Qualcomm Upgrades OmniVision System to Include Roaming, In-Cab Processing
By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Feb. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
SAN DIEGO — Mobile communications provider Qualcomm Inc. unveiled a host of upgrades and additions for its flagship OmniVision platform here, in-cluding wireless data roaming capabilities, in-cab document processing and support for third-party collision-avoidance systems.
The addition of wireless roaming capabilities “will give us much better coverage over the terrestrial network,” Michelle MacCollum, director of product management, said during the company’s user conference.
Roaming capabilities allow mobile communications devices that normally are supported by one network to operate on other networks when coverage would otherwise be unavailable.
Qualcomm unveiled OmniVision just over a year ago and has focused since then on migrating existing customers from its older OmniTracs system to the new platform.
The company added ground-based communications to its OmniVision platform in October, but the device has been without roaming capabilities.
The feature is slated to be added “over the course of this year,” Qualcomm’s MacCollum said.
In-cab scanning capabilities, meanwhile, are scheduled to go live in June.
“We’ve actually had a lot of requests for this one,” MacCollum said of the in-cab scanning system. She noted that the system would use a third-party scanner, though she did not identify the manufacturer.
The scanner can digitize documents, such as a bill of lading, and transmit them wirelessly back to a carrier’s home office. The system then can generate a receipt “within a few hours” of the initial document scanning, Qualcomm said.
The company also said it plans to offer OmniVision support for lane-departure warning systems manufactured by Iteris Inc.
Although older OmniTracs systems support third-party safety devices, such as rollover prevention and stability control systems from such manufacturers as Meritor WABCO and Bendix, the lane-departure warning system will be a first for Qualcomm, the company said.
Beyond 2008, Qualcomm said it plans to add in-cab driver training videos to the OmniVision system. A third-party partner that Qualcomm did not identify will provide the videos.
MacCollum said the company plans to add a vehicle maintenance module to OmniVision. The initial release will include 15 engine-fault codes that can be routed from the OmniVision system to a carrier’s back office, either by text message or by e-mail.
MacCollum also said that Qualcomm will increase support for Canadian users by adding OmniVision-supported general packet radio service — or GPRS — a ground-based mobile data service format commonly used in Canada, where Qualcomm’s own code division multiple access technology — or CDMA — is less prevalent.
