Courier™ Case Studies

Powerful, Secure Wireless Connections for Fleet Vehicles

Organization:

Cyberlyne Communications

Location:

County Durham, U.K.

Type of Business:

The UK’s leading supplier and installer of closed circuit television cameras and digital recording systems on buses and coaches

Products Used:

USR5453 Professional Access Point, USR5432 MAXg Wireless Bridge

The Challenge

Cyberlyne Communications works closely with its customers to develop effective and innovative solutions to problems such as violent conduct, graffiti, criminal damage, assaults, and bogus insurance claims on fleet vehicles via closed circuit television cameras and digital recording systems. The company recently developed a health check software suite which allows for continuous monitoring of a vehicle’s system while the vehicle is in range, including a check of the electronic components on board. The company also offers clients the ability to download all digitally recorded footage for review or storage.

Cyberlyne needed a powerful wireless connectivity solution to ensure vehicles anywhere on the client’s property could reliably connect to the server to guarantee secure transfer of data and digital recordings.

The Solution

Cyberlyne technicians installed one USRobotics Professional Access Point (AP) on the client’s property, in a waterproof housing on an exterior wall of the vehicle garage. Each of the fleet’s 30 vehicles was equipped with a USRobotics MAXg Wireless Bridge, powered by a DC converter.

The AP continuously monitors the network for traffic from a vehicle. When a vehicle equipped with a Wireless Bridge enters range, a secure connection is established and the server running Cyberlyne’s health check software verifies that a current system health report is on file. If not, the system automatically runs its health check and verifies all components of the vehicle monitoring system are in proper working order. If a fault is detected, the report is emailed to engineers for assessment and quick response. Engineers are also able to log on wirelessly and connect to vehicles in range to troubleshoot systems or manually configure settings.

In addition, the connection is used to download all digital recordings to the client’s server for later viewing by technicians and operators. This ensures recordings are accessible in case of incident and stored for future use by insurance adjusters or prosecutors.

The Benefits

Previously, accessing and downloading data or video from an on-board system once meant each vehicle be physically visited, hard disks removed and carried back to the office; now the entire procedure is done through the wireless network. This eliminates disk drive handling issues.

With Cyberlyne Communications and USRobotics, fleet operators no longer need to park a bus in the garage and remove hard disks. Buses and vehicles are now able to move freely around the facility while continuously downloading data and video. Staff time previously spent waiting for a vehicle to finish its video download can now be spent cleaning the vehicle or preparing it for the next day’s trip.

With the enhanced range of the Professional AP, operators no longer need to worry about proximity of vehicles to the access point. Drivers are able to move freely about the facility in their vehicle without worrying about going out of range of the network. The advanced security settings available on the AP also ensure secure transfer of data and video in the event of a criminal act, and prevent outsiders from accessing material stored on the network.