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 ( 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 –SmartCOP 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 Data capture Report built on laptop

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 Wired LAN connection

Voice-Based Crash Entry and E- Citation 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: 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

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