequence. To evaluate our method, we use real-world vehicle data gathered by China mobile’s vehicle fleet management products, the analysis result shows the MRE of
Liu, WeiHao, LiLi, Feng
This Aerospace Recommended Practice (ARP) provides guidance for the design of an integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) capability that will extend the vehicle’s inherent design to enable health management of the platform and its components. This guidance is technology-independent; the principles are generally applicable to the majority of potential IVHM design scenarios, including “clean sheet” system design, where IVHM is considered as a primary design consideration, and the retrofit design, where existing systems are modified and leveraged with the IVHM capability. In either case, this ARP provides guidance for designing the IVHM capability from the feasibility assessment to the conceptual design analysis and to the development design phases, with considerations given to trade studies, metrics, and life cycle impacts
HM-1 Integrated Vehicle Health Management Committee
Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) technology offers the ability to achieve zero tailpipe emissions coupled with convenient refueling. Fleet adoption of PHEVs, often motivated by organizational and regulatory sustainability targets, may not always align with optimal use cases. In a car rental application, barriers to improving fuel economy over a conventional hybrid include: diminished benefits of additional battery capacity on long-distance trips, sparse electric charging infrastructure at the fleet location, lack of renter understanding of electric charging options, and a principle-agent problem where the driver accrues fewer benefits than costs for actions that improve fuel economy, like charging and eco-driving. This study uses high-resolution driving data collected from twelve Ford Fusion Energi sedans owned by University of California, Davis (UC Davis), where the vehicles are rented out for university-related activities. The data is analyzed to understand the degree to which the electric
Meroux, DominiqueTal, Gil
Characterizing or reconstructing incidents ranging from light to heavy crashes is one of the enablers for mobility solutions for fleet management, car-sharing, ride-hailing, insurance etc. While crashes involving airbag deployment are noticeable, light crashes without airbag deployment can be hidden and most drivers do not report these incidents. In this paper, we are using vehicle responses together with a dynamics model to trace back if abnormal forces have been applied to a vehicle so as to detect light crashes. The crash location around the perimeter of the vehicle, the direction of the crash force, and the severity of the crashes are all determined in real-time based on on-board sensor measurements which has further application in accident reconstruction. All of this information will be integrated to a feature called “Incident Report”, which enable reporting of minor accidents to the relevant entities such as insurance agencies, fleet managements, etc. The developed algorithms are
Panigrahi, SmrutiLu, JianboHong, Sanghyun
This paper proposes a low-cost but indirect method for occupancy detection and occupant counting purpose in current and future automotive systems. It can serve as either a way to determine the number of occupants riding inside a car or a way to complement the other devices in determining the occupancy. The proposed method is useful for various mobility applications including car rental, fleet management, taxi, car sharing, occupancy in autonomous vehicles, etc. It utilizes existing on-board motion sensor measurements, such as those used in the vehicle stability control function, together with door open and closed status. The vehicle’s motion signature in response to an occupant’s boarding and alighting is first extracted from the motion sensors that measure the responses of the vehicle body. Then the weights of the occupants are estimated by fitting the vehicle responses with a transient vehicle dynamics model. This two stage approach is further used to determine how many occupants are
Luo, DaweiLu, JianboGuo, Gang
