Fruit carrier using GPS to deliver the goods

Computerworld - The Bush administration's decision to keep Amtrak running means ExpressTrak LLC will be able to continue its high-tech coast-to-coast delivery of perishable products.
For the past two years, ExpressTrak has shipped products in GPS-equipped refrigerated cars that are hitched at the end of Amtrak passenger trains. The partnership allows ExpressTrak to offer delivery times from the west coast to the east of just four or five days -- schedules freight carriers can't match, according to Kevin McKinney, marketing vice president at the Detroit-based company.
ExpressTrak offers more than just quick nationwide transit times, which are essential for the delivery of perishable goods such as oranges or apples. According to McKinney, ExpressTrak also offers its customers the ability to track shipments in real time and monitor temperatures along the way, both inside the "reefer" cars -- as refrigerated cars are known -- and outside.
Each of ExpressTrak's 110 reefer cars is equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that automatically determines the car's position to within 20 feet, according to Ed Gagen, the company's vice president of operations. Each reefer is also equipped with a satellite communications transmitter and receiver, which moves data over the MSAT mobile satellite system operated by Mobile Satellite Ventures LP in Reston, Va.
The satellite modem receives information from the GPS receiver and system monitors on the refrigeration units and relays it to a Web site operated by Morris Plains, N.J.-based StarTrak LLC. Startrak provides the satellite hardware and software, satellite time and Web support to ExpressTrak as a turnkey system. In addition to providing real-time visibility and temperature data to customers such as citrus cooperative Sunkist Growers Inc., the StarTrak system allows ExpressTrak to remotely manage the reefers over the Web, Gagen said.
ExpressTrak can automatically turn the refrigeration units on or off, or raise or lower their temperatures. The system also has built-in alarms to notify ExpressTrak if a refrigeration unit has shut down or is running out of fuel, Gagen said.
Remote control of the reefers means shippers may never have to face another load of rotted fruit again, said Tim Slifkin, president of StarTrak.
"If an alarm goes off that the unit is running out of fuel, then a fuel truck can be sent to the next station to fill it up," he said. The smart, high-tech cars used by ExpressTrak represent a revolution in the shipment of perishable goods, said Slifkin, whose company provides satellite-based monitoring systems to the country's freight railroads.
Until about 18 months ago, Slifkin said, railroads