Month: September 2018

How Many Countries Have Their Own GPS System

Posted on by TSB Super Admin

Global Positioning System (GPS), originally named Navstar GPS is a radio-navigation system developed for the Air Force operations of the United States and owned by the government of The United States.

However, there are other names given to the navigation systems that are owned and managed by various nations across the globe, all of which will be discussed under, at length. The GPS finds its extensive use in a number of national and international operations including lending a helping hand to navy and military operations.

When it comes to the daily and most common applications of GPS, you will find its promising role in tracking school kids, vehicles and even pets. GPS devices are also used to effectively manage a fleet in addition to providing real-time weather updates to anyone concerned.

 There are countries that operate through their indigenous GPS systems. 5 of them are India, Russia, China, The European Union and Japan. This post sheds light on all the 5 GPS systems that are operated and managed by these countries.

  1. NAVIC – India

All thanks to the efforts of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which made India the proud owner of indigenous GPS and navigation system called NAVIC, since 2016. This is the 7th and last navigation satellite launched by India. After the launch of this satellite, India can manage all its military navigation operations without depending on another country.

This is a regional navigation satellite system with 7 satellites working in tandem with each other to provide accurate coordinates of the targeted position. When you say that it is a regional satellite, it means that its real-time timing and positioning operations can span over India and any region in the Indian Territory extending up to 1,500 km.

Applications of NAVIC

  • NAVIC can become the leading light for travelers and hikers by providing terrestrial navigation information.
  • It can be used to lay hands on accurate location coordinates linked to aerial (air), terrestrial (land) and marine (water) navigation.
  • Finding an extensive use in the effective and timely management of disasters, NAVIC can also help in fleet management operation and vehicle tracking.
  • Along with providing important data points like precise timing and map coordinates, NAVIC can help you capture land surveying data.
  • Additional features include the broadcasting of voice and visual navigation information that can help drivers reach a certain preset destination.
  1. Galileo – European Union

Getting its name from the well-known Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, Galileo is a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that was built by the European Union (EU), in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). It is an interesting piece of trivia to note that this €10 billion project operates through 30 MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) satellites, most of which are operational since 2014.

All the satellites are expected to become fully-functional by 2020. Once the system is completed, Galileo will have 30 satellites which will orbit in space, interoperating with both Russia’s GLONASS and USA’s GPS.

Plan is up for essential lower-precision Galileo services to come with a “cost-free” tag that can be availed by civilians, the high-precision capabilities must be made available to paid commercial consumers. Galileo is supposed to offer vertical and horizontal position measurements with a 1 meter public accuracy.

Additionally, this GNSS project is intended to provide superior positioning services at greater latitudes, when compared to other positioning systems. Italy and Germany are the two companies that are majorly contributing to the Galileo project.

In contrast to the military operations that are directed by the USA’s GPS and Russia’s GLONASS, Galileo is a class apart. The noble intention behind Galileo is to enable civilians make the most of this global positioning system. 2016 was the year in which Galileo started off, by providing basic services, including helping users to be guided by navigation, timing and positioning information.

Applications of Galileo

  • The primary objective of Galileo is to offer an exclusive system of high-precision positioning to all the nations conglomerated under the umbrella of European Union. This was a step to avoid relying on GLONASS, the GPS system of Russian, Bei-Dou of China or the United States’ GPS. This was to counter an imminent danger coming from any one of the countries suspending their positioning services to the EU.

 

  • Another important application of Galileo is to come up with a novel global search and rescue (SAR) function, lending a helping hand to all the distressed people caught up in aerial and marine accidents. It is through this GNSS that the time taken to detect an emergency can be brought down to a mere 10 minutes from the earlier timeframe of 3 hours. That means, this facility will come to the rescue of the people in distress, whether they are trapped high up on the mountains or getting pulled into the ebb of deep waters. When it comes to rescue operations, the faster the better. This GNSS meets this pre-requisite of saving the lives of trapped people quickly.

 

  • Certain innovative start-ups and creative companies are deriving the benefits of various applications of satellite data dispersed by the space programs conducted by the EU.

