Mobiflex Alarm, a Vehicle Location System Based on Open Subsystem Interfaces

Roger Bengtsson, Eric Wichtel, and Magdalena Akke

Abstract:	Most traditional Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems covering large areas require extensive infrastructure investments. This paper presents a way to cut AVL infrastructure costs, by introducing an industry standard, OVLS (Open Vehicle Location Standard), with an open subsystem architecture. OVLS uses existing infrastruc- ture in combination with industry standard components. It specifies the protocols for interconnecting the industry standard com- ponents to build an AVL system in mod- ules. OVLS is supported by about 20 Euro- pean manufacturers and can be characterized as generalized macro-language protocols, who handle basic AVL primitives. With these protocols, applications can access mo- bile AVL units through one or more com- munication systems. This paper is the first to introduce changes appearing in the new, revised 1994 OVLS version. Mobiflex Alarm, a novel Swedish AVL emergency system, is an OVLS application. The alarm system will in the first imple- mentation phase, spanning from late 1994 to early 1995, comprise of 3000 vehicles and work as a supplement to the established Mobiflex fleet management system. The Mobiflex Alarm concept consists of GPS re- ceivers, emergency receiver centers with presentation systems, personal alarm trans- mitters and direction finding equipment to locate injured persons in the neighborhood of the vehicle. Furthermore, it utilizes the existing Mobitex packet radio data network used by Mobiflex, updated with the appro- priate software. Results from field trials as well as a range of interesting OVLS-based products from independent manufacturers are presented.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994) September 20 - 23, 1994 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	501 - 508
Cite this article:	Bengtsson, Roger, Wichtel, Eric, Akke, Magdalena, "Mobiflex Alarm, a Vehicle Location System Based on Open Subsystem Interfaces," Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994), Salt Lake City, UT, September 1994, pp. 501-508.
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