Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

The GPS/GSM system forms the basis for the functioning of modern
telematics solutions. The system consists of a network of 24 satellites placed on 6
orbits of the Earth by the U.S Department of Defence and a land based cellular
phone network operating at the frequencies of 900MHz and 1800MHz. The system,
which is managed by Navstar Global Positioning System, was intended to
serve military purposes, but in 1980 the government of the United States made
it also available for civilian use. It does not require any subscription or installation
fees paid by the user. It works under all weather conditions, in any global
location, 24 hours a day. The complete set of 24 GPS satellites circumnavigating
the Earth twice a day on very precise orbits was achieved in 1994.
Signals sent by the satellites and received through devices installed in cars
or containers allow to determine and record their position, speed, direction of
movement etc. The exact measurement of the time difference in sending and receiving
GPS signal permits the calculation of the distance between the satellite
and the destination, while measurements from a number of satellites allow the
calculation of geographic coordinates, which can then be displayed on a digital
map.
In recent years, Polish road transport network has undergone very dynamic
growth, as a result of increased needs in the area of moving both people and
cargo. Within the last decade, the country has experienced a fivefold increase in
the number of vehicles in international road transport. Such a sudden growth
has caused intense and irrational competition between hauliers, frequently culminating
in economically unjustified and damaging price wars. This destructive
approach to pricing lasted from the end of 2004 and started to abate only in mid
2006, when rates stabilised at a relatively reasonable level.
An analysis of direct transport costs identifies two potential areas which
may be sources of significant growth in the productivity of road transport operations.
The first is minimization of fuel costs in executing transport tasks and
optimization of fuel purchasing. The second is minimization of financial effects
of cost internalization. Data from the last 15 years show a threefold increase in
fuel costs. Due to the fact that fuel constitutes 36-41% of direct costs in transport,
it may be concluded that every attempt at lowering these costs is well worth the
effort.
The situation in relation to the process of cost internalization is similar in
that the 8-euro fees for the use of infrastructure are being successively replaced
in the EU countries with tolls of 0.13-0.26 euro per 1 km. Assuming that 450 km
is the average daily distance travelled, the increase amounts to at least 700%.
Therefore, looking for savings in this area has become the priority of every well
managed company, giving a sudden boost to interest in the use of telematics
and IT systems in transport.
The use of GPS/GMS devices in road transport allows a substantial amount
of highly useful information to be gathered. In particular, they make it possible
to:
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