MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: Business Computing, The New Straits Times

Bluetronics which has a working partnership with one of the country's pioneer automotive accessories company, GS Auto Accessories, has spent three to four years doing its groundwork for Posse 2 such as preparing digital maps, software programming and hardware manufacturing before going to the market to introduce it.

As the name indicates, there was an earlier version: Posse, a security car alarm system which runs on the paging network way back in 1995 that can immobilise vehicles. But, it was not able to locate vehicles using global positioning system (GPS) and global system for mobile communications (GSM) technologies, like what Posse 2 can do today.

Posse 2, a hybrid technology of both GPS and GSM networks, is designed to cater to private and commercial vehicles. In view of the recent increase of car thefts, private car owners can use it as an advanced security system. A report from General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) indicates that one private car is stolen every two hours last year, incurring a total of 4,548 cases car theft insurance claims compared to 3,734 cases in 1999.

Bluetronics' managing director K.S. Ho says the system is also offered to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market. Posse 2 is currently the standard accessory fitted into Honda cars (Civic, CRV, Accord).

Corporate users like those in the transportation, logistics and oil industries are also the target market for Blueutronics.

"With Posse 2, fleet owners, delivery trucks, oil tankers, buses, vehicle rental companies, and others are able to monitor and track their assets to maintain security and operations," Ho says. "They can execute necessary actions to prevent mishaps, especially if the goods being transported are of high value or dangerous like chemicals," he adds.

How It Works
The Posse 2 system is installed into the vehicle, hidden and powered by the vehicle's battery. It also has back-up batteries which are self-rechargeable to last about 36 hours in case the wires are cut off intentionally during theft.

The system has two main components - a Telematics module and the GPS module. "The Telematics module is a form of protocol that runs on GSM network that tranmits data from the vehicle to a base station for data processing," says Stanley Kwok, Bluetronics' technical advisor. Then, the GPS module communicates with GPS satellites in space to determine the latitude, longitude, data, time, ground speed and direction of travel of the vehicle.

"There are 24 GPS satellites orbiting the Earth, operated by the United States Defense Department, 12 at each hemisphere," Kwok says. Both the GPS module and the satellites constantly seek each other for updated data as they move along. "We need three satellites at any one time for the system to work".

Aside for the core modules, there are GPS and GSM antennas mounted on the vehicle to relay data to a base station via the GSM network, operated by Maxis. Bluetronics has a Command Centre in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, which manages the entire operations of the Posse 2 system. Users call up to the centre to track their vehicles or execute actions. The approximately 15,000 square-feet centre is operated by Bluetronics' exclusive agent AudioVox Communications (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, with 10 workstations, manned by about 15 staff in three shifts, 24 hours a day. Operators there will verify the identity of the caller by going through a set of verification processes before any request is accepted from the user.

Typically, installation of a truck for fleet management system takes two days and another half day for pilot runs, says Ho, adding each installation is about RM4,000 for a basic system, and may go up to RM8,000 for the full features. For private cars, the installation is RM3,540, inclusive of an annual fee of RM540 payable to Maxis for the dataline.

According to Ho, Bluetronics is currently approaching oil companies such as BP Malaysia Sdn Bhd to install the systems.

"We have other clients like Klang-based Mey Chern Chemicals Sdn Bhd which is in the chemical processing industry. We have their eight major tankers under our care; responsible to monitor the tankers' daily operations to ensure that delivery schedule and other security measures are met. We have also devised a special detector located at the hose of the tanker to ensure that the seal on the caps are not being tampered with without authorisation," Ho informs.

Future Plans
Ho says Bluetronics that has four research and development (R&D) staff is currently applying for the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) status, which he targets to get next year.

"We are also coming out with Thailand and Singapore digital maps, and continue to update Malaysia's map every two to three months. Currently, the Malaysia's map that offers street-level view is 80 per cent completed," he adds.

In addition, Posse 2 system will be able to self monitor their vehicles on the Internet when a Web-based self-service feature is introduced by this year-end.

Going forward, Bluetronics has already begun work on Posse 3.

"Posse 3 will be in dual band and can be used in other countries. It will also have an onboard navigation. We are expecting it to be released by quarter two or three next year," Ho concludes.