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Iowa Keeps Truckin With OrbTrac
Dulles Va - August 10, 1998 - Orbital Sciences has been selected by Iowa's Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) to supply its satellite-based ORBTRAC-100 system to track and manage a portion of Iowa DOT's statewide snowplow, paint and herbicide truck fleet. The initial contract provides for installation on 25 of Iowa DOT's 1,000 trucks, with expected rollout on the remaining trucks over the next four to five years. ORBTRAC-100 was designed and developed by Orbital's Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) business unit, located in Germantown, Maryland.

"The ORBTRAC system will enable us to track and communicate with our snowplows in emergency situations, and will improve our management of the day- to-day operations of our maintenance, herbicide and paint trucks," said Ms. Marlee Walton, Maintenance Program Manager for Iowa DOT.

Orbital's ORBTRAC-100 is a fully integrated Global Positioning System (GPS)-based automatic vehicle location and two-way messaging system developed for the public works industry. By tracking a vehicle's progress and location, the system will provide Iowa DOT information on which sections of roadway have been serviced by leaving a trace of the vehicle's past positions on a digital map of the service area. ORBTRAC-100 also provides data gathered from truck- mounted material spreaders as well as road and air temperature sensors. This information will be geo-referenced, using GPS satellites, and transmitted over Iowa DOT's digital radio system to be displayed at a number of Iowa DOT maintenance garages. Additionally, the system includes two-way messaging, a playback feature for post-service evaluation and the capability to download data at the end of the day.

Mr. Robert D. Strain, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Orbital's Electronics and Sensors Systems Group, said, "This contract is a big win for Orbital as it clearly establishes us as the leader in GPS-based Automatic Vehicle Location Systems for the public works industry." Orbital recently announced the acceptance and installation of other ORBTRAC systems for customers in Maryland, Oregon and Colorado.

  • OrbTrac Spots Utility Vehicles
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