Zonar recommends the following guidelines to ease the process of upgrading the fleet.
Identify Scope of Work
- Review the vehicle life cycle and only replace those that are going to be in the fleet past the cutoff date.
- Start by upgrading 3G equipment installed in newer equipment since these are the least likely to be sold and/or retired.
- Since the V3 and V4 have the same form-factor and connectivity, upgrades will typically only require replacing the GPS unit and not the wire harness.
Execute Upgrades
- Determine if there are options for after-hours access to vehicles since this will reduce disruption to operations.
- Leverage the Activity report within Ground Traffic Control to determine when certain hard-to-find vehicles are accessible.
- Coordinate directly with shops to make vehicles available to reduce downtime for installers.
- Align hardware installs with scheduled maintenance.
Self-installing Hardware
- Installer should be equipped with tools such as voltmeter, drill, pliers, and wire cutters.
- A stock of spare GPS wire harnesses are recommended in case existing wire harnesses are frayed or damaged.
- A portable device with internet access helps with tracking vehicles and assigning new 4G equipment to assets within Ground Traffic Control while in the field.