Cimarron's Skymark Vehicle Tracker is an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system that uses existing voice radio dispatch systems to track the speed, direction and location of mobile units.
The mobile unit's GPS coordinates are transmitted in packets (short bursts) to the base station, where they appear in realtime as a moving icon on a full-color map display. Included in every burst are the vehicle identification, speed, direction, position in latitude/longitude and a brief message. Software functions include display of the closest vehicle to a specific point or place; the distance and bearing between any two points on the map; and automatic time stamp and recording. The latter allows vehicle route logs to be played back for review. Dispatchers can also program mobile units to send position reports each time the unit's microphone switch is depressed; whenever the unit is polled by the base station, or at selected distance and time intervals. Units can be programmed to send position reports as often as every second.
With SA (Selective Availability, the government's imposed accuracy degradation for non-military GPS use), 95 percent of mobile-unit positions are true within 100 meters. With realtime differential correction -- provided by USCG or ACE beacons, or by private companies for a nominal subscription -- accuracies are on the order of 5 to 10 meters.
The system uses any type of paper map that can be scanned and referenced to latitude/longitude coordinates. Map size and scale are limited only by hard disk space.
According to Cimarron, the software, which runs under Windows 95, includes advanced bitmap graphics that enable users to manipulate map files quickly. Vehicle Tracker is compatible with trunking, UHF, VHF, microwave, and telephone transmission systems.
For further information, contact Cimarron Technologies Corp., 934 South Andreasen Drive, Suite G, Escondido, CA 92029-1919.