An application of AVM electronics hardware to fire department dispatching

The introduction of high-performance Automatic Vehicle Monitoring equipment into the public-service area of Fire Department Station Alerting and Dispatch Assistance is presented. User requirements which typify this type of application are summarized, key features on an operational system installed for the City of Dallas Fire Department are discussed, and similarity of electronic hardware between this and other major AVL systems producted by the Authors company is illustrated. Automatic Vehicle Monitoring is no longer the engineering curiousity it was ten years ago. While not yet a mature tool available to all land mobile fleet operators, it can honestly be credited with reaching adolescence. As it matures, and it most certainly will, it will be given greater responsibilities and less supervision to perform its assigned tasks in fleet management.