Vehicle Locator - Vehicle Recovery System

Vehicle locator units are employed in many industries to track and manage vehicles and vessels. A vehicle recovery system can be used to recover lost or stolen vehicles. Automatic vehicle location (AVL) is another navigational system used to track vehicles.

Vehicle Locators

A vehicle locator unit is used to track and identify vehicles. For example, airports find the auto locator units very useful as Vehicle Locators, since it is very difficult to keep track of all airport surface activity. A vehicle locator is required for Snow plows, maintenance trucks, emergency response vehicles, etc, as these and many other vehicles need to monitored; and peak traffic periods and inclement weather conditions make it more difficult. With a vehicle locator unit, airports can further situational awareness, increasing movement area safety. Also, fleet management and dispatch coordination is made more efficient using a vehicle locator. Some vehicle location units use UHF radio frequencies instead of GPS and cellular phone technology.

Using a vehicle location service has a number of benefits:

· Locate and send the nearest vehicle to the customer
· Increase the number of on-time deliveries
· Operator can manage more vehicles
· Track the reports and other documentation

This technology can be used to provide current location information for all kinds of vehicles including emergency vehicles, delivery trucks, freight trucks, service vehicles, public transportation vehicles and many more.

Vehicle Recovery System

A vehicle recovery system is used to track and recover stolen or lost vehicles. Some auto vehicle recovery systems use GPS and cellular phone or paging technology, while others use UHF radio frequencies. GPS system has its limitations, for instance, it may not work well in underground or indoor hiding places. Some vehicle recovery systems are stand-alone and do not require an interface with any other system or infrastructure. These systems monitor the coverage area and begins tracking a stolen vehicle before the owner even notices that the vehicle is missing.

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) is the technique of using a navigation system such as GPS to determine a vehicle's position. It is a technology used for auto tracking, auto location and tracking and locating mobile assets such as trailers, containers, and other equipment. Every mobile automatic vehicle location unit has a GPS receiver that reports its position to the base station over a communications network. This allows the base station to monitor the entire fleet and manage the mobile assets. This is the underlying structure of a automatic vehicle location and vehicle recovery system.

Components of AVL

· GPS satellites
· Mobile GPS unit
· Communications network
· Base station software

Benefits of using AVL

· Greater performance without having to expand resources
· Driver and passenger safety
· Security against theft
· Navigation Guidance
· Better time estimates
· Route optimization