Basic technologies for vanilla Vts In car device
- A Gps and Gsm / Gprs enabled embedded microcontroller withoptionalSd card / Usb for storage capabilities is used for capturing the real-time location and transferring them to the server.
- The device operates on car battery with indispensable security from voltage / current surge. It also has battery backup.
- In case of theft the car can be immobilized remotely.
- Support for external antennas for good range and accuracy.
- Instant Sms and email alerts in case any undesired events or crisis situations.
Web application
- Web application is sued for live monitoring of devices lively around.
- Rich graphical user interface makes system usage a excellent experience.
- It presents you with current locations, route trace, andtravel history of the vehicle.
- It also provides alerts in case of geo-fence violation (you can mark boundaries along a road or you can have a area-wise fencing) and overspending alerts.
Vts accessories
Only car tracking is not enough in most of the cases. Enhanced versions of Vts also provides following value added services to cater to definite requirement of converyance fleet owners.
Rfid
Can be used be daily travelers (bus or cabs) for authentication of travelers. Each passenger is in case,granted with a Rfid card and the Vts is installed with Rfid reader. This helps in getting real time location information of each passenger. Location details of where a passenger was picked up and dropped are provided. This is a favorite of the Bpo companies to ensure security of ladies staff being picked up and dropped at night.
Fuel level sensor
Helps in monitoring fuel usage. The web application provides fuel usage statistics for a given period of time. Typical fuel sensors are not very precise and regularly this highlight fails to supply good accuracy. Some added experimentation is being done in this area but most of the current implementation only supply an indication of fuel usage and roughly cannot be used to detect theft of few liters of fuel.
Temperature monitor
Monitoring cargo climatic characteristic is extremely prominent for maintaining the food potential while transport. This clarification is especially used when carrying milk, ice creams, fresh fruits and vegetables, and any load from cold storages. If for some speculate the drivers happen to turn off the inventory (typically to save petrol) and the climatic characteristic rises beyond approved level, immediate declaration is sent to the fleet owner. Also minute-by-minute climatic characteristic history is recorded in the device (and on the web server) thus ensuring no conflicts between the carrier and the customer. This clarification is very favorite in the cold storage logistics companies.
Camera
A camera can be integrated with Vts to periodically change still images to the web server. This helps in identifying the driver and no one can cheat car owners anymore. Typically driver's image is sent once a wee to the server thus ensuring that there is no proxy-driver. This clarification is favorite with the bus / taxi owners with large fleets which are in cities other than their home town.
Operational difficulties
Accuracy of Gps
Typical Gps receivers supply an accuracy of 10 to 15 meters vertically and about 20 meters horizontally. Gps receivers regularly need locking of four satellites to get valid data. Accuracy increases with growth in the amount of satellites locked. The potential of Gps signal depends on the state of atmosphere, both its upper (e.g. Ionosphere) and the lower layer that influences the weather conditions. Sometimes, on cloudy and humid days the Gps receivers may have problems with calculating its position.
Start up time
When the device boots up after a power down cycle it regularly takes a consolidate of minutes to accumulate the coordinates. This is technically referred as 'Cold Start' where the Gps receiver does not have valid almanac and ephemeris. It regularly takes time to accumulate valid almanac and ephemeris data. Once the data is obtained it is stored in Ram and can be added used to accumulate data quickly. If power supervision is implemented and device wakes up after periodic time interval to capture locations, the time required to accumulate locations is in 10's of seconds. This is technically referred as 'Hot or Warm Start'; here the Gps receiver has valid almanac and ephemeris data stored in Ram and only communicates with the satellite to get coordinates.
No Gps connectivity in grand regions
If for some reasons the Gps receiver cannot lock required amount of satellites, location data cannot be obtained, in such cases there is partial loss of data. There is no clarification to this type of situations, as the source itself cannot supply required data; however, these are extremely rare.
No Gsm / Gprs in remote locations
It is a well known fact that all the places on the planet do that have Gsm / Gprs service available. In such case the acquired Gps location data are stored in the device and once Gprs network is ready the stored data can be transferred to the server. This essentially means that the tracking device needs to have indispensable storage capacity to store few 1000's of location details. Some solutions offer Gsm (Sms) to change the data in absence of Gprs connectivity. This helps in getting real-time data at places with Gsm connectivity but no or weak Gprs signal. A few solutions also offer dual Sim functionality to ensure that connectivity hampered only in situations where none of the two service providers can offer any service. This is very useful in India!
Frequency of data logging
Data logging frequency from Gps module can be as low as 5 seconds to few minutes. regularly 5 seconds is required in very few cases. Data sampling rates typically varies for each requirement. Tracking systems regularly can set this period legitimately using web interface or Sms.
Defining Geo-fences
Geo-fencing is an extremely indispensable highlight that all tracking solutions 'Have To' provide. General solutions offer circular geo-fencing that would raise alerts when the car moves out of an area. Any way for containers or high value goods converyance it is extremely indispensable to have a boundary drawn over the road. This type of geo-fencing along with stoppage reports virtually eliminates any theft of good. Defining a geo-fence along a boundary can be a painstaking activity; no user interface can legitimately offer an enjoyable palpate to define a geo-fence adjoining to a road. In such cases, reference runs can be used for fencing the roads swiftly and with minimum user efforts.
Environmental impacts
Heat, vibrations, dusty conditions loose connections and other open environment problems have an impact on tracking vehicles efficiently. It is extremely indispensable to setup a well tested / enclosed device, especially on India roads which are not only rough but also bumpy at times!
Cost of Gsm / Gprs service
It is a myth that using Gprs for car tracking applications is an extremely high-priced affair. However, assorted services providers in India supply with data plans specially meant for car tracking applications with a monthly rent of as low as 50 Rs (less than a dollar)!
Willful sabotage
Gps antenna wire cut or removed
When person cuts a Gps antenna or removes it physically for bad intentions, the device can sense that swiftly and notify the server via Gprs or Gsm. The server application sends an instant declaration to the involved citizen in form of Sms. The device can legitimately distinguish between no satellites locked or no data at all, which nullifies the possibility of false alarms.
Gsm antenna wire cut or removed
This is a very tricky situation where the device can do nothing but log the information along with date time stamp and whenever there is connectivity (antenna is connected again)sends it as an alarm. This type of sabotage cannot be detected in real-time, Any way the information sent later can be used for post-mortem analysis.
Power wire cut intentionally
When the power wire is cut the devices control on battery. They send an immediate mains fail signal to the server which than propagates this information to involved people. The modern day devices are lively enough to distinguish between power cut and machine off situations.
Temperature sensors tampered or wire cut
In climatic characteristic sensitive container monitoring if optimal or required temperatures are not maintained huge losses can incur. Drivers intend to turn off the machine to save on fuel costs. The climatic characteristic sensors can swiftly sense that and send notifications to server. To avoid this, the drivers might cut off the climatic characteristic sensor wires. When something like this happens the device can sense the sabotage swiftly and notify the server via Gprs or Gsm. The server application sends an instant declaration to the involved citizen in form of Sms.
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