 

  • A constellation refers to the group of satellites that provide information about location. Once all the 30 satellites in the Galileo’s constellation become operational, it will be able to point to users the accuracy of the signals. This is an important data point for scenarios concerning the safety of people. It should also be noted that Galileo’s navigation system provides a medium of two-way communication between the control stations on the ground and the satellites in orbit.

 

  • Last but not the least, Galileo’s positioning functionalities make their strong presence felt in a number of areas including railways, agriculture, ships, autonomous and connected vehicles, drones and Internet of Things (IoT).
  1. GLONASS – Russia

Commissioned to provide global positioning information to its users since 1995, GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite) is a Russian space-based satellite navigation system. This system is meant to provide radio navigation satellite services.

Tagged as an alternative GPS service, GLONASS ranks second as the provider of global navigational system services with reasonable precision. If GLONASS is appended to many of the GPS navigation devices, it will favor fixing the positions of built-up areas which obstruct the flow of GPS satellites; accurately and quickly.

While the completion of the GLONASS constellation took place in 1995, the entire constellation turned non-operational by late 1990s with the loss of some satellites. However, under the presidency of Vladimir Putin, GLONASS began to regain its lost glory in the form of increased funding.

And in October 2011, the entire constellation of 24 satellites was reinstated, offering a complete global coverage. All thanks to the changed positioning of the GLONASS satellites, you can enjoy a higher degree of accuracy at high latitudes, far up in the north or south.

Key Applications of GLONASS

  • GLONASS combining with the capabilities of GPS finds its application in phone baseband chips sold by well-known vendors like Broadcom, Qualcomm, and Exynos.

 

  • It was in 2011 that Swepos, a network of satellite reference stations of Sweden providing real-time positioning information with meter accuracy was the first overseas company to employ the capabilities of GLONASS.

 

  • Again in 2011, GLONASS made its strong presence felt in the smartphone business. Devices that were launched in 2011 were: Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II along with Sony Ericsson and Google Nexus 10 incorporated the positives of GLONASS. Tablets and smartphones that were launched in 2011 were in a position to uncover the features of high-degree accuracy and speed locking in challenging conditions.
  1. Bei-Dou – China

Moving on to the 4th country that operates through its indigenous satellite navigation system, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System is a contribution from China, exclusively for regional coverage. This system operates with two separate satellite constellations.

The first BeiDou system, also known as BeiDou-1 was formally named as BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System. This system operated through 3 satellites that provided restricted coverage along with certain navigation services to the Chinese and the users in neighboring areas.

However BeiDou-1 could not see the light of the day by the end of 2012.

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), also known as BeiDou-2 was the name given to the 2nd generation of BeiDou. Colloquially called COMPASS, this system was operational in China since December 2011.

This system had 10 satellites in orbit; a partial constellation. From December 2012 onwards this system offered positioning information to users in the Asia-Pacific region.

It was in 2015 when China started developing its 3rd generation BeiDou system (BeiDou-3) so as to make its presence felt in the global coverage constellation. Until January, BeiDou-3 successfully launched 9 satellites.

However, the target is to launch 35 satellites by 2020, with an aim to provide global positioning services. It should be noted that the BeiDou navigation system has 3 primary advantages when compared to GPS navigation systems for emergencies.

They are two-way communication (bi-directional communication) which is much more secure and highly reliable.

Interesting Applications of Bei-Dou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)

When it comes to creativity, nothing can stop the innate intellect of the Chinese. Here are some exciting applications of Bei-Dou that were churned out by Chinese firms.

  • China’s native Bei-Dou navigation system has some interesting uses that can simplify your everyday life. All the way from bank cards to shared bicycles, this navigation system can also help in identifying unmanned patrol vehicles.

 

  • Bank Cards – Most of the modern day bank cards consist of chips which provide the much-needed safety cover against fraudulent monetary transactions. It is through BDS that you will be in a strong position to lay hands on the exact location of every online transaction. Making the most of accurate positioning technology, you can safeguard yourself from online financial frauds.

 

  • Shared Bicycles – Since accurate positioning is significant information to riders of shared bikes, programmed chips employing the capabilities of BDS are being developed.

 

  • The capabilities of BDS can be applied to inspect the performance of all those drivers who have registered to appear for certificate tests.

