TO EVALUATE A COMPUTER-AIDED CARGO SECURITY SYSTEM THAT RELIES ON RADIO COMMUNICATION IN TERMS OF ITS IMPACT ON CARGO THEFT AND THE OPERATION OF CARGO VEHICLES, A FIELD TEST PROGRAM WAS CONDUCTED WITHIN THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY. THE TESTING OF THE SECURITY SYSTEM IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR PHASES: QUALIFICATION, INTEGRATION, ACCEPTANCE, AND FINAL SYSTEMS TEST. QUALIFICATION TESTS CONSIDERED TEMPERATURE AND VIBRATION ACCORDING TO THE LIMITS SET BY THE OPERATIONAL DESIGN. INTEGRATION TESTING UTILIZES SIMULATION OF THE LOCATION SUPPORT, PHONE LINES, AND ACTUAL SENSORS OF THE SYSTEM. THE ACCEPTANCE TESTING PHASE INCLUDES CONTROLLED TEST OF THE SENSORS, COMMUNICATIONS TESTS AND LOCATION TESTS; UNCONTROLLED TESTING CONSISTS OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN AN OBSERVER LOG AND THE RECORDED AND RECEIVED INFORMATION AT THE BASE STATION. THE FINAL SYSTEMS TESTING VERIFIES THE EFFICACY OF ANY REQUIRED OR MUTUALLY AGREED ON CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTED DURING THE SYSTEM SHAKEDOWN. CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATE THE TESTING PROCEDURES. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL CONCERNS THE INTERFACE DESCRIPTION COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL, AND THE PROGRAM LISTING FOR THE COMPUTER TERMINAL WRITTEN IN HEXADECIMAL MACHINE LANGUAGE. THE APPENDED SOFTWARE DATA PACKAGE MATERIAL INCLUDES THE SOFTWARE LISTINGS, FLOW CHARTS, AND FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CARGO SECURITY SYSTEM'S SUBROUTINES AND DATA BASE PRINTOUTS. EACH MODULE IN THE SYSTEM IS DOCUMENTED AND DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED FOR THE SUBMODULES AND SUBROUTINES INTERNAL TO THE MODULE. A FILE IS PROVIDED WHICH DEFINES THE STREET SEGMENTS IN TERMS OF X,Y COORDINATES. DATA FROM THE PHASE LOCK EVALUATION AND THE DATA FROM THE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEY IS PROVIDED IN THE FORM OF RAW DATA AND IN SUMMARY. THE MAJOR CONCLUSIONS OF THE TECHNICAL STUDY ARE ALSO PROVIDED. SEE NCJRS 53734-53735. (TWK)