TMCnet News
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[February 23, 2004] GPS Device To Be Used By Wildland Fire Fighting Crews GMC Guardian Mobility Corporation announced that the company is shipping its remote tracking and monitoring product to customers in Canada and the United States. These represent the first shipments of commercial product by the company.Guardian Mobility has developed a satellite communication solution that locates and reports on people, machinery or other assets in remote areas. The products are marketed as the Guardian Sentinel(TM) and Guardian Sentinel GPS(TM). Initial orders are being delivered to United States Department of Agriculture, British Columbia Forest Service, Parks Canada, Saskatchewan Environment, and over a dozen others. In one unique application, the Guardian Sentinel GPS is being implemented by wildland fire fighting crews where the device, about the size of a paperback, can be quickly attached to a person's backpack, to a vehicle or a piece of machinery. The unit is designed to send location data acquired from the Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as other data transmissions to a network of low-earth orbiting satellites where the data is then relayed to computer servers at Guardian Mobility and or forwarded to firefighting control centers. Transmission events can also be forwarded direct to a customer via email, cell phone or fax. The data identifies the exact location of individuals or machinery equipped with the device. The addition of sensors allows for monitoring of the immediate environment in which the device is located including water quality, fuel supply tank levels and intrusion alarms. The device also monitors unattended facilities and assets in the field. "This is an milestone for our company and a great team effort including customer input in the design process", said Jean Carr, CEO of Guardian Mobility. " For forest fires, our customers recognize that our products can dramatically improve their ability to supervise and manage their assets. These are important reference customers for our company going forward." Mike Fraser, Manager, Radio Technical Services for Saskatchewan Environment, said that the adaptability of the Guardian Sentinel is a particularly appealing feature. "We are excited about this product and it's ability to improve, what we call, situational awareness. And, it's a cost effective solution for us as well", he added. |