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Lesson

Communication is integrated with

Transportation systems rely on communications technologies to get people and goods from one location to another. Communications technologies are critical to and are integrated into many systems. See these examples in a previous lesson.

Integration on many levels

Integration of communications technologies into transportation has occurred on many levels

New digital systems. As new communications systems and services, such as satellite communications and GPS, become available they are adopted as important tools for making transportation safer and more efficient.
Digital convergence. All communications is becoming digital and computer based. All communications technologies create and send information in digital forms that can be used with computers. This has led to what is known as digital convergence, or the ability to use a single computer to display information from all systems, to make connections between information in different systems, and to provide input to all systems.
- GIS is an excellent example of this type of integration. Consider a company such as Air Canada. To manage the company effectively and profitably, their GIS has to be a global system showing layers of information that change dynamically (in real time as information in various databases is updated). The GIS needs to show, for example
  - all routes,
  - current location of all planes (at an airport or its position enroute)
  - current status of all planes (fuel, passengers, service record, service needs, ...)
  - location and status (on duty, off duty, sick, on vacation, ...) of all staff
  - current location of all planes
  - information about all destination points (airport info for pilots, offices for staff, accommodations for flight crew)
  - current location and status of all cargo, tracked by individual item
Universal information Access. Because the system is digital, it is relatively easy to give customers access to information that previously was difficult to give even to employees. This means that some of the decision making is put into customers' hands.
- Online access to ticket purchasing is a good example of this type of integration. In the initial stages of integration of computers into scheduling the system was closed to the company and travel agents. With the adoption of the WWW, transportation companies have begun to put scheduling information online and allow customers to make their own travel plans to the point of scheduling flights and buying tickets. Using the Air Canada example, customers can select departure and destination airports, set the dates and times for travel, book tickets and pay for them online.
Embedded digital systems. Integration has occurred on a deeper level. This may be more properly described as embedded. Vehicles have embedded sensing and control systems. When used for navigational control, the data they collect about the vehicle is combined with data from other systems such as radar and GPS. In an aircraft or ship, this provides accurate, current information for the pilot or captain and can be used to autopilot the plane or ship.
Management and control. Integration has occurred in transportation control systems. Air traffic control, for example, is an international system with ground based control of all air traffic. Each control centre manages a region of airspace. All traffic into, through, and out of that space is shown on their control screens and communicates on radio frequencies that they assign. Gander Air Traffic Control, for example handles all air traffic in eastern Canada out into the North Atlantic. Management and control also applies to road systems. Cities, for example, have complex, interconnected traffic control systems. Sensors buried in the pavement provide local input to traffic lights, making real-time decisions related to duration and sequencing of lights for specific lanes thereby ensuring better responsiveness to traffic patterns.

Activity

Assigned activities

The purpose of this activity is to develop knowledge of how communications systems are embedded into transportation systems. Please complete all parts.

Select a transportation system
Research which communications systems and technologies are employed in or embedded in the selected transportation system
Develop a report on your findings
Create an entry in your course portfolio for the report
Publish the portfolio entry to your course portfolio web

Test Yourself

There is no self test for this lesson.

Learning Resources