Development and Deployment of a Vehicle Tracking System

Spons, Gunars · 2004 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Railroad Administration

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Summary

This report details the development and deployment of a Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) at the Federal Railroad Administration’s Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. The primary motivation for the program was to enhance safety for personnel operating in a spread-out field test environment and to improve asset monitoring through near real-time vehicle location determination. The system was designed to support critical operations, including emergency services and high-speed train testing, by providing increased situational awareness and control. The VTS leverages off-the-shelf technologies associated with Positive Train Control systems, specifically the U.S. Department of Defense Global Positioning System (GPS), the Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS), digital radio frequency communications, and wireless local area networks (WLAN). The system architecture consists of mobile units installed on vehicles and a central server at the Operations Control Center (OCC). Mobile units utilize eight-channel GPS receivers with integrated NDGPS beacon receivers to determine position. Due to the TTC’s proximity to a broadcast station at the nearby Pueblo Chemical Depot, the system achieves robust positioning accuracy that exceeds the standard 1–3 meter error margin advertised by the U.S. Coast Guard. Data transmission occurs via a UHF data channel pair using a time division multiple access (TDMA) polling scheme, which prevents data collision and allows for the tracking of 5–6 vehicles per second. The system was deployed on 22 vehicles, including four locomotives, with five spare units available for mutual aid responders. The deployment includes two types of mobile units: "VTS-monitored" units that transmit identification, location, and velocity data to the OCC, and "VTS-smart" units that include an onboard computer with WLAN capability. These smart units allow for near real-time graphical display of vehicle movements and map updates directly on the vehicle. The communications backbone operates at 452.475 MHz for base station broadcasts and 457.475 MHz for mobile transmissions. The implementation of the VTS has provided significant operational benefits. For the OCC, the system enables the coordination of voice radio communications, monitoring of road vehicles, and the definition of "no entry zones" to prevent access to hazardous areas. Emergency responders, including the TTC Fire Chief, utilize smart displays to coordinate and direct onsite activities. The system also facilitates integration with mutual aid responders through portable units and digital data links. Additionally, facility support managers and engineers use the system to allocate resources more effectively and monitor test progress via the OCC, WLAN, or Internet. The report concludes that decreasing costs and increasing robustness of constituent technologies have made such VTS systems viable and commonplace for various transportation and emergency applications.

Key finding

The Vehicle Tracking System was successfully deployed on twenty-two vehicles at the Transportation Technology Center, providing near real-time location determination and enhancing safety for emergency responders and operations control personnel.

Methodology

other

Provenance

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Topics

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• v2x connected vehicle