The benefits of iron, or familiarity with GPS / GLONASS trackers
The main activity of our company is the development of software for satellite monitoring . In this connection, we closely cooperate with manufacturers of GPS / GLONASS equipment. Therefore, we decided to share our experience and release a series of topical articles dedicated to GPS / GLONASS trackers, in which we will describe how we classify navigation equipment, and take a closer look at the technical features of devices most popular among users of our product.
The first article is devoted to the basic concepts: what a GPS tracker is, how it works and how it happens. The goal is to acquaint readers with the principles of operation of navigation equipment and the classification of GPS trackers according to their purpose and technical implementation features.
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Hardware tracker - a device designed to remotely control the movement of vehicles, people and other objects on which it is installed. For accurate determination of the location of the object trackers use satellite navigation.
GPS trackers can be both an independent electronic device and the corresponding software.
Software tracker - software that allows you to use smartphones, tablets and other devices as a hardware GPS tracker platform. The application gets access to the standard GPS receiver, and the exchange of messages with the navigation server is carried out via GSM and Wi-Fi module of the portable device. An example of a software tracker is the GPS Tag mobile app.
Due to the lack of hardware, software trackers benefit in value from their electronic counterparts. However, the functionality of the tracker program is significantly inferior to specially designed electronic devices and is limited mainly to the determination and transmission of the location. Therefore, we dwell on the hardware devices.
The tracker consists of several components:
In addition to determining the location, modern trackers are able to accumulate other data, for example, information from the vehicle’s onboard systems and other sensors.
The variety of GPS trackers can be divided into several groups according to their purpose: transport monitoring, personal tracking and monitoring of other objects.
By the type of connection of the tracker to the onboard systems of the vehicle, the devices are divided into several types.
Power is supplied through a tie-in to the on-board network of the car. A built-in battery can also be used for autonomous operation during repairs or malfunctions of the on-board network.
External antennas can be used to improve GPS and GSM signal reception.
In addition, this type of device allows you to connect to it various types of additional vehicle systems, such as fuel level sensor (FLS), electronic tachographs, video recorders, ignition control systems, temperature sensors in the cabin and car body, vehicle technical condition monitoring systems (for example, CAN bus reader, etc.
The device can be configured and configured remotely by downloading the firmware and sending control commands.
Advantages: such trackers are multifunctional and reliable. An important advantage of this type of device is the possibility of flush mounting.
Disadvantages: the complexity of installation and repair.
Approximate cost of wire trackers, depending on the functionality, is 3000-18000 rubles.
An example of a popular GPS / GLONASS tracker is GALILEOSKY 3G v 5.1 .
The OBD II (On-Board diagnostic) connector is designed for diagnosing car systems and is universal for most types of modern cars. From this connector you can read a lot of parameters from the on-board computer and the vehicle’s standard sensors.
Manufacturers of GPS trackers did not miss the opportunity to use these advantages and developed devices that connect directly to the OBD II connector.
Advantages: such trackers have many functions and are easily mounted in the car.
Disadvantages: low accuracy of coordinates determination (without using external antennas). Also, reading data from the vehicle’s standard sensors does not always provide complete and reliable information. For example, to improve the accuracy of monitoring fuel consumption, it is more expedient to use specially designed flow meters, fuel level sensors and integrate them with “wired” trackers to transfer data to the processing server.
Approximate cost of OBDII trackers is 1500-9000 rubles.
An example of an OBD II tracker is the ATrack AX7 .
There are cases when it is necessary to use one GPS tracker on different cars. To do this, developed models of trackers with power from the cigarette lighter. Such trackers are portable and often have waterproof cases. Usually, cigarette lighter powered devices do not use advanced functionality (connecting additional sensors), because This is associated with complicated installation. The presence of external antennas is optional: the device can be placed in front of the windshield of the car, where the signal level of GPS / GSM is quite acceptable.
Advantages: this type of tracker has a compact size and is easily installed in the car.
Disadvantages: you can not "hide" the device, i.e. there is no possibility for hidden installation, which means that unscrupulous drivers can easily disable the tracker.
An example of a cigarette lighter powered GPS / GLONASS tracker is the Gosafe G717 .
Approximate cost of trackers with power from the cigarette lighter is 6000-30000 rubles.
It is important to understand that in itself, the tracker is a rather limited device in its functions. It can only accumulate location data and sensor readings, and then send them to the server for further processing. It is at this stage, in conjunction with the software, infinite ones, zeros and other character set is converted into information understandable to the ordinary person. The classic “car tracker + software” scheme is used in many areas of business and everyday life.
