Coralville business gets federal contract

Beginning in December 2015, up to 1,000 truck drivers will have their logbooks and licenses inspected while moving at highway speed, and a Coralville company will play a key role in the new technology.

Innovative Software Engineering (ISE) was awarded a three-year project, sponsored by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, designed to evaluate the viability of wireless roadside inspection of commercial motor vehicles.

The project is being managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a multi-program science and technology laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., with the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2010, ISE participated in the pilot phase of the wireless roadside inspection program where it was the first firm to successfully demonstrate the viability of the technology during a federally sponsored event in East Tennessee.

'This is a significant project for the commercial motor vehicle industry and the federal government,” said Hass Machlab, ISE president and CEO. 'We are honored to be selected by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as the telematics services provider and software engineering services partner for such an important program.”

Telematics blends computers and wireless telecommunications technology to convey information over vast networks.

The purpose of the roadside inspection program is to improve safety by automating inspections using wireless capabilities to convey real-time identification and status information of commercial vehicles, drivers and carriers.

Wireless inspections will be conducted over a 12-month period at a highway scale using existing commercial mobile radio service technology during a field operation test. Commercial vehicles will be inspected as they come in proximity to permanent and temporary inspection sites across a five-state region in the Southeast United States.