 

  • The navigation technology can also be used to locate unmanned patrol vehicles in residential areas when they are fitted with monitoring cameras.

 

  • Security guards braving extreme weather conditions can rely on the positioning information shared by BDS.

 

  • Other applications of BDS include: laying of underground pipelines in urban areas and applications connected to the field of agriculture.
  1. QZSS – Japan

The abbreviation of Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is a Japanese project aimed at developing a four-satellite time transfer system along with a satellite-based augmentation system. Tagged as a regional coverage system, the first trial happened in September 2010 through a demonstration satellite.

The primary aim of QZSS is to offer highly stable and accurate positioning information to the Asia-Oceania region, focusing on Japan. Originally, QZSS was in the hands of the Advanced Space Business Corporation (ASBC).

However, with the dissolution of ASBC in 2007, the commissioning work was transferred to JAXA in tandem with Satellite Positioning Research and Application Center (SPAC) which was set-up in 2007.

It is a known fact that navigation functions facilitate internet browsing through smartphones and car navigation systems through the use of positioning signals coming from satellites.

QZSS humorously named Michibiki (meaning “showing the way” or “guiding”) is meant to do just that so that users can detect the current location using satellite positioning services.

Since most of the satellite positioning services employ the capabilities of USA’s GPS satellites, QZSS will become a four-satellite constellation in 2018 when teamed with GPS.

It is an important piece of information to note that three of QZSS’ satellites can be visible at all times from any of the locations linked to the Asia-Oceania regions. With these visible satellites in place, all those businesses which thrive on spatial and geographical data points can expand and grow.

Proposed Applications of QZSS

  • Intending to meet the positioning needs of civilians, Michibiki is aiming to offer a positioning accuracy close to inches.
  • As mentioned earlier, satellite geo-location systems will help civilians to carry out internet browsing on their smartphones alongside making car navigation a breeze.
  • Japan, a country known for its unforgiving and rough mountains can experience an obstruction to GPS signals. It is for this very reason that QZSS can complement the US operated GPS to provide positioning signals even on mountains.
  • Japan has a plan to set-up a constellation of 7 satellites by 2023.

Closing Thoughts

While it is very interesting to note that the GPS of United States of America operates 32 medium Earth Orbit satellites in six different orbits, The USA is a nation that utilizes plenty of resources offered by satellite navigation systems.

Next in line are the 5 countries that were discussed in detail. GPS and GLONASS come across as global navigation systems in which India, Japan and China are the countries that operate regional navigation systems so as to facilitate many businesses in different niches.

Artificial Intelligence in School Bus – A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on by TSB Super Admin

You will agree with the fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the catchphrase which is attracting the attention of people operating in different spheres. Now, AI is also making its strong presence felt in the field of school transportation.

You might be wondering the role of AI in this territory concerning the pickup and dropping of school students at their designated stops.

For every one of you to make the most of the state-of-the-art technology aptly coined with the AI title, here is an all-in-one guide. Reading this will help you understand the numerous ways in which AI can simplify the school bus fleet operations.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence, true to its name is a technology that is meant to simplify the lives of humans in more ways than you can imagine. It is a technique by which you can allow your routine operations to be controlled by AI-supported computers.

To sum it all, AI allows machines to think and act on their own, just as human do. Human intelligence takes the form of instructions that are given to these machines. They will then be transformed into artificially intelligent systems that can act on their own.

If you are curious to know about the different ways in which AI-powered systems operate, it will take you by surprise that such machines can plan, learn, demonstrate reasoning abilities, solve problems, show up various perceptions and provide creative solutions.

Not leaving the various demands of school transportation behind, TrackSchoolBus makes the most of AI features to provide a host of benefits to the stakeholders.  Let us now move on to understand the various ways in which TrackSchoolBus relies on AI in supporting the various needs of school buses.

What are its main features?

What do you expect from a school bus transportation system which is powered by Artificial Intelligence? You will expect it to seamlessly provide all the solutions to various concerns of school transportation alongside strengthening the security of school students.

And AI does exactly the same. It is through an in-built AI technology that TrackSchoolBus automates the three most important subjects concerning school transportation.

