Fleet management and control system for developing countries implemented with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) services

Fleet Management Control Systems (FMCS) monitor vehicles in real-time and help assessing schedule compliance. Transit services in developing countries must improve in aspects such as information about routes, schedules and users; and compliance with traffic regulations, to achieve an increase in their demand. Although a FMCS can deal with these issues, currently implemented systems have some limitations related to communications technology, associated costs, interoperability and standardization. This paper includes the following: 1) The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) architecture designed for the FMCS; 2) The development of a FMCS prototype for developing countries, considering the proposed architecture, using the Long Range communication technology and Intelligent Transportation Systems services; 3) A validation and testing of the FMCS prototype, using transit vehicles in a city. The developed prototype was successfully tested. The ideal operating parameters of the FMCS in terms of communications technology were identified in one of the four routes used in the tests. The results in such route were validated with additional tests, using the same parameters, and reaching similar operating values. A data set with the information of the performed tests was generated. With the results obtained in the FMCS, a better control of the transit service can be achieved, helping to improve upon the problems identified for developing countries (especially in medium-sized cities) related to route and schedule compliance, speeding, safety, standardization and helpful information for users. Additionally, service operation costs are reduced by using cutting-edge communications technology and promoting interoperability with other mobility services created for these cities.