Due to advances in telecommunications, electronics and sensing, today's battlefield executive can, in essence, see the whole board at once. The same dream is about to come true for every member of the off-highway industry. Sensing Mechanical sensing has seen exponential developmental growth in the past century, fed by the computer's ability to process the information gathered by sensors. The military, aerospace and automotive industries have led the charge, and it has taken several years to adapt sensors which were designed for cleaner, less rugged environments to off-highway applications. However, sensor companies have made great strides in precision and durability.
Much greater capability is around the corner.
Information processing The dramatic and sustained plunge in the cost of computing has led to the proliferation of microprocessors in the industry. We believe an important new frontier of data processing will be the importing of mountains of equipment monitoring data from field equipment and their reduction into insightful and highly valuable statements about the condition and use of that equipment. Telecommunications As high profile as it is in the business world, wireless technology is arguably less important to the mobile executive than it is to the mobile machine. Already a rudimental reality, in the coming years data links with mobile equipment will transform the industry. In the mining industry, we are just beginning to see fleets of equipment linked to the off-highway chain in this way.