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This article first appeared in Utility Products.

Gamber-Johnson and ICM Build Dependable Mobility

When ICM, a value-added reseller of mobile computing solutions, was tasked with helping a major utility company to streamline its field operations, its first target was the utility company's dispatch and communications system. Workers in the field previously received their paperwork orders every morning from a dispatch location. This meant that workers would have to drive in to the central office to pick up their orders before being able to begin work. At the end of the day, they would have to hand-carry the paperwork back to the same central office. This was a time-consuming process that introduced delays, took up the engineer's time and wasted vehicle mileage. If orders could be transmitted to the vehicles directly, then dispatching and route planning could be greatly facilitated, and lags in service fulfillment could be reduced. However, implementing this solution would require careful planning.

ICM knew it needed a versatile partner who understood the details of vehicle deployment. Gamber-Johnson proved up to the challenge. "There's more to putting computers into vehicles than throwing them on the front seat," said Tom Briones, ICM's general manager. "In this case, Gamber-Johnson had the expertise and product breadth to support not just our customer's highly diverse vehicle fleet, but also their specialized mounting requirements. The ruggedized laptop, satellite antenna and the truck all became elements of an integrated whole."

Three hundred trucks were equipped with this solution. These vehicles often operate in rough settings as field engineers drive through mountainous terrain and extreme weather conditions. Mil-spec ruggedized Panasonic Toughbook 28 and 18 computers were deployed to reduce expensive downtime caused by hardware failures. These computers resist shocks, vibration, dust and moisture - conditions that usually wreak havoc on ordinary notebooks. Gamber-Johnson mounts connect the Panasonic computers securely to the trucks and allow drivers to easily access them from their seats. Loose electronic equipment bouncing around a truck cab is unsafe for both the passengers and their equipment. In case of a traffic accident, these unsecured items suddenly become projectiles. Even in normal use, bumps and jolts increase incidence of breakage. Solidly mounting the system makes for a safer, more reliable system, and also greatly improves its ergonomics. Rugged equipment and strong mounts reduce the field engineer's downtime, breakage incidents, and equipment service and replacement costs.

The trucks link to a satellite network via hard-wire antennae. Automatic vehicle timer switches were installed to help preserve the vehicle's battery. These switches shut down the laptops a few minutes after the vehicle is turned off to prevent accidental car battery drain.

Creating a wireless access solution for ICM's customer required a thorough examination of what conditions it would be used. Different networks cover different service footprints. Wireless local networks like WiFi are inexpensive, but only work within range of an access point. Cellular and other tower-based systems have far greater range, but each carrier has its own service areas, and even the ones with the best coverage have trouble in the mountains and underground. Satellite systems reach nearly everywhere, but require heavier equipment (more suitable for vehicle mounts), and even these have trouble indoors and underground.

In the end, for this customer, it was determined that a single satellite network was sufficient: it provided good coverage in an open but mountainous region. ICM coordinated the satellite service, equipped trucks with the necessary communication hardware, and connected them to the computers. It was imperative that to the drivers, the network just works.

ICM coordinated the hardware rollout, from discovery to project management to imaging to deployment and installation. Engineers from ICM provided on-site engineering services during the deployment, ensuring proper installation of all the equipment and verifying that the disparate technologies used by the utility were properly integrated.

The fleet of trucks involved has a wide variety of makes, models and years. "This is a common situation in a fleet install. Even where companies are willing to spend the money and effort to standardize, you still find that trucks of different model years will have important differences," said Brad Pagel, installation engineer for Gamber-Johnson. "With ICM's good project management and thanks to our broad selection of mount options, we are able to set up mounts that securely connect the computers to even the most varied fleets." Even when the truck mounts had special requirements, Gamber-Johnson was also able to accommodate custom-mounting designs.

Some field engineers have different job priorities. Many, especially meter readers, do most of their work on foot. To serve these people, the utility issued handheld computers. While these don't have the computing horsepower of their vehicle-mounted counterparts, their software was similar. Workers with handhelds can walk up, and electronically detect and submit the meter reading. As with the laptops, ICM relied on Gamber-Johnson to provide secure docking points in the vehicles for the handheld units for safety and ease of use.

Thanks to Gamber-Johnson, ICM was able to provide the utility customer with an effective solution that measured up to real-world use and abuse. Instead of printing all their work orders in the morning and re-entering updates in the evening, the customer's engineers are able to receive their work orders in their trucks while on the road as they are assigned, even in mountainous terrain that traditionally makes wireless connections impossible. The engineers in remote areas can immediately start working, rather than driving in to a dispatch location to pick up their work orders. Updates on service requests and orders for replacement parts are all updated as they occur, rather than being updated when the driver returns to dispatch. Route-planning software helps the field workers plan their days efficiently, and status updates are sent back immediately, allowing dispatchers up-to-the-minute information on their service progress.

In the end, Gamber-Johnson helped ICM meet its goal of saving the utility time, money and gas. The field engineers can focus on keeping the electricity on, rather than driving around chasing paperwork. With their tough equipment securely and ergonomically connected to their vehicles, failures and downtime are minimized. "Our goal was to give them something you could drive up a mountain with, with confidence," Briones said. "Something you'd trust during an emergency."
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