Handheld Computing Devices for Mobile Traffic Records Management

Handheld Computing Devices for Mobile Traffic Records Management Allen Parrish David Brown CARE Research & Development Laboratory The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Mike Carroll Alabama Administrative Office of Courts Montgomery, AL

CARE Research & Development Laboratory • Organization of approximately 20 people (eight full-time) – Includes faculty, professional staff (SW developers, engineers), and students – Housed within Computer Science at the University of Alabama • Current sponsors: – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration – State of Alabama, Departments of: • Transportation • Economic and Community Affairs (GR-TSO) • Administrative Office of Courts – North Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, and Iowa – Southwest AL Integrated Criminal Justice System

Our Projects • CARE is our primary product – Critical Analysis Reporting Environment – Supports the analysis of crash data • Produce planning documents, reports and studies – Alabama Crash Facts Book (since 1998) – Alabama and North Carolina Highway Safety Plans – Special studies (http: //care. cs. ua. edu) • Work with general law enforcement information systems – – Crash Form Entry System E-Citation System Law Enforcement Tactical System (LETS) Model Integrated Defendant Access System (MIDAS)

Application Overview • CARE: Critical Analysis Reporting Environment • Crash Form Entry System • E-Citation • LETS: Law Enforcement Tactical System • MIDAS: Model Integrated Defendant Analysis System

CARE: Critical Analysis Reporting Environment • Saving lives since 1982…. • Historical summary: – – – CARE: Originally a front end to SPSS Evolved to a separate Windows-based product Basic analysis functionality also over the Web Location analysis and roadway geometrics Won NHTSA Administrator’s award in 1995 Current or past contracts with eight states: • AL, DE, IA, FL, MI, NC, TN – Negotiations ongoing with 2 -3 other states

CARE Software • Allows access to crash data • Several analysis techniques: – Frequency distributions – Cross-tabulations – Crash rates per population size (ACT) – Location analysis (variety of techniques here) • Information Mining (IMPACT)

Crash Form Entry System • Supports automated data entry onto a crash form from an in-car laptop – Includes support for drawing collision diagrams (Easy Street Draw) • Also fully functional on a tablet PC • Some data can also be entered via a PDA – Wireless communication from PDA to the laptop – PDA contains a built-in scanner for scanning driver’s license bar codes

E-Citation System • Citation data may be entered via: – Laptop – Tablet – PDA and transmitted to the laptop over a wireless network • Project: E-citation for commercial truck enforcement in Alabama (MCSAP) – Funded by FMCSA • Status: Pilot was initiated at the Heflin Weigh Station in January • Full rollout to the entire MCSAP unit scheduled by mid-2004

LETS: Law Enforcement Tactical System • Web-based system • Integrates a number of state databases (driver license, driver history, warrants, etc. ) • Allows the look-up of an individual by name, characteristics, etc. • Returns personal information about the individual • Deployed in January 2003 • Lots of early success stories • Approximately 4000 registered users in AL.

LETS (continued) • Databases are being added regularly – – – Pardons and Paroles Court Cases Prison Census Death Certificates Smart. COP data Jefferson County mugshots • Longer term issues: – – – User interface improvement Mobilization Fuzzy searches Virtual lineups Integration among other states’ data

MIDAS: Model Integrated Defendant Access System • Funded by NHTSA to track impaired drivers • Web-based system • DUI arrests are routed through the court referral (CRO) system • MIDAS provides a statewide system for CROs to use: – Recording and accessing case history information – Information available for statewide sharing

Wireless Projects • Designed to migrate our non-wireless apps to a mobile environment: – WLAN extensions to crash entry and E-citation systems – Wide area mobile E-citation – Voice-based crash entry and E-citation – Mobile LETS • Also for infrastructure support: – Mobile data capture devices – Wide Area Data Communications

WLAN ACES and E-Citation • Crash form entry and E-citation: Base systems operate on laptops • Need to be able to walk around and capture data • Current system: – Supports “satellite” PDAs – Master application runs on laptop in the car

Wireless transmission of the data from PDAs to laptop • Capability of simultaneous data entry

Basic WLAN Architecture Report built on laptop Data capture

Wide Area Mobile E-Citation • Phase II of E-citation project: – Currently deployed at weigh station (fixed location) – Must now deploy in cars (mobile setting) – Must deal with mobile data comm. issues • Our strategy: – Communication-independent architecture – We support: • • Dial-up Cellular 802. 11 Wired LAN connection

Voice-Based Crash Entry and ECitation • Prototype project with Auburn Center for IMPACT • Presentation forthcoming in this session

Voice/Mobile LETS • Need to make LETS more useful in a mobile officer setting • Issues: – Streamlining interface to reduce bandwidth and information overload – Dealing with intermittent or no mobile connectivity • Two separate efforts underway: – Voice LETS (voice recognition) – Mobile LETS (streamlined interface and/or local data)

Voice LETS • Another joint effort with Auburn IMPACT center • Basic idea: – Speak input information – Receive output information via voice or in silent mode to data screen • Really a LETS subset to look up a specific individual: – Speak SSN, license ID, tag #, name/DOB – Physical description of individual or vehicle read back

Voice LETS Platforms • Phone (cellular or land line) • Computer (using Voice over IP to connect to server) • Radiophone (in experimental stages) • Prototypes exist of all three platforms • Current emphasis: – Scaling phone prototype to statewide production system

Voice LETS

Mobile LETS • Conducting feasibility study right now • Two emphasis areas: – Streamlined user interfaces using a variety of ubiquitous computing devices (e. g. , cell phone screens) – Off-loaded data onto local laptop or tablet PC to deal with limited connectivity issues • Will likely lead to two separate products: – LETS GO: Laptop-based with local data and some kind of update paradigm – LETS Lite: Streamlined interface for ubiquitous computing devices

Mobile Data Capture • Would like to be able to work with small handheld devices. • PDAs had both programming and performance problems. • Our goal in this area: Obtain a small handheld device suitable for this mission, with acceptable performance. – Based on the Microsoft Tablet PC

Tablet PCs • Currently working with some of the larger tablet PCs. • Would like to migrate to a small PDA-sized tablet as they become available. – Oqo: http: //www. oqo. com • May be useful to build a sleeve for this device to hold various peripherals to support: – – – Voice input (on-board) Bar code scanning Electronic signatures Video camera GPS

Possible Integrated Device Design • Added functionality (peripherals): – – Bar code scanner Mag stripe scanner Camera GPS • Peripheral – Oqo unit connections options include: – Building a sleeve for the Oqo and embed peripherals – Removing the processor and contents from the current Oqo box and build a new physical box for the product • Communications: – Cellular PCMCIA card – Connected cell phone – Bluetooth to a separate cell phone

Wide Area Data Communications Support • Support to keep mobile law enforcement connected. • Currently experimenting with several possibilities: – Cellular – Wi-fi • We are comparing these two (and other) technologies: – Plans to develop a community-based wi-fi network in one or more Alabama cities for use by law enforcement – This network can ultimately be shared between law enforcement and researchers exploring wireless issues • Looking to combine with other efforts to provide statewide and regionwide coverage

Summary: CRDL Activities • Basic LE and traffic safety applications: – CARE, LETS, MIDAS, crash reporting, E-Citation • Wireless projects: – – – WLAN extensions to ACES and E-citation Wide area mobile E-citation Voice-based forms entry (with Auburn) Mobile LETS (with Auburn) Mobile data capture devices Wide Area Data Communications

Visit Our Booth on the Exhibit Floor! Web Site: http: //care. cs. ua. edu E-mail: parrish@cs. ua. edu or brown@cs. ua. edu