They are: Auto Allocation, Auto Optimization and Auto Routing.

Let us now examine all these 3 features in detail.

  1. Auto Allocation:

True to its name, auto allocation is an AI-powered feature that helps fleet managers allocate vehicles on different school routes. AI steps in by providing the much-needed data point which is the optimum capacity of every school bus route. There may be some routes which demand a couple of trips and there may be others which are less populated. In such cases, an auto allocation enables transport managers to optimally allocate a particular bus to a particular school bus route.

  1. Auto Optimization:

Moving on to the next AI feature that helps school districts is about the preparedness to initiate a sudden change in route. This feature serves two basic necessities. One being the route optimization and the other is the pickup optimization.

Speaking of route optimization, it is through this feature that fleet managers can effortlessly manage and juggle with multiple pickup points that should be covered in a single bus route. In the event a student needs to be picked up somewhere between two pickup points, a provision can be made. Route optimization also helps the school bus to take the shortest route to a destination.

Moving on to pick up optimization, you will be in a comfortable position to come up with an exact pickup point for a student that is in line with the historical data and the assigned points.

AI helps fleet managers rise to the occasion of a change in the pickup point so that they can make timely changes to the school bus route. That means, it is through AI that school bus managers can optimize their routes taking into account a sudden change in the pickup point while the bus is in motion.

  1. Auto Routing:

TrackSchoolBus relies on a smart Auto Routing algorithm that enables fleet managers to come up with the most cost and time-effective route. Here, the existing data points consisting of drop and pickup points that are generated by AI serve as pointers to alter a particular school bus route.

What are its advantages?

For you to understand the benefits of AI to the field of school transportation, you need to give a closer look at the three automated features, individually.

Advantages of Auto Allocation Feature

  1.  AI will help fleet managers to assign the correct pickup point which is established on the basis of the current residential address of students.
  2. If any change in the route, auto allocation helps transport managers to redo the auto routing plan while effectively performing all the activities of auto routing.
  3. All thanks to Artificial Intelligence, you now have a system that takes care of all the school bus routes, pickup points and vehicle assignments. You need to simply provide pertinent details concerning the trip and residential address and AI does its job, automatically performing all the above activities.  
  4. Both parents and school bus drivers will be informed about the pickup point of students as location indicates on Google Maps.
  5. AI simplifies the job of a transport manager allowing him to chalk out a route in a jiffy. He does not have to worry about the number of pickup points or the strength of students. AI does all the spade work necessary and suggests an optimal route which saves a lot of time and cost.
  6. As an attractive incentive to prospective schools, TrackSchoolBus offers free auto allocation trials. Depending on their satisfaction levels, schools can opt for this time-saving and efficient AI-powered auto allocation feature.

Advantages of Auto Optimization Feature:

  1. You just need two data points to implement the auto optimization feature and they are the starting point and the ending point. Due to this feature, school bus routes are optimized automatically and are AI-inbuilt.
  2. It is through this AI-powered feature that fleet managers can continuously and diligently monitor any change in pickup points. They will get all the help needed to assign pickup points by relying on the actual location of the student.
  3. You can also immediately get information about the best possible road that is free from traffic jams. Through this auto optimization feature, transport managers can not only reduce the travel time but also bring down fuel bills to a considerable extent. 
  4. If any relocation, you can effortlessly update the pickup point that will be intimated to everyone concerned.
  5. With this, fuel and fleet maintenance bills can be reduced. In turn, you can also reduce the wear and tear of your fleet when you avoid the instances of unnecessary travel, covering long distances.

Advantages of Auto Routing Feature

  1. This help transport managers to decide which route to take, which trip to start and which vehicle will meet the capacity requirements of a particular route.
  2. Fleet managers can perform regular checks to assess the efficiency of their current school bus routes.
  3. It is through this AI-powered feature that you can optimize many elements of school transportation including durability of the vehicle, usage of vehicle on a daily basis along with running time and the total distance covered per day.
  4. Since this feature takes the vehicle details as an important data point, you can match your requirements based on the number of students at a particular pickup point, the total seating capacity of a school bus and the shift that a particular driver is filling in for.
  5. In addition to cut down the costs to run the school bus fleet, AI helps to save the vehicle running hours through optimized vehicle assignments.

