MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

With the right technology, it may be possible to locate the downed helicopter much faster. Such technology can also help to reduce the number of deaths on our roads, now officially the country’s second highest killer after heart attacks.

What is clear is that the progress made in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) has not trickled down to deal with such cases. What’s needed is a universal solution that can be easily deployed to track and monitor not only cars but also other vehicles, including helicopters.

Local company Cybertowers Berhad, based in Technology Park Malaysia (TPM), believes that it has the technology to fit the bill. Its director for government and corporate alliance, Mohd Ridzuan Abdul Rahman, is certain that its solution can help to cut down crime cases. Cybertowers’ concept, based on technology transferred from Europe and local research and development since 1997, has produced CyberTrack.

Launched four years ago, the applications are 100 per cent Malaysian. The core hardware technology is all in a small smart black box with digital and analogue input/outputs. A car or even an helicopter fitted with one can be tracked and monitored in real time anywhere in Malaysia using global positioning system (GPS) and global system for mobile communications (GSM) technologies, which differentiates it from other vehicle radio-tracking solutions.

In Malaysia (and some other GPS-mapped countries), the vehicles can be traced right down to the street name! In the absence of GSM services, worldwide real-time tracking is possible using GPS in longitude and latitude bearings.

CyberTrack works for all types of vehicles (commercial, public or private), equipment with electrical or electronic circuitry and for managing asset movement. Individuals and companies with delivery trucks can track in real time the movements of their vehicles. A short message service (SMS) is sent to the owners’ handphones to inform them or pre-designated people or even the police.

The system also monitors a driver’s behaviour: it warns the monitoring centre of speeding or non-pre-designated stops. Vehicle owners will know the driver and vehicle status via Web interface or SMS. This helps in estimating the time of arrival for deliveries. Customisation such as checkpoint monitoring for trucks can also be made.

CyberTrack is interactive and functions with or without any human intervention. Utilising the "machine-to-machine" talk approach, the device "talks" directly to the monitoring centre. During an emergency, the panic and emergency button function allows the driver to send a distress beacon to the monitoring centre and police when necessary.

"Tragedies such as kidnapping cases could have been averted if owners had such devices in their cars," Mohd Ridzuan says. Any ordinary switch or button in the car can be configured as the panic button. The same can be applied on public transport vehicles like express buses so passengers can interactively send warnings to the authorities if the driver is speeding or disobeying the law. The interactive function with built-in artificial intelligence also warns a bus driver if he’s driving erratically and can even ask him to stop for a break.

The monitoring centre can make phone calls via the installed device and no one needs to pick up the phone during a hijack, for instance. This enables the centre to listen to any conversation that the thieves, kidnappers or hijackers may conduct without their knowledge. Drivers can speak to the control centre with a push of a button since preset numbers are pre-programmed. In an accident, information can be sent on the whereabouts and seriousness to the paramedics or police.

In the case of theft, CyberTrack’s Immobiliser can either cut off the engine power, fuel supply or stop the diesel supply motor for heavy vehicles. The company’s business development manager M.T. Ding recalls how stolen trucks driven across the Thailand border were traced and recovered using latitude and longitude bearings. Although the Remote Immobiliser can be used to instantly stop a vehicle via SMS, some owners prefer to trace the vehicle straight to the perpetrator’s lair.

Mohd Ridzuan believes that Malaysia needs a system like CyberTrack because "a lot of serious cases could have been avoided with a system like this". "This is a preventive system which is also proactive. It does more than just track down a car," he says.