The use of the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) to assist with the management of large commercial fleets using telematics is becoming commonplace. Telematics generally refers to the use of wireless devices to transmit data in real time back to an organization. When tied to the GPS system telematics can be used to track fleet vehicle movements, and other parameters. GPS tracking can assist in developing more efficient and safe operations by refining and streamlining routing and operations. GPS based fleet telematics data is also useful for reducing unnecessary engine idle times and minimizing fuel consumption. Driver performance and policy adherence can be monitored, for example by transmitting data regarding seatbelt usage when there is vehicle movement. Despite the advantages for fleet management, there are limitations in the logged data for position and speed that may affect the utility of the system for analysis and reconstruction of traffic collisions. The U.S. Air
Steiner, John C.Armstrong, ChristopherKress, TylerWalli, TomGallagher, Ralph J.Ngo, JustinSilva, Andres
According to the recent study, Thailand has the 2nd most dangerous road in the world. Based on many researches, the driver is the main influencers of the traffic fatalities. Since the more dangerous the driver drive, the more chance of accident become. Therefore, driver’s monitoring system become one of the solutions that acceptable and reliable, especially for fleet management and public transportation. This paper’s goal is to find an algorithm that can distinguish driving behaviour based on cars’ acceleration and velocity, calling it as Risk Driving Score (RDS). The algorithm was tested by driving test by volunteers on highways with observers, who were told to rank the drivers in terms of driving risk from the 1-5 point. Meanwhile, the drivers were asked to drive in 3 different styles, normal, safety, and hurry. All drives were recorded by satellite and video data then filtered and used for the algorithm calculation. After that, the linear regression shows that there is a trend of
Winitthumkul, NattPhondeenana, PeerapatNoomwongs, Nuksit
This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) presents metrics for assessing the performance of prognostic algorithms applied for Engine Health Management (EHM) functions. The emphasis is entirely on prognostics and as such is intended to provide an extension and complement to such documents as AIR5871, which offers information and guidance on general prognostic approaches relevant to gas turbines, and AIR4985 which offers general metrics for evaluating diagnostic systems and their impact on engine health management activities
E-32 Aerospace Propulsion Systems Health Management
Life-cycle cost analysis can provide a solid basis to support improvements in how fleet managers use their vehicles and in how manufactures design them. The challenge to it be an established practice rests on getting quality data provided by fleet operators and on the understanding that the data is significantly influenced by both the operational environment and the quality of management (operations and maintenance). In 2012, a benchmark study was conducted using the public transportation system of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Twelve companies participated in the study. Although the primary purpose of the study was to assess the differences in the competitiveness among the twelve companies, the data collected provide a database that was very consistent in providing critical analysis of vehicle maintainability by generating life-cycle cost analysis. The study proved to be an important tool to link vehicle design to the operational and maintenance management of company fleets. Beyond
Matos, Frederico F. de C.
The use of Heavy Vehicle Event Data Recorders (HVEDRs) in collision analysis has been well recognized in past research. Numerous publications have been presented illustrating data accuracy both in normal operating conditions as well as under emergency braking conditions. These data recording devices are generally incorporated into Electronic Control Modules (ECMs) for engines or Electronic Control Units (ECUs) for other vehicular components such as the Anti-Lock Brake System. Other research has looked at after-market recorders, including publically-available Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and fleet management tools such as Qualcomm. In 2009, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) incorporated a Vehicle Data Recorder (VDR) component into their Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus. The purpose of this was to “…capture data that can be used to promote safe driving and riding practices.” The Standard requires minimum data elements, recording times, and sample rates
Austin, Timothy P.Plant, David P.LeFevre, Joseph E.
