REPORT ON PHASE I TESTS OF FAIRCHILD AUTOMATIC VEHICLE MONITORING (AVM) SYSTEM

During the winter of 1976-77 four different techniques for automatically locating land vehicles were tested in both the low and high-rise regions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tests were carried out by four different companies under separate contract to the Transportation Systems Center. These tests were designed to evaluate the four techniques for their applicability as location subsystems for automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) systems. The overall objective of this AVM program is to design, implement, and operate an area-wide multi-user AVM system in Los Angeles (Phase II) for the purpose of making a quantitative evaluation of AVM effectiveness for transit, paratransit, and other AVM users. A summary report on all four systems is availble and titled: Experiments on Four Different Techniques for Automatically Locating Land Vehicles (PB-270951). This document contains the results obtained by one of the contractors, Fairchild Industries, and covers the activities of Phase I which involved the instrumenting of a section of downtown Philadelphia with approximately 140 signposts. Part of the allocated section was used for tests applicable to fixed-route (transit) systems, and part was used for random-route applications (police cars, taxis, paratransit, etc.). In addition to the Philadelphia tests a series of separate engineering tests were performed at the Fairchild Plant in Germantown, Maryland. This Fairchild report states that the complete exercise served a two-fold purpose: 1) it proved the reliability of AVM systems and, 2) it performed as an invaluable learning tool from which all parties will profit. /Author/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/FR77372
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by DOT, UMTA and performed under contract to Transportation Systems Center, DOT.
• Corporate Authors:

  Fairchild Space and Electronic Company

  20301 Century Boulevard
  Germantown, MD  United States  20767
• Authors:
  • Pokorny, A J
  • Briefel, H
• Publication Date: 1977-8

Media Info

• Pagination: 188 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automatic vehicle monitoring; Contractors; Fixed routes; Paratransit services; Performance evaluations; Public transit; Reliability; Testing
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172060
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Urban Mass Transportation Administration
• ISBN: FR-77-372
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTA-MA-06-0041-77-3Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: DOT-TSC-1235
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 29 1981 12:00AM