An Affordable Dispatching System for Logistic Applications

Modern mobile dispatching system can provide real-time monitoring and dispatching of moving vehicles via the support of different enabling technologies, such as, mobile communications, Global Positioning System (GPS), Geographical Information System (GIS), and embedded real-time system design. In this article, we present the design of a Modular Mobile Dispatching System (MMDS) for the distribution process in modern logistics. MMDS consists of a Dispatching Control Center Software (DCCS) system and some vehicle-borne Modular Mobile Data Terminals (MMDTs). We exploit a modular approach in both the MMDS hardware and software designs. The modularized DCCS software helps to its mobile communication protocol adaptation and backend MIS integration. MMDT hardware adopting programmable logical device such as CPLD to reduce the parts count and physical size achieves easy installation on a vehicle. Using embedded real-time software to accommodate various mobile communications protocols from trunked radio to GPRS, we succeed to realize our MMDT with a low-cost micro-controller. In summary, applying our low-cost modular design not only enables the easy adaptation of MMDS to different mission requirements but also makes it affordable at the same time. Recently, MMDS has been successfully deployed on the fleets of many logistic service companies.