This paper presents an overview of the telematics domain, with specific focus on the Indian Market. Telematics service areas broadly includes V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure) and safety communications, fleet management and monitoring, vehicle security, diagnostics, emergency and roadside assistance, automatic crash notification, service appointment scheduling, toll collection, vehicle insurance. Navigation, infotainment and in-car communications are also closely related areas. An emerging trend is that V2X telematics may be delivered using smartphones and networks such as 4G. The primary reason is cost advantage in utilizing smartphones as the platform to bring services to vehicles. Smartphone based applications and web portals can be used to enable remote access features. In fact, if Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decides to eventually share the 5.9 GHz DSRC band, telematics may in fact rely much more on standard telecommunications infrastructure. Thus
Sreekumar, AswinMeena, AnuradhaShahabudeen, Shiraz
Telematics systems are offering more features and functions for lower prices. Telematics and fleet management systems are entering a new phase, layering on more functions and dropping prices in an attempt to move connectivity closer to ubiquity. Cloud-based services are bringing operators far more data, integrating features while making hardware costs inconsequential. The benefits of telematics have been gained by many fleets, driving more operators to make connectivity part of their strategy. Suppliers are addressing the needs of both newcomers and long-time users by helping them analyze and utilize the wealth of data collected from onboard controllers
Costlow, Terry
Ethernet is by now the most adopted bus for fast digital communications in many environments, from household entertainment, to PLC robotics in industrial assembly lines. Even in avionic applications, new standards are fixing research results. In a similar way in automotive industry, the interest in this technology is increasingly growing, pushed forward by much research and basically by the need of high throughput, that high dynamics distributed control requests. In the world of heavy-duty machines various needs suggest to investigate for a possible Ethernet Network implementation for both real time control and services. On the other hand Bosch proposes the FlexCAN, CAN Flexible rate, but it seems a short term solution for today's congested networks. Conversely, high speed cameras for assisted and indirect vision, virtual fencing systems, cooperative machines control suites, fleet management, task control aspects integration, and real time controls, are just some of the useful
Malaguti, GiorgioDian, MassimoRuggeri, Massimiliano
Ashok Leyland, India had commissioned a web portal towards serving their end customers with better fleet management. The services offered through this portal helps in improving the productivity and safety of vehicles, business operations and hence, the profitability of the customers. Track and trace, SMS/email alerts and report generation are the major functionalities of this portal. They assist the customers in analyzing the operations of their vehicles and take corrective actions towards optimizing them. However, there were certain problems faced by the customers, while accessing these functionalities through the web portal. This includes, significantly high lead time taken for report generation, unavailability of location details in the reports and track page due to early expiry of reverse geo-coding service limits. As these problems were affecting the basic functionalities of the portal, analysis was done to understand the root cause of the problems so as to address them
Natarajan, RamyaSwaminathan, Ganesan
When approaching new mobility solutions such as car-sharing, it soon becomes apparent that it may be necessary to develop specific vehicles for this application. In this paper, Applus IDIADA explains its experience in the development of the iShare, an electric vehicle conceived as a demonstrator of our complete vehicle development capabilities following the principle of “development led by functionalities”, with the consideration that it would be used in open car-sharing fleets running according to the MIT's (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) “mobility-on-demand” concept. This paper explains the process followed in order to reach the definition of the different parts, systems and components that are the result of the consideration of the Technical Functionalities, such as Active Safely, Passive Safely, Driveability, NVH, Fleet Management, Maintenance and Comfort, that in their turn result from the basic vehicle specifications defined from the analysis of the key functionalities of
Satué, Ricardo
Commercial vehicle operators have many options available to them for managing their assets. Whether in an on-highway fleet, agricultural / off-road, construction, or military, available real-time vehicle information is growing. While accessing this data via applicable Wide Area Networks (WANs) is commonplace, new technologies are just beginning to develop to take advantage of all of the connectivity possibilities to further aid in delivery of goods and services. As an enabler to expanding these fleet management applications, vehicle on-board networks (commonly referred to as “in-vehicle” or simply “vehicle networks”) are expected to support a growing number of vehicle related technological solutions. This paper provides background on vehicle networks, including key terminology, an introduction to standards based protocols, and critical SAE vehicle network related standards. While an historical view of vehicle network topologies and a rationale for the very first vehicle networks is
Zachos, Mark P.
The use of embedded control units continues to increase in embedded systems such as automotive, trucks, etc. The industry trend is to develop distributed architecture, using embedded networks like CAN bus technology to link the increasing numbers of Electronic Control Units and functions all together. At the same time, there is the need to connect consumer electronics products (telematics and infotainment systems, fleet management systems, Pay As You Drive equipment, black box for insurance, etc) to the distributed electronic architecture of these embedded systems. By this way, electronic devices could take a lot of information from the car and offer more powerful added value functionalities within a limited cost structure. Unfortunately, systems makers don't allow intrusive solutions for safety, reliability reasons and to maintain integrity of their entire systems. So, at this moment, there is no reliable and legal way to integrate consumer electronics devices without compromising the
Berenger, Jean-Yves
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