Transport companies and courier services. The monitoring system (tracker + software) allows freight forwarders to quickly track the movement of goods, monitor the condition of the car and the driver through additional sensors. In addition, the system helps to prevent unauthorized flights and fuel drains by unscrupulous drivers.
Taxi service. The data from the monitoring service allows the dispatcher to determine the closest available car and pave the best route for the driver, taking into account the operational information about the traffic situation.
Agricultural enterprises and road services. The capabilities of modern monitoring systems make it possible to monitor the use of agricultural and construction equipment to control engine hours and prevent fuel discharges.
Security services. GPS / GLONASS tracker is connected to the onboard car alarm system. The owner or operator of the security service can track the location of the hijacked vehicle and, if necessary, send a signal to stop the engine.
Insurance companies. To determine the driving style and the calculation of insurance rates, insurance companies are increasingly using data from GPS trackers installed on customers' cars. The GPS tracker sends the collected data (mileage, speed, acceleration, average fuel consumption, engine speed data, etc.) to the monitoring system server. Further, the software processes this information and allows you to analyze driving style in detail. Based on the results of the analysis, the insurance agent may put up or down coefficients in the insurance policy. By the way, trackers that connect directly to the OBD II connector are great for this purpose.
Organizers of sporting events. Trackers allow judges and marshals to track the exact location and speed of participants in rally raids, sailing regattas and other competitions. Using data from trackers, you can identify leaders, prevent fraud, and quickly respond to the SOS signal in emergency situations.
Personal trackers are widely used to monitor people and pets. As a rule, they have compact dimensions and necessarily an autonomous power source. The principle of work of personal trackers is similar to the work of automobile ones. The differences lie only in the shape, size and possibilities for analyzing data from external sensors. For example, additional sensors (heart rate monitor, etc.) can be integrated into the personal tracker.
Often mobile applications are used as personal GPS trackers.
In which areas are personal trackers used?
Monitoring of mobile employees of companies: couriers, sales agents, seconded persons, etc.
Supervision over small children, aged relatives. An example of compact personal GPS trackers for monitoring toddlers and the elderly is SkyPatrol TT8850.
Pet monitoring. They are distinguished by the presence of a waterproof, impact-resistant case, a high-capacity power supply for long-term autonomous operation. Such trackers are often used to monitor the grazing of pedigree livestock over large areas. Also, devices of this type are often integrated into collars for hunting dogs or pets for the convenience of their search. An example of a collar tracker is the Rilla G19 . The cost of personal trackers starts from 1000 rubles.
Wildlife observation (GPS beacons). GPS beacons are designed to monitor the migration of wild animals, which is very important for scientists and environmental organizations. Differ in waterproof, impact-resistant casing. Such devices determine their location and get in touch extremely rarely, which makes it possible to achieve long-term autonomy at work (up to several years) with a compact device size.
Tourism, active recreation. Allows you to analyze information about the route of travel and training, attach photos and videos to the geographical point of the route. In addition, in an emergency, you can send location data to rescue services.
The trackers used for cargo monitoring are very similar to personal ones, however they have some peculiarities.
Most often, these devices are used to monitor sea containers. Such trackers should have a hermetic case, a capacious battery and a powerful external antenna (GPS and GSM), since the metal case of the container is a serious obstacle to the penetration of external signals.
Compact GPS beacons can be used to monitor important mailings.
In addition to monitoring moving objects, GPS trackers are used to monitor stationary objects. In this case, the location data is not important. However, the signal from GPS satellites can be used to synchronize time. Otherwise, when monitoring stationary objects, the data of sensors connected to the tracker are primarily important. This data is processed by the software and visualized in the form of tables, charts and reports.
In this review, we gave a brief description of the main types of GPS trackers and the areas where they are used. In the near future, we plan to publish a series of detailed technical reviews of popular tracker models, as well as promising new products on the GPS monitoring equipment market.
The first article is devoted to the basic concepts: what a GPS tracker is, how it works and how it happens. The goal is to acquaint readers with the principles of operation of navigation equipment and the classification of GPS trackers according to their purpose and technical implementation features.
')
What is a GPS tracker?
Hardware tracker - a device designed to remotely control the movement of vehicles, people and other objects on which it is installed. For accurate determination of the location of the object trackers use satellite navigation.
