Dwight-- That was a nice story, and a demonstration of the utility of satellites. Another story also shows how ORB will create new markets: Orbital's Satellite-Based Vehicle Tracking System To Help Dispatch Snowplows in
Michigan
ORBTRAC-100 System to Track and Manage Winter Maintenance Fleet
DULLES, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB - news) announced today that the Southeastern Michigan
Snow and Ice Management (SEMSIM) Partners have selected the company's ORBTRAC-100 satellite-based automatic vehicle location (AVL)
and two-way messaging system to help track and manage a portion of their road maintenance fleets. Under the $1.1 million contract, the
ORBTRAC-100 system will be initially installed on 40 snowplows, with phased installations on the SEMSIM Partners' entire 500- vehicle fleet
over the next two to three years.
In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, SEMSIM unites the four largest road maintenance agencies in Southeast Michigan in a demonstration project
to improve the snow clearance process in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties and in the city of Detroit. Other participants include the
Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) and the University of Michigan.
``The ORBTRAC-100 system will help us better coordinate snow removal activities, increasing the safety and mobility of our residents while
reducing the overall costs of winter road maintenance in the Detroit metropolitan area,' said Mr. Brent Bair, Managing Director of the Road
Commission for Oakland County.
The ORBTRAC-100 system was designed and developed by Orbital's Transportation Management Systems (TMS) Division, located in
Germantown and Linthicum, Maryland and State College, Pennsylvania. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology, the system
will track the location and status of vehicles, dispatching snowplows where they are most needed during major storms and identifying sections
of roadways that have been serviced. It will also capture and store data for post-service analyses to assist in reducing the overall cost of future
operations. Additionally, the system will utilize SMART's existing communications infrastructure for vehicle-to-dispatch communications.
Mr. David Mathisen, Vice President and General Manager of Orbital's TMS Division, said, ``We applaud the SEMSIM Partners for exploring
new ways to increase the efficiency of their snow removal systems. We look forward to working on this ground-breaking winter maintenance
project, a project that firmly establishes Orbital's TMS unit as the leader in GPS-based fleet management for the road maintenance industry.'
Orbital's TMS Division has experienced rapid growth over the past several years as a result of new contract wins and the 1998 acquisition of
Raytheon Company's transportation management business. Orbital TMS is now the country's leading supplier of satellite-based AVL systems,
producing state-of- the-art hardware and software for mobile vehicles such as bus and rail transit systems, state and municipal maintenance
fleets, emergency vehicles, and commercial vehicle fleets. Its products are currently in use in many of the country's largest metropolitan areas,
including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Houston and Denver.
Orbital is one of the largest space technology and satellite services companies in the world, with 1999 revenues targeted to exceed $900 million.
The company, which is headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, employs over 5,200 people at its major facilities in the United States, Canada and
several overseas locations. Orbital is the world's leading manufacturer of low-cost space systems and products, including satellites, launch
vehicles, electronics and sensors, satellite ground systems and software, and satellite-based navigation and communications products.
Through its ORBCOMM and ORBIMAGE affiliates and ORBNAV subsidiary, Orbital is also a pioneering operator of satellite-based networks
that provide data communications, high-resolution imagery and automotive information services to customers all around the world.
Incidentally, my father was a truck driver, and there are real advantages to tracking their whereabouts!
fred |
