Safety and Security: Vehicle Tracking and Monitoring
Background
Facilities are demanding real-time capabilities to monitor assets in motion (people, vehicles, devices etc). They are demanding both data and notifications be provided proactively ahead of impending issues not after the fact.
Situation
A sprawling 15-acre, high profile government facility of office buildings, retail stores, and a high-volume commuter hub both above and underground relied on multiple manned checkpoints to direct traffic throughout the campus. As a 24 hour operation, significant time and resources were needed to manually collect and compile vehicle throughput data. Cameras provided on-demand visibility but not data to facilitate proactive or real-time operational and security actions. The systems in place were not equipped to track trip details of any vehicle within the campus. Stakeholder reporting, including the ability to gleam compliance with Service Level Agreements, was consistently contested, conflicted, and extremely draining on resources and time.
Solution
The iVEDiX Platform facilitated a process to tag every vehicle coming into the campus at the various checkpoints, integrating directly into the check-in system to exchange tickets, then initiated tracking of vehicular movement throughout the campus using strategically placed readers. These omni-directional gateways constantly beamed information about the vehicular movement. The platform absorbs this information stream from the gateways, aggregates it and runs it through a series of rules and algorithms to provide all the stakeholders from security to operations and executives with the information they need in real-time; empowering the right folks to take action, if and when they need to.
Now Operations and Security know exactly who is within the campus at any given time. The solution shows key vehicle movement metrics including routes, location, passage, and dwell time. The system also generates exception alerts notifying the appropriate personnel for action. By obtaining a more complete stream of information between check-in and check-out, management can now assess the efficiency of operations for continual improvement such as reducing expenditures associated with process delays and track key performance metrics vs service agreements.
Summary of capabilities
- Overcome challenges related to most automated systems that fail underground with complex pathways and dense physical barriers including concrete and metal.
- Withstand extreme weather conditions and temperature ranges.
- Provide real-time, automated monitoring of the roadway enabling operations and security to track vehicles entering, traversing, loitering, and exiting the campus.
- Configurable alert (alarm) notification features for exceeded thresholds (such as total trip time, time to screening, time through security screening, vehicle dwell in critical locations).
- Ability to aggregate subprocess intervals for operational efficiency analysis.
- Integration with existing systems including newer cloud infrastructure.
- Maximizing/expediting of vehicle throughput and security.
- Intuitive Command Center Hub for use by Operations and Security personnel
- Improve data accuracy and reliability to support transparent and traceable reporting to satisfy stakeholders and service agreements.
About the Tags
ATEX certified tags 433 MHz Active RFID Tags: chosen for this implementation so that they can work on metal and eliminate the ‘bounce’ of signals to eliminate false reads. This also creates maximum coverage while reducing costs. The 433MHz frequency selected is a lower power solution that extends battery life and travels farther for wider coverage. It communicates over a proprietary protocol to ensure security. This technology is ideal for the harsh conditions this application faces. With a long battery life, it allows for seamless commissioning of the vehicle tags with minimal adjustment to the business process.
