Since mobile phones have found their way into vehicles, antenna connections have taken on the important role of improving reception in the vehicle and minimising the radiation power inside (“electro smog”). The Compenser as an “intelligent” amplifier is installed near the antenna to compensate any attenuation loss resulting from the charging cradle, plug and cable. The 4th generation for UMTS and GSM has been available since May 2008.

Since 2001, Funkwerk has supplied various commercial vehicle manufacturers with fully integrated hands-free units (HFU). These HFU consist of an electronic box with connection to the vehicle bus (CAN), a chassis to hold mobile phone-specific charging cradles, and the charging cradles themselves. Input commands are processed and display information transmitted via the CAN bus.

With EGO, Funkwerk provides a wide range of Bluetooth hands-free units from the simple plug & play solution to installed systems with navigation. Almost all hands-free units feature high-quality voice control and provide the option of playing MP3 files from the mobile phone via Bluetooth through the vehicle loudspeakers. By the end of 2008, a total of 90,000 units had been sold.

In Nigeria, Funkwerk equipped Bilfinger-Berger vehicles with cutting-edge telematics technology.

Logging of vehicle location, operating hours, fuel consumption and engine data of lorries, construction vehicles and construction equipment, and transmission of these data to a central control station for automatic analysis of the monthly operating parameters.

Standardised vehicle data in the lorry are accessed via CAN

Upgrading of fuel meter systems in construction equipment without further data output for fuel consumption data acquisition
Equipment types: lorries, diggers, crawler-mounted vehicles, generators and ships. Data transmission in areas without GSM is ensured via iridium satellite communication.

For control room position monitoring of a helicopter fleet of the German police force, Funkwerk created an Internet portal which allows helicopter positions to be entered on a map to provide an overview of the fleet status. This can be accessed by any task force at any location. Along with position reports from the helicopters, the portal also provides additional incidence data. These data are transmitted via satellite communication. The project was implemented in cooperation with Aerodata, which equipped the helicopters with the on-board computers.

As a food supplier, Ullrich operates a fleet of delivery vehicles for refrigerated food. In the mornings, these vehicles are loaded with products, which are then taken to a number of shops and canteens on different routes. The drivers of the vehicles are advised of their routes via on-board computers, and after each delivery, are automatically guided to the next route stop by a navigation system. For proof of the cold chain, the system also continuously measures the cooling temperature in the cooling cases, which is then transmitted to the control centre for archiving.

Three sensors are analysed in total, two for the temperature in the case and one for the outside temperature. As an additional feature, the system also gauges and transmits the state of the cooling case doors.