This article provides a `buyer's guide' to a variety of mobile communications systems for Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Fleet Management (FM), and general Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications. As the actual benefits of modern realtime AVL/FM/ITS systems rely on their communications solutions, the `communicator' is the heart of any application. For each application, communication technologies must be selected and adapted carefully for their best useability and cost-effectiveness; both communicator and vendor should be properly evaluated. All too often, AVL/FM/ITS are designed, produced, and marketed by companies with inadequate expertise, resulting in poor, unreliable, or expensive communications. Three main types of communicators, developed by Tadiran in response to market needs, are presented. A conventional radio communicator is suitable for public transport systems and for general FM. The Automatic Vehicle Monitoring (AVM) band communicator is the preferred choice for AVL applications, and is designed to provide location and FM services to tens of thousands of subscribers. The Vehicle to Roadside communicator is the most economical, and is a basic communicator with very low cost.
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