A Closer Eye Monitors Vehicles
ASA technology that will enable astronomers
to look into the depths of the universe is already at work keeping a close
eye on some down-to-Earth concerns. A data management system developed
by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to handle the flow of information
being received from experiments aboard the Space Shuttle-based Spacelab,
and later modified to manage data during development of the Advanced X-ray
Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), was adapted to create an innovative vehicle
tracking system that is now available to municipalities and private businesses.
Scott Johnson of Quality Research, Huntsville, Alabama, says the tracking system has its immediate origins in a contract to facilitate accessing specific AXAF temperature and vacuum data from a telemetry stream. Quality Research worked with Walter Robinson of Marshall's Astrionics Lab Ground Computers Team and Larry Taoramina of the Astrionics Lab Design and Implementation Branch to develop software that would enable engineers to extract specific bits of information from the stream of data received while testing AXAF in a simulated space environment.
In a commercial spinoff of the software, AVL Systems in Huntsville, Alabama, has modified it to form the heart of a system that can monitor specially equipped vehicles in operation within a specific area of operations. The system has uses in both the private and public sectors. One city is now employing it to track sludge pumping trucks used to keep public sewers clear and running. The dispatcher at the department of public works can monitor the location of all vehicles in service, determine when each vehicle operator's assigned task is completed and then reassign that vehicle to new tasks in a timely manner.
The system holds significant advantages for emergency services personnel. In a police car, for example, it can be tailored to report to the central dispatcher each time the police officer accesses the vehicle's on-board weapons or if the vehicle's air bag is deployed.
Many other types of vehicle fleet operations can be monitored with the system. Delivery vans can be monitored on their routes. Armored cars can be tracked as they haul their valuable cargoes. Also, public service vehicles such as taxis can be tracked and more efficiently dispatched.
For more information, contact Charles Musitano at Marshall Space Flight
Center.
Call (256) 882-1995, Fax: (256) 882-0464, E-mail: chasmusi@airnet.net
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