GPS trackers can be both an independent electronic device and the corresponding software.
Software tracker - software that allows you to use smartphones, tablets and other devices as a hardware GPS tracker platform. The application gets access to the standard GPS receiver, and the exchange of messages with the navigation server is carried out via GSM and Wi-Fi module of the portable device. An example of a software tracker is the GPS Tag mobile app.
Due to the lack of hardware, software trackers benefit in value from their electronic counterparts. However, the functionality of the tracker program is significantly inferior to specially designed electronic devices and is limited mainly to the determination and transmission of the location. Therefore, we dwell on the hardware devices.
The tracker consists of several components:
- The receiver of the GPS / GLONASS navigation satellite signal, with which the device determines its location. If the signal from satellites is unavailable, the location can be determined by analyzing the signal of stationary GSM base stations, however, the accuracy of this method is significantly reduced.
- GSM module for data exchange with the navigation server. After the device has determined its location, it sends the collected information to the base station of cellular communication via GPRS package or SMS message. The signal is then transmitted to the information processing server. By connecting from your PC or mobile device to the data processing server, the operator can find out the exact location of the object, data on its technical condition and information on the route of movement. Depending on the configuration of the installed equipment, the system operator may send a text message or control commands to the object.
- Built-in battery, Wi-Fi module and internal memory. The device can be completed with these components optionally. In the absence of a signal, the GSM tracker records information in the internal memory (“black box”) and sends it to the base station as soon as possible. Some types of trackers can transmit information to the server via satellite or Wi-Fi. There are devices on the market that can use all of the above data transfer methods.
In addition to determining the location, modern trackers are able to accumulate other data, for example, information from the vehicle’s onboard systems and other sensors.
Types of trackers to destination
The variety of GPS trackers can be divided into several groups according to their purpose: transport monitoring, personal tracking and monitoring of other objects.
Vehicle Monitoring Trackers
By the type of connection of the tracker to the onboard systems of the vehicle, the devices are divided into several types.
- Wire trackers.
Power is supplied through a tie-in to the on-board network of the car. A built-in battery can also be used for autonomous operation during repairs or malfunctions of the on-board network.
External antennas can be used to improve GPS and GSM signal reception.
In addition, this type of device allows you to connect to it various types of additional vehicle systems, such as fuel level sensor (FLS), electronic tachographs, video recorders, ignition control systems, temperature sensors in the cabin and car body, vehicle technical condition monitoring systems (for example, CAN bus reader, etc.
The device can be configured and configured remotely by downloading the firmware and sending control commands.
Advantages: such trackers are multifunctional and reliable. An important advantage of this type of device is the possibility of flush mounting.
Disadvantages: the complexity of installation and repair.
Approximate cost of wire trackers, depending on the functionality, is 3000-18000 rubles.
An example of a popular GPS / GLONASS tracker is GALILEOSKY 3G v 5.1 .
- OBD II trackers.
The OBD II (On-Board diagnostic) connector is designed for diagnosing car systems and is universal for most types of modern cars. From this connector you can read a lot of parameters from the on-board computer and the vehicle’s standard sensors.
Manufacturers of GPS trackers did not miss the opportunity to use these advantages and developed devices that connect directly to the OBD II connector.
Advantages: such trackers have many functions and are easily mounted in the car.
Disadvantages: low accuracy of coordinates determination (without using external antennas). Also, reading data from the vehicle’s standard sensors does not always provide complete and reliable information. For example, to improve the accuracy of monitoring fuel consumption, it is more expedient to use specially designed flow meters, fuel level sensors and integrate them with “wired” trackers to transfer data to the processing server.
Approximate cost of OBDII trackers is 1500-9000 rubles.
An example of an OBD II tracker is the ATrack AX7 .
- Cigarette lighter trackers.
There are cases when it is necessary to use one GPS tracker on different cars. To do this, developed models of trackers with power from the cigarette lighter. Such trackers are portable and often have waterproof cases. Usually, cigarette lighter powered devices do not use advanced functionality (connecting additional sensors), because This is associated with complicated installation. The presence of external antennas is optional: the device can be placed in front of the windshield of the car, where the signal level of GPS / GSM is quite acceptable.
Advantages: this type of tracker has a compact size and is easily installed in the car.
Disadvantages: you can not "hide" the device, i.e. there is no possibility for hidden installation, which means that unscrupulous drivers can easily disable the tracker.
An example of a cigarette lighter powered GPS / GLONASS tracker is the Gosafe G717 .
