The Evolution Of GPS Vehicle Tracking Applications

GPS vehicle tracking has been in existence for some time, at least since the late 1970's. Many trade names have been associated with it such as Lojack and LoTrans. These were early applications created particularly for the inventory and tracking of service vehicles, fire and police department vehicles. They depended upon the World War II LORAN (Long-range Radio Aid Navigation) system. These earlier systems provided a centralized office with the geographic location of vehicle fleets and were a great deterrent to vehicular theft. They however provided no geographic intelligence to the driver of the vehicle.

The present day vehicle tracking is accomplished by using GPS, which is a popularized name for Global Navigation Satellite System. It provides the driver with a highly accurate map, portrayed on a small screen incorporated into the GPS receiver. Here the driver can monitor their present location, plan the best route and obtain an estimate of time to arrival. The Global Navigation Satellite System was developed by the United States and the Soviet Union created its GLONASS during the Cold War to accurately guide their extensive ICBM and SLBM inventories. Later it was used as a backup guidance system for both nations' nuclear submarine fleets.

The current GPS tracking used in vehicles comes to us, in civilianized form courtesy of President Ronald Regan. It was after the tragedy of airline flight KAL 007 that President Regan made it available for civilian use. GPS vehicle tracking allows an uncorrected location accuracy of 3 square meters. The ability for civilian transponders to receive the p coded military GPS signal occurred after President Clinton authorized its' release in 1996. Today you are able to know within feet and inches the location of your vehicle while on the move.

A GPS vehicle tracking device is composed of three parts; the space segment which is composed of 30 geosynchronous satellites orbiting along six (6) planes, the control segment which is composed of six (6) land based monitoring stations and the user segment which is a radio receiver capable of calculating its precise position from comparing multiple radio signals from the satellites. The satellite signal is the output of a satellite's location in coded latitude and longitude and the time. By comparing the signals of many satellites and comparing the time of reception, the receiver can determine its exact location. This calculation is a result of a mathematical process called trilateration.

Today there are smart business applications for the use of GPS vehicle tracking device. One of its applications is in the taxi business. Two separate firms in the United States (Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia) and one in London, England have used it to improve on their dispatch capability. The dispatcher has a Geographic Information System workstation computer that includes a radio transceiver. This provides them with a map of the city and shows the active location of all taxis. It also shows the dispatcher which taxis are working and those that aren't.

When a call is received, the dispatcher logs the client into the database or the system automatically locates the caller's cell phone location or if the client calls using a wired phone system. This later feature prevents crank calls or dangerous situations in which the end aim is the robbery of the taxi driver. The dispatcher can manually assign an available driver or the system can automatically assign. This application of GPS vehicle tracking device has resulted in more than 50% increase in business, a significant reduction in waiting time for customers and a dramatic increase in profitability.

For the latest GPS vehicle tracking devices and where to buy GPS systems at low prices, go to http://www.gpstrackingsys.com

The Benefits of Vehicle Tracking Systems

The availability of GPS vehicle tracking systems has changed dramatically and for the better. With it, we can understand better how individuals and companies operate their vehicles, that might be private cars, buses taxis or trucks and trailers.

Developed originally by the US Armed Forces to help track naval and overland navigation, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) uses a constellation of 26 satellites to beam down encoded time signatures to receivers on the Earth's surface. They are capable of providing levels of tracking accuracy to within a two meter radius. The US government has permitted the use of GPS technology in the commercial sphere since the mid 1990's.

Fleet controllers have an immensely increased control on how their fleet operates using GPS personal vehicle tracking software. They are more capable of pinpointing loopholes in any system.

This can be a waste in fuel efficiency, man hours or a combination of both. Units that have been fitted with a GPS personal vehicle tracking device can be tracked and his actual location can be compared to the location that the vehicles pre-determined schedule states that he should be. Deviations from the schedule can even set off a warning signal at the fleet control nerve center.

The use of GPS fleet vehicle tracking systems has particularly come into its own in the tracking of delivery trucks and trailers as they go about their daily schedule on their delivery routes.

What GPS vehicle tracking software has done to streamline these supply chains for the large companies and corporations operating a large fleet can be measured in tens of millions. When you consider that the bulk of money saved is in fuel costs, and with it less of a blow to our environment, then the savings are doubly effective.

In private cars, installing GPS personal vehicle tracking software makes the whole concept of owning and running a private car much less stressful for the owner.

With GPS personal vehicle tracking software now being fitted as standard in a lot of family cars, there are two types of GPS personal vehicle tracking software on the market today. Real time tracking is where GPS personal vehicle tracking software comes into its own, operating around specially programmed software, a device will transmit to a home based computer. This allows the owner to receive real-time information on the location, speed and direction of travel of their vehicle.

