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Smartphone Application for Road Rangers Tucker Brown Roger Strain Robert W. Heller, Ph.D. Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, Texas USA. Florida DOT Road Ranger. Road Rangers Provide free highway assistance service Roving vehicles patrol congested areas and high incident locations - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Smartphone Application for Smartphone Application for Road RangersRoad Rangers
Tucker BrownTucker BrownRoger StrainRoger Strain
Robert W. Heller, Ph.D. Robert W. Heller, Ph.D. Southwest Research InstituteSouthwest Research Institute
San Antonio, Texas USASan Antonio, Texas USA
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 2
Florida DOT Road RangerFlorida DOT Road Ranger
Road Rangers– Provide free highway assistance service – Roving vehicles patrol congested areas and
high incident locations
Benefits– Incident reduction– Remove road debris– Incident duration reduction– Assist Florida Highway Patrol– Increase safety of incident scenes
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 3
Road Ranger Activities ReportingRoad Ranger Activities Reporting
Activities reporting generations– Paper form– Windows XP
tablet– Hardened laptop
Natural progression to Smartphone
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 4
ObjectivesObjectives
Provide live connectivity between Road Rangers and TMC staff
– Minimal data transmission cost– Minimal device footprint
Monitor Road Ranger field activities– Track GPS position– Receive event updates
Economical
4
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 5
SunGuide OverviewSunGuide Overview
Modular system integrating many technologies
Reuse of existing Road Ranger support
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 6
Choice of PlatformChoice of Platform
Main consumer mobile device environments
– iOS (Apple)– Android (Google, various
manufacturers)– Others (less supported / popular)
Android benefits– Easier internal deployment– More device options for future selection– More carrier support at time of decision
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 7
Mobile CommunicationMobile Communication
Based on web services– Standard port 80 traffic– No persistent connection needed
Based on existing RR driver
Security concerns– Username / password required to access
server– SSL encryption used over HTTPS
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 8
Managing ConnectivityManaging Connectivity
Mobile data connections drop frequently– Web services mitigate this issue– Requests easily retried
If request fails, it is queued– Retransmitted when communications resume– After multiple failures, user is prompted
whether to continue retrying or abandon message
User is shown data as if all requests succeed
– Allows Road Ranger to continue working
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 9
Mobile FunctionalityMobile Functionality
Road Rangers must be aware of more than just the application
– Complex interfaces may distract from nearby traffic while road side
Limited functionality reduces training burden
More complex data typically better related over phone or radio to TMC personnel
– Less time staring at screen– More time watching surroundings
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 10
User Interface DesignUser Interface Design
Small screen real estate
Touch-friendly controls
Alternate colors– Day time light
background– Night vision black
background
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 11
Field TestingField Testing
Initial testing performed by developers– While beneficial, does not fully represent
operational conditions
Early software releases provided to District personnel
– One or two users loaded initial releases to test in actual field conditions
– Once confidence was established, testing extended to additional users
– Some actual Road Ranger drivers included
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 12
DeploymentDeployment
RR issued Android phones with SPARR
– Trained to use phone & application
First weeks– Some users still called too often, (use app)– Some users didn’t call in things that weren’t
covered by app
Discovered value of phone vehicle mount
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 13
ResultsResults
In RR hands, not truck Cost savings, time savings Integrated AVL, better dispatching, multiple
dispatchers Intuitive, user friendly application, start simple
add more later More accurate time stamps RR report more events and details No handwritten log transcription RR not dependent on TMC operator availability
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 14
FutureFuture
Enhancements– Small tablet (larger screen)
– Increased functionality• Pictures?• Google Map style directions• Dynamic Geofences– Alert if operators leaves event without
departing the event from the app
October 29. 2012 Smartphone Application for Road Rangers 15
Questions?Questions?
Tucker Brown
210-522-3035
Contact Information:
Southwest Research Institute
PO Drawer 28510
6220 Culebra Road
San Antonio, TX 78228http://its.swri.org
