WHAT-IS . NET
Information and answers to all your common and special questions.
Copyright©2006-2007 What-is.Net  All rights reserved.
Last Updated: May 1, 2007
What are Vehicle Tracking Systems?
The GPS satellite system was built and is maintained by government and is available at no cost to civilians. This makes this technology very inexpensive. Other AVL systems do not require the antenna to be in direct line of sight with the sky. Terrestrial based systems such as Loran and LoJack tracking units use radio frequency (RF) transmitters which will transmit through walls, garages, or buildings. Many police cruisers around the world have a form of AVL tracking as standard equipment in their vehicles.

Some vehicle tracking systems incur a cost to the user in the form of monthly fees. Companies such as StreetEagle, and Track Star bundle mapping software, with hardware, installation and tracking into monthly subscriptions. Other companies such as the LoJack units are paid for upon installation and will continue to work for the life of the vehicle. The decision to adopt an active technology based on RF (e.g. Loran), satellite or public carrier (e.g. CDMA) is driven by the quantity of information, the frequency of updates, and the physical environment of the device. For example a fleet manager may want 5 minute updates, telling whether a vehicle is on or off, or may want 30 second updates tracking engine vitals, brake status, container status, vehicle speed and direction and so on.

Emergency vehicle tracking requires sophisticated control mechanisms and software to ensure accurate, usable, real time information about the vehicles under your control.

Tracking of emergency vehicles differs from the tracking of commercial vehicles in that the update requirement (the frequency positions are needed) varies continuously. For example, an ambulance 'at station' or preparing a patient for transport at the scene of an incident may not need to be polled  at a high rate. However, when a vehicle is 'mobile incident' or 'mobile hospital' one would generally need to access it's position more frequently. Updates are transmitted to the despatching system in real time so that operators are able to make informed decisions about the despatching and redirection of vehicles.
Vehicle Tracking Systems are electronic devices installed in vehicles to enable vehicle owners or third parties to track the location of a vehicle. Most modern vehicle tracking systems now use GPS modules to allow for easy and accurate location of the vehicle. Many systems also combine a communications component such as cellular or satellite transmitters to communicate the vehicle's location to a remote user. Vehicle information can be viewed on electronic maps via the Internet or specialized software.

Current vehicle tracking systems have their roots in the shipping industry. Corporations with large fleets of vehicles required some sort of system to determine where each vehicle was at any given time. Vehicle tracking systems can now also be found in consumers vehicles as a theft prevention and retrieval device. Police can simply follow the signal emitted by the tracking system and locate the stolen vehicle.

Many vehicle tracking systems are now using GPS or a form of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) to allow for easy location of the vehicle.
Vehicle Tracking Systems
Return to HOME Page