A subscription service to any GPS tracking company allows you to get reports and access to real-time monitoring displays that are shown on a gridded map, making it very user-friendly.

What are the principal uses of GPS personal vehicle tracking?

• Anti-theft: A principal concern of new vehicle owners is that their car will be stolen. Using a GPS personal vehicle tracking software, your vehicle can be quickly located if it is stolen. Car thieves have learned that stealing cars is not as lucrative a profession to be involved in any more, They stay especially clear of cars displaying a GPS system sticker. Insurance companies look very favorably on owners that install GPS personal vehicle tracking software. The generous discounts they award on insurance premiums will help to pay for installing the system.
• Navigation: the GPS personal vehicle tracking software makes a great navigational tool. Nowadays some of the most up to date GPS personal vehicle tracking software not only provide totally accurate directions, but the system will also suggest alternative routes when traffic congestion is detected ahead.
   
• Emergency Assistance: GPS personal vehicle tracking software will be able to provide totally accurate information of your car's whereabouts. In an emergency situation, this will enable instant access to receive medical or emergency assistance.
   
• < strong>GPS personal vehicle tracking software can be used to track a family member's whereabouts. Also how they are driving and where they are headed.

There are so many other applications where using GPS personal vehicle equipment and software can protect your property and a thousand times more important, the physical safety and the general well being of your loved ones.

Scott Elliott owns and operates http://www.tracking-vehicles.com

Vehicle Tracking System

VEHICLE TRACKING SYSTEM is the technology used to determine the location of a vehicle using different methods like GPS and other radio navigation systems operating through satellites and ground based stations. By following triangulation or trilateration methods the tracking system enables to calculate easy and accurate location of the vehicle. Vehicle information like location details, speed, distance traveled etc. can be viewed on a digital mapping with the help of a software via Internet. Even data can be stored and downloaded to a computer from the GPS unit at a base station and that can later be used for analysis. This system is an important tool for tracking each vehicle at a given period of time and now it is becoming increasingly popular for people having expensive cars and hence as a theft prevention and retrieval device.

System: The system consists of modern hardware and software components enabling one to track their vehicle online or offline. Any vehicle tracking system consists of mainly three parts mobile vehicle unit, fixed based station and, database and software system.

• Vehicle Unit: It is the hardware component attached to the vehicle having either a GPS/GSM modem. The unit is configured around a primary modem that functions with the tracking software by receiving signals from GPS satellites or radio station points with the help of antenna. The controller modem converts the data and sends the vehicle location data to the server.

• Fixed Based Station: Consists of a wireless network to receive and forward the data to the data center. Base stations are equipped with tracking software and geographic map useful for determining the vehicle location. Maps of every city and landmarks are available in the based station that has an in-built Web Server.
• Database and Software: The position information or the coordinates of each visiting points are stored in a database, which later can be viewed in a display screen using digital maps. However, the users have to connect themselves to the web server with the respective vehicle ID stored in the database and only then s/he can view the location of vehicle traveled.

Summation: No doubt, Vehicle tracking system whether it is GPS based or any other wireless medium has brought one of the most important technological advances in today’s communication field. Now one doesn’t have to leave a place to know where a particular vehicle is at a given period of time. The automatic vehicle locating system only with the help of a tinny electronic device and tracking software can detect the real-time location of a vehicle by using the conventional cell phone network and Internet.

Riktesh Srivastava
PhD Internet Technologies
MS(Electronics and Communicatios)

Vehicle Tracking of Terrorists

Surveillance professionals all know that those they are watching are generally very mobile; moving from place to place often. The FBI and CIA know that to keep a careful eye on such folks is difficult, time consuming and extremely costly from a logistical standpoint. A man on man coverage is often employed as a strategy much like a basketball defense strategy; expect in this case the surveillance team becomes the background of the target. Another way to set up a defense program is thru tracking each and every target with in a larger grid format; grid defense. This becomes problematic when the hand off a surveillance target crosses territorial boundaries or during transition the target does something unexpected.

The target can be picked back up if indeed their vehicles or method of transportation has been adequately tagged with proper equipment. There are issues of course with the switching of vehicles. Often targets are lost when the target “gamma” flips during the transition and makes “U”-Turn and then switches vehicles or does something which is not in his previous bag of tricks or normal anticipated method of operations.

Bugging vehicles is problematic for those who have anti-bugging devices and it is further compromised thru misdirection of a target that understands he is being targeted. Carefully orchestrating baloney into conversations on phones and in certain rooms of homes or in vehicles the target that knows of such surveillance can cause excessive misdirection and cause alarm to those who pursue for clues. In the case of International Terrorists; “Fear Factor” is the weapon, so even if no plot exists; a fictitious plot can put everyone on Red Alert unnecessarily. Knowing that 95% of Intelligence gathering is pure bull and about 5% actually relevant, it makes the jobs of the surveillance professionals quite tedious. They need to track down each particular BS conversation and lead and exhaust it before continuing. This often costs money in payroll and time to background check all peoples involved and all the plausible stories.

With more and more people being put onto watch lists by paranoid government bureaucrats and more and more people using the government to attack their enemies by putting them on watch lists, the costs are becoming quite high. This means budget increases of taxpayer’s monies, which is an issue due to government borrowing. As the Department of Homeland security has found, it is nearly impossible to keep an eye on every new possible in country insurgent in the United States and those who are in organized crime such as gangs, radical groups or even potential connections to International Terrorists.

I propose a new invention. A passive RFID Tag, which connects to the electrical system of a car. Here is how it should work. First the antenna of the RFID tag would be made of a highly conductive material and would have razor sharp inner angles. Here is a picture of an RFID Tag;

Figure Number One:

http://www.microstripes.com/applications/rfid/tag1.gif

Figure Number Two:

http://www.none-o-your.biz/issues/tags/rfid-swsas-03.jpg

The tags would be attached under the car to exposed wires, which would give them energy when needed. The passive tags would simply ride on the wires until they passed a sensor. The sensors readers would be put inside the road sign poles out of site and have a small piece of tape on the exterior of the sign which would be a cell phone antenna. The road sign itself would be the RFID receiver antenna, which would be placed in the outer border glow in the dark strip around the road sign.

In figure one the RFID Tag antenna would be placed along the wire and attached by splicing the wire in two points along the length of the antenna. In figure two the antenna would be placed perhaps inside of a frame rail and wedged against an automotive electrical wire and splice it at one point where the RFID Tag pierces the polymer insulation on the wire. Each time a target passed by such a road sign the tag would be alert the center for FBI Surveillance.

By using this system we could reduce the number of FBI agents on the payroll and reduce the taxpayers expense for surveillance teams by turning to some old fashion grid defense surveillance. During the cold war the FBI had put transponder units in the dash boards of the Russian Diplomatic Cars which would beep and identify the car each time it crossed a bridge out of Washington DC. Such a plan is not without some history, but with the new technology and passive RFID Tags no one would know that their car was being watched. The good part is that a helicopter, specially equipped police car, truck stop, cargo container crane, rest stop, overpass or border crossing could easily be equipped with the same receiver device and would instantly pick up the gamma target and alert Central Command.

I believe that it is possible to track nearly all suspected International Terrorists without excessive cost to the taxpayer or mistakes during hand offs from MI 6, Scotland Yards, FBI, CIA or other international anti-terrorist survelliance teams. Adding the latest and newest and least expensive technology to our arsenal will save millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money and many lives. Please think on this plan.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Vehicle Tracking

 

Vehicle tacking and similar security measures for your assets are becoming more popular every day. If you already own an expensive vehicle, such as a car, boat, trailer, quad bike, jet skis, motor bikes and more, consider protecting your assets against theft and permanent loss by installing a vehicle tracking system. A vehicle tracking system is a modern and effective method to ensure vehicle recovery after the unfortunate event of a theft. Most new and modern cars can already have a vehicle tracking system installed; otherwise, the process to have the system installed is easy and effortless for the vehicle owner.

In South Africa, the crime rate is high in comparison to other countries, protecting your assets is becoming a part of daily life, from security measures in your home to vehicle tacking and alarms on your vehicles. It is important to research and compare vehicle tracking services and companies, choose a system and a company that can meet your individual requirements and specifications. Many influencing factors will help you make your decision.

First, you need to choose a company that can supply the technology to track your particular vehicle type. Most tracking companies can offer advanced tracking technology that can be installed on almost any vehicle type including watercrafts and on the road and off-road vehicles. The device should be easily concealed on the vehicle and be small enough to evade detection.

Then you need to choose the type of system the vehicle tracker will work from, being a point-to-point system or a GPS system. Depending on your budget, and your location, you may need to seek advice on the best system to suit your needs. It is true that a point-to-point system can be more affordable in comparison to the GPS systems; it is recommended that you get quotes from various reputable companies and compare pricing and services.

It is also a recommendation that you investigate the insurance coverage provided by your product; ensure that the company that supplies your tracking system can meet all your insurance requirements. The contract is also another point not to be taken lightly, here it is imperative for clients to read the “small print” and ensure they do not get “locked into” an unreasonably long contract. Getting a vehicle tracking system installed in your vehicle can be an effective security method to ensure you get your stolen vehicle back after a theft; this is a peace of mind precaution, offering you an easy method of asset protection.

Phil Smulian is a reviewer for supplier of a satellite tracking system, who will help you with vehicle satellite tracking, Tracetec.