Benefits of GPS Vehicle Tracking
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A vehicle tracking system uses the GPS satellite system through a multi-channel GPS receiver to track a vehicle's movements, and transmits that information digitally over a GSM and/or GPRS phone network.
Fleet management and vehicle tracking information is then made available to the user over the internet from a server, overlaid on a map of the area.
Many types of vehicle fleets can benefit from GPS vehicle tracking, in applications such as trucking, distribution and goods delivery, fitting, waste collection & recycling, taxis, local authority services, highway maintenance and customer services.
Benefits of using GPS vehicle tracking may include:
- Locating unreturned rental cars, and verifying that cars are driven according to rental conditions
- Encouraging vehicle drivers to observe company rules
- Preventing use out of authorised hours
- Preventing use for unauthorised purposes
- Reducing overtime by making more efficient use of normal hours
- Creating a better level of customer service
- Reduce your liability from speeding, other offences, and accidents
- Rapidly locate stolen vehicles
- Monitor duration and length of trips
- Monitor inputs from other equipment in the vehicle, including alarms and refrigeration plant
- Reduce your insurance costs
- Ensure that employees follow the company procedures
- Ensure that employees are rewarded properly according to performance
- Maximise fuel efficiency
- Optimise delivery tracking
- Improve your Health & Safety record
- Minimise Shrinkage and Theft
- Help with planning to minimise empty loads
- Reduce vehicle wear & tear
- Reduce CO2 emissions
The deterrence effect of having GPS vehicle tracking in your fleet will probably reduce unauthorised use from the start.
For many years, radio was used to track the movements of vehicles in police, fire, ambulance, courier, and taxi fleets, with a central dispatch office and two-way radio in each vehicle.
With GPS vehicle tracking, the driver no longer has to operate a two-way radio to converse with the dispatcher, and the driver can now concentrate on driving safely and following the best route. Many companies that never before considered using two-way radio can now find automatic GPS vehicle tracking technology to be affordable and provide an effective return on investment.
The automation of vehicle position-tracking that GPS brings means that an organisation now has access to much more frequent updates and can more effectively manage the allocation of vehicles to destinations, pickups and incidents, as well as extra information such as the length and duration of trips, fuel efficiency, and vehicle equipment status. This has to be good for the efficient running and profitability of your organisation.
Furthermore, many two-way radio systems were based on a proprietary base station which limited the service to the coverage area of the company's base station. A GPS-based vehicle tracking system used in conjunction with the public cellular telephone system is not limited to a local geographic coverage area.
A GPS Vehicle Tracking Data Processing Unit (DPU)
I contributed both hardware and software design, starting in 2001, to an implementation of a GPS tracking system. The mobile module installation for this particular system is known as a Data Processing Unit (DPU).
Each vehicle that you need to track or monitor will require a small DPU module installed. This contains an embedded computer system which provides sophisticated support for a GPS system to obtain position fixes, and a cellular radio system to communicate with your headquarters, where the base station comprises a PC, a modem and vehicle tracking front end software.
The DPU is compliant to CE and Radio & Telecommunications Terminal Equipment emissions standards, and can store the location history of the vehicle automatically over an extended period even when not in contact with the base for real-time vehicle tracking.
When used in conjunction with a suitable user front end for vehicle tracking at the fleet manager's base, the DPU provides all the vehicle-based facilities to support polling, live tracking and logging of the location, speed and direction of fleet vehicles, as well as supporting an optional mobile data terminal.
Other vehicle tracking options include a tractor/trailer unit with an internal backup battery, a driver keyfob ID interface, and datalogging from an external source.
The DPU automatically shuts down to a low power sleep mode when the vehicle is not in use, avoiding the problem of battery run-down that might occur with other units that don't have this sleep mode.
The DPU has the ability to send an alert text direct to a specified mobile phone if the vehicle moves out of a permitted zone, or if an external vehicle alarm connected to the unit is triggered.
The DPU is an embedded computer system in its own right, with a watchdog system to ensure reliability, and over 100 system commands for controlling the GPS, cellular radio, text messaging, software upgrades, system configuration, and logging.
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At your base location, front-end software provides a map display of the vehicle tracking data, including the UK, continental Europe, the USA, the Middle East, and other parts of the world. The software requires only a standard PC with no unduly expensive special requirements, and can communicate with every mobile DPU that is tracking a vehicle through one modem. |
Background of the DPU Development Team
Key personnel started development of the current vehicle tracking DPU, which was to replace an earlier model based on different hardware, at the Central Research Laboratories (CRL) of EMI.
CRL was founded in the 1920s, and has a long record of achievement and technical innovation (Notable achievements include: The world's first public high definition television service, making the first modern stereo gramophone records, making effective the radar combating the WW2 night bomber, and the outstanding research which produced the X-ray scanner, for which the late Sir Godfrey Hounsfield received a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1979).
If you're interested in a GPS tracking system, accessories, repair services, software services or installer training, please contact Qtrail direct, or send me an email inquiry using the contact page.