REPORT ON THE BOEING FLEET LOCATION AND INFORMATION REPORTING SYSTEM (FLAIR) (FROM CARNAHAN CONFERENCE ON CRIMINAL COUNTERMEASURES - PROCEEDINGS, 1976, BY JOHN S JACKSON - SEE NCJ-57707)

• NCJ Number: 57713
• Author(s): R W LEWIS; T W LEZNIAK
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 13 pages
• Corporate Author: University of Kentucky
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE BOEING FLEET LOCATION AND INFORMATION REPORTING SYSTEM (FLAIR) IS DESCRIBED, INCLUDING THE SYSTEM OPERATION, SYSTEM COMPONENTS, MOBILE INSTALLATION, AND EVALUATION STUDY RESULTS.

Abstract

THIS SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY AND SIMULTANEOUSLY TRACKS, DISPLAYS, AND INDICATES THE STATUS OF ALL VEHICLES WITHIN AN OPERATING FLEET. EACH VEHICLE AUTOMATICALLY MEASURES AND REPORTS ITS CURRENT HEADING, DISTANCE TRAVELED, AND VEHICLE STATUS TO THE CONTROL CENTER USING A SECURE DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS LINK. DEAD RECKONING AND DIGITAL MAP MATCHING COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES ARE APPLIED TO DETERMINE THE POSITION OF EACH VEHICLE. THE SIMULTANEOUS LOCATION AND STATUS OF ALL VEHICLES WITHIN THE FLEET ARE DISPLAYED AGAINST A MAP OF THE TRACKING AREA ON A COLOR TELEVISION SCREEN. THE MOBILE EQUIPMENT CONSISTS OF AN ODOMETER, VEHICLE DATA PROCESSOR HAVING A HEADING SENSOR AND A CODED MESSAGE PANEL, AND A RECEIVER-TRANSMITTER. THE BASE EQUIPMENT CONTAINS A RADIO FREQUENCY DATA TERMINAL, A RADIO FREQUENCY DATA LINK INTERFACE, A PROCESSOR WITH INPUT-OUTPUT DEVICES, AND A DISPLAY. THERE ARE TWO MEASURES OF FLAIR SYSTEM TRACKING ACCURACY: (1) ANALYSIS OF DATA GENERATED BY VEHICLES ACTUALLY DRIVEN ON THE STREET, AND (2) RESULTS FROM COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF THE TRACKING PROCESS. ON-THE-STREET ACCURACY TESTS YIELDED THE FOLLOWING RESULTS: (1) AVERAGE SYSTEM ERROR RANGED FROM 72 FEET TO 56 FEET; (2) VEHICLES WERE ON THE CORRECT STREET 95.7 TO 97.3 PERCENT OF DISTANCE TRAVELED; (3) VEHICLES DISPLAYED WITH LESS THAN ONE-HALF BLOCK ERROR 92.7 TO 93.7 PERCENT OF DISTANCE TRAVELED. THREE OTHER TRACKING ERROR STUDIES WERE UNDERTAKEN ALSO, IN ORDER TO IDENTIFY, UNDERSTAND, AND ELIMINATE OR MINIMIZE THE SOURCES OF ERROR IN THE FLAIR TRACKING PROCESS. DETAILED TEST RESULTS ARE GIVEN. CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO IMPROVE RELIABILITY, TRACKING, AND EASE OF INSTALLATION AND ALIGNMENT. FIGURES AND TABLES ARE PROVIDED. SEE ALSO NCJ 38864, 52569, 57707-57712, AND 57714-57726. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--PRG)