Establishing communications with vehicles that are com
monly found at different locations or are in transit between
locations has become increasingly more important. It is
often desirable to know the location of a particular vehicle
at a given time. Such a vehicle may be transporting goods
that the recipient is waiting for and wishes to know the
current location of the vehicle transporting the goods. It may
also be useful to monitor conditions of the goods, such as the
temperature of refrigerated loads. In addition to goods
carried by the vehicles, the vehicles themselves can be
monitored for certain conditions, such as engine or other
parameters. Such information can be utilized in insuring that
the vehicles are properly maintained to avoid vehicle down
time or the necessity of road service. Other applications
involving communications with vehicles might involve
safety and security considerations. A monitored vehicle can
include an emergency vehicle that transports a patient who
is connected to monitoring equipment in the vehicle that
continuously or periodically gathers patient data. During
transport of the patient, such patient data can be communi
cated to medical personnel at a remote location, such as a
hospital, to prepare for the arrival of the patient. When the
patient arrives, this data has been evaluated and decisions
reached as to how best to care for the patient. Other security
or safety checks might include: whether a vehicle door was
unlocked, initiation of an alarm by activating a switch,
automatic indication of an airbag detonation and automatic
generation of a signal when an expected input has not been
received for a certain amount of time.