How will AI change the management of school buses?

It is indeed a very difficult task for transport managers to come up with the most befitting route for a school bus trip. However, they need not fret as they can now make the most of modern technological advancements coming in the form of Artificial Intelligence. Modern technology now steps in to provide the much-needed support to transport managers to effectively manage the school bus fleets.

Let us now check out the various ways in which AI helps transport managers to deliver their responsibilities in the most efficient manner.

AI Solves School Bus Routing Issues

AI is now being considered the most viable option to address many concerns revolving around school bus routing. When AI comes into the picture, a host of user-friendly and affordable apps are available to all the stakeholders concerned about the safety and convenience of students. With AI by your side, school bus tracking apps loaded with modern features including auto routing, auto optimization and auto allocation can be put to use.

Let us look at these 3 features which have a major role in the effective management of school buses.

Auto Routing Helps to Operate an Optimized School Bus Route at All Times

By now you have understood the advantages you can derive out of TrackSchoolBus’ auto routing feature. This feature collates pertinent information concerning school bus routes, pickup and drop points, student profiles from historical transportation records, vehicle assignments and seating capacities of school buses. Taking all these important data points into consideration, the auto routing feature automatically suggests an optimized route supported by other details linked to vehicle assignments and trips.

Having an eye fixed on these parameters will automatically put you in complete control over the running hours of every school bus and the fuel and vehicle maintenance cost that is incurred on every vehicle.

To sum it all, below is the rundown of the various ways in which auto routing helps in the management of school bus fleets.

  • Come up with the most appropriate school bus route for every trip
  • Cut down the vehicle running time, in turn leading to the fall in operating costs of school buses
  • Regular checks on the effectiveness of every school bus route can be performed
  • School bus operators can effortlessly chalk out optimized routes and school bus trips considering data points like pickup point density, the bus seating capacity and the school timings

Auto Allocation – Another AI-Powered Offering of TrackSchoolBus

To activate the AI-powered auto allocation feature, you need to collate student information which comes in the form of vehicle information and their designated pickup and drop point details. Here are the evident ways in which auto allocation helps transport managers perform their duties in the most efficient manner.

  • Transport managers can effectively complete all the techniques concerning auto routing
  • They can select the pickup point by considering the residential addresses of students
  • AI steps in to display the pickup point of every student as a location on the Google Maps
  • School bus operators can optimize the pickup point by referencing it with the historical data that is stored on the system

Auto Optimization Enables the Optimum Utilization of School Buses

Meant to address two important sub-processes, auto optimization helps transport managers come up with: a) an optimized route b) an optimized pickup point. Collectively, this feature enables school bus operators to optimize the utilization of school bus in the following ways:

  • Suggests the most befitting and efficient route, thereby saving the drivers’ time and efforts
  • By plying on an effective route, you will be in a strong position to cut down vehicle maintenance costs and the running time of school buses
  • It help to reduce fuel consumption
  • Apart from preventing the haphazard movement of school buses, the auto optimization feature improves the durability of your fleet
  • While AI suggests a road with less traffic, it will also come up with the shortest route which cuts down the vehicle running time
  • The efficiency of pickup points can be improved by coordinating the efforts of school bus operators and transportation authorities
  • Along with a facility to update and alter pickup points, AI helps in the modification of school bus routes matching the seating capacity of school buses
  • A relocation can be addressed by the re-center facility, a feature that allows you to immediately alter and update the pickup point
  • School bus operators can effortlessly change the pickup point by taking the reference of the actual location
  • They can also make the necessary changes to the school bus route depending on how much students can be accommodated.

Conclusion

As a takeaway thought, AI through its effective features paves the way for an effective management of school bus fleet. Not only it helps school bus operators to come up with cost-effective and shorter bus routes, it will also improve the goodwill of every school.

Hence signing up for the AI-powered school bus transportation services of TrackSchoolBus will be an as an intelligent move for every school.

Schools which subscribe to these automated school bus management and tracking services are bound to take pride in their efforts to employ advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence.