Telematics
Future services at remote locations
Telematics is still a young discipline which is based on the interaction of methods from telecommunications, automation technology and information science. The aim of telematics applications is to provide services at remote locations.
Operation of a mobile data capture station in a truck
The term "telematics" is derived from the terms "telecommunications" and "informatics". Telematics is the science of IT systems which are networked together (PCs, cell phones, PDAs, servers, intelligent household appliances, satellites etc.), whereby communication between the individual components represents an important advantage of the overall system.
A simple network of PCs, for example, is not a telematics system. Conventional networks only become complicated telematics systems when they share a joint function and can interact with and control each other. In brief, telematics can be described as applied information science for distributed systems.
Possible areas for telematics applications include, for example, medicine, trade, tourism, the transport and logistics sectors and traffic management. The term "telematics" can be further refined to differentiate between various subsectors such as traffic telematics.
Applications in this field include, for example, computer-controlled traffic guidance systems which minimize traffic jams and reduce accident numbers. Automatic car park routing systems can reduce traffic levels in cities by eliminating the need to drive around looking for a parking spot.
In the transport sector, telematics mainly involves solutions for transport planning, order processing, fleet management, tracking of consignments and technical vehicle monitoring. In this case, the communication and information/data exchange between the vehicles and headquarters form the core of the system.