Approximate cost of trackers with power from the cigarette lighter is 6000-30000 rubles.
It is important to understand that in itself, the tracker is a rather limited device in its functions. It can only accumulate location data and sensor readings, and then send them to the server for further processing. It is at this stage, in conjunction with the software, infinite ones, zeros and other character set is converted into information understandable to the ordinary person. The classic “car tracker + software” scheme is used in many areas of business and everyday life.
Transport companies and courier services. The monitoring system (tracker + software) allows freight forwarders to quickly track the movement of goods, monitor the condition of the car and the driver through additional sensors. In addition, the system helps to prevent unauthorized flights and fuel drains by unscrupulous drivers.
Taxi service. The data from the monitoring service allows the dispatcher to determine the closest available car and pave the best route for the driver, taking into account the operational information about the traffic situation.
Agricultural enterprises and road services. The capabilities of modern monitoring systems make it possible to monitor the use of agricultural and construction equipment to control engine hours and prevent fuel discharges.
Security services. GPS / GLONASS tracker is connected to the onboard car alarm system. The owner or operator of the security service can track the location of the hijacked vehicle and, if necessary, send a signal to stop the engine.
Insurance companies. To determine the driving style and the calculation of insurance rates, insurance companies are increasingly using data from GPS trackers installed on customers' cars. The GPS tracker sends the collected data (mileage, speed, acceleration, average fuel consumption, engine speed data, etc.) to the monitoring system server. Further, the software processes this information and allows you to analyze driving style in detail. Based on the results of the analysis, the insurance agent may put up or down coefficients in the insurance policy. By the way, trackers that connect directly to the OBD II connector are great for this purpose.
Organizers of sporting events. Trackers allow judges and marshals to track the exact location and speed of participants in rally raids, sailing regattas and other competitions. Using data from trackers, you can identify leaders, prevent fraud, and quickly respond to the SOS signal in emergency situations.
Personal GPS trackers
Personal trackers are widely used to monitor people and pets. As a rule, they have compact dimensions and necessarily an autonomous power source. The principle of work of personal trackers is similar to the work of automobile ones. The differences lie only in the shape, size and possibilities for analyzing data from external sensors. For example, additional sensors (heart rate monitor, etc.) can be integrated into the personal tracker.
Often mobile applications are used as personal GPS trackers.
In which areas are personal trackers used?
Monitoring of mobile employees of companies: couriers, sales agents, seconded persons, etc.
Supervision over small children, aged relatives. An example of compact personal GPS trackers for monitoring toddlers and the elderly is SkyPatrol TT8850.
Pet monitoring. They are distinguished by the presence of a waterproof, impact-resistant case, a high-capacity power supply for long-term autonomous operation. Such trackers are often used to monitor the grazing of pedigree livestock over large areas. Also, devices of this type are often integrated into collars for hunting dogs or pets for the convenience of their search. An example of a collar tracker is the Rilla G19 . The cost of personal trackers starts from 1000 rubles.
Wildlife observation (GPS beacons). GPS beacons are designed to monitor the migration of wild animals, which is very important for scientists and environmental organizations. Differ in waterproof, impact-resistant casing. Such devices determine their location and get in touch extremely rarely, which makes it possible to achieve long-term autonomy at work (up to several years) with a compact device size.
Tourism, active recreation. Allows you to analyze information about the route of travel and training, attach photos and videos to the geographical point of the route. In addition, in an emergency, you can send location data to rescue services.
Trackers for cargo monitoring
The trackers used for cargo monitoring are very similar to personal ones, however they have some peculiarities.
Most often, these devices are used to monitor sea containers. Such trackers should have a hermetic case, a capacious battery and a powerful external antenna (GPS and GSM), since the metal case of the container is a serious obstacle to the penetration of external signals.
Compact GPS beacons can be used to monitor important mailings.
Stationary objects monitoring
In addition to monitoring moving objects, GPS trackers are used to monitor stationary objects. In this case, the location data is not important. However, the signal from GPS satellites can be used to synchronize time. Otherwise, when monitoring stationary objects, the data of sensors connected to the tracker are primarily important. This data is processed by the software and visualized in the form of tables, charts and reports.
In this review, we gave a brief description of the main types of GPS trackers and the areas where they are used. In the near future, we plan to publish a series of detailed technical reviews of popular tracker models, as well as promising new products on the GPS monitoring equipment market.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/267711/
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