Tag: cellular coverage

satellite tracking, gps, fleet, smartone, global star

The SmartONE C: Satellite Tracking To Work Outside Cellular Coverage

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on The SmartONE C: Satellite Tracking To Work Outside Cellular Coverage

The period of implementing asset trackers has come and all fleets have started to recognize the true potential of telematics. With the aid of asset trackers fleets have seen a rise in revenue, productivity and safety, while a decrease in variable costs such as fuel, maintenance and hours of service (HOS). 

More fleets are trying to join in on the trend of implementing telematic solutions but are surprised with the plethora of resources available. This is quite overwhelming, and as a result, fleets are starting to equip their fleet with solutions without first knowing their needs. 

Every fleet has their own needs. It could be to prioritize temperature monitoring, making use of solar energy or even working outside of cellular coverage with satellite tracking. Without learning your needs, the wrong solution could get implemented which could prove to be fatal both in terms of productivity and finances. 

 

Working Outside Of Cellular Coverage With Satellite Tracking

Fleets working outside of cellular coverage must ensure they’re implementing a satellite tracking solution. Most asset trackers are designed to be operated within cellular bounds. Asset trackers are used to transmit data to the main system for the fleet to make use of and if it’s not within cellular range, it will no longer transmit data. This results in the fleet not having connection or sight over the asset. This is why fleets who are working outside of cellular coverage where batteries are difficult to maintain, must ensure they use a solution like the Global Star SmartONE C tracker.

 

The SmartONE C – Tracking Beyond Coverage

 The SmartONE C is the satellite tracking solution offered by GoFleet to track assets beyond coverage. Offering global satellite coverage, it’s a practical solution for a multitude of operations including 12 different reporting times, interval or 24 hour operation mode, alternate reporting schedule, low battery messaging, motion sensor or vibration parameter and scheduling, contact closure parameters as well as diagnostic messages. 

 

The SmartONE C – Features

The SmartONE C uses motion sensors, comparative GPS positions and custom configured sensors to gather and transmit asset status information about safety, maintenance procedures and driver analytics. Each SmartONE C is configured to track its asset’s specific needs and provide intermediate and emergency alerts by email or text. 

The SmartONE C can be line powered, and that’s when the user has maximum flexibility in messaging frequency allowing for regular monitoring of asset location. In the absence or interruption of external power, the SmartONE C can automatically switch to battery backup. The asset tracking device is powered by four “off the shell” AA 1.5V lithium batteries providing 3+ years of battery life and eliminating the need to purchase expensive proprietary batteries for replacement.  

 

A Case Study – Satellite Tracking For Winter Fleet Management

In 2019, a storm dumped nearly two feet of snow on the city and made some neighborhoods impossible to access. Streets that would normally be cleared with a standard plow vehicle were unmanageable because of the compaction and weight of the snow. There was a need for a specific kind of grader to bore through, but without proper data, there was no indication ahead of time that this special equipment was necessary. Plowing crews only found out about the conditions when the normal snowplow arrived and could not clear the street.

Every year, over 1,300 deaths and 116,800 injuries occur from vehicle crashes due to snowy conditions on roadways. Snow removal, sanding and salting roads helps these conditions, but few trucks are available to perform the work. Accurately knowing where the heaviest snow has fallen will enable dispatchers to deploy the correct equipment to clear the dangerous areas first.

The fleet needed to know the speed of snow accumulation in near real time, new snow depth by the hour as well as total depth for the day, month and season in multiple areas at once. Simply measuring the snow with a stick was not an option, as they needed to monitor several miles of land, some of it in remote areas out of cellular range. What they needed was a digital solution that was affordable, flexible, easy to install and ideally could serve other purposes after the snow was gone.

To tackle this challenge, the SmartONE C solution was implemented. As a result, all the snow data was placed into one easy-to-use web-based user interface. The SmartONE C gave managers the power to view the location, behavior and other telematics data collected by assets in their organization’s technology ecosystem. It was possible to group and sort assets, customize interfaces and user permissions and automate alerts or reports to suit the fleet’s needs.

Implementing the SmartONE C allowed the fleet to watch snow levels as they grew in multiple locations at once, allowing them to estimate the hourly accumulation to help them determine their removal plan. The fleet was also able to track the plows’ locations and behavior on the same user interface as the snow depth. In addition, they could manage the consumption of salt being used on the road and supply the drivers with valuable emergency communication capabilities out of the treacherous roads.

Satellite tracking solved the challenges that winter fleets were facing and simplified their management process. If you’re fleet works outside of cellular coverage or operate in places where the connection isn’t strong, the SmartONE C would be the best choice for your fleet. It will allow you to operate and track fleet data almost anywhere globally and help take your fleet to the next level. Contact us now for deep insight about the SmartONE C and how your fleet can implement it.

asset trackers, fleet management,

Asset Trackers: How Smart Utilization Leads To Efficiency And Cuts On Costs

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on Asset Trackers: How Smart Utilization Leads To Efficiency And Cuts On Costs

Today, all businesses including fleets, are trying to rapidly improve their efficiency to cut down on costs and raise productivity. When addressing fleets, many times the asset utilization rate goes unnoticed, and this causes a lack in efficiency that can be avoided.

Smart Utilization

Ensuring that the usage of each asset is maximized but not going overboard is simply called ‘Smart Utilization’. There are several scenarios when assets just catch dust and don’t get utilized because there’s an excess of that asset, and vice versa with ones being over utilized. 

Fleets often overlook this strategy making it a critical strategy to review and implement. Doing so will allow fleets to expect to see visibility of finances, unnecessary costs and gaps in maintenance procedures.

 

What Is The Smart Utilization Strategy

If all assets are tracked based on their utilization rates, fleets can figure out which assets are being under and overused and make decisions accordingly. If assets are being underused, this means there’s an excess of the resource and it’s being wasted. If an asset is overused, this will create maintenance issues with it as it’s being used way too much and will be prone to breaking down. This will provide fleets with the information of how many assets they need to add or remove from their fleet for maximizing efficiency and staying within budget.

Key performance indicators for vehicles include days driven, drive time and mileage while key performance indicators for other assets include operation duration times and location tracking. Fleets can easily view these statistics from their telematics system online.

 

Smart Benefits of Smart Utilization 

By using a smart utilization strategy, fleets actually implement a smart cost management solution because they use all their resources to their maximum capability and get the highest return on investment.

With the additional data on the number of resources required, fleets can ensure there are enough resources to run at maximum efficiency to get the best results in the long run. Since all assets will now be properly used and no longer overused, they will have a long lifespan.

 

How Smart Utilization Can Be Beneficial

Utilization reports show which assets are hardly used or overused, or in downtime for maintenance or repair. Monitoring this activity will help fleets improve on replacement cycling and will also quickly point out areas of opportunity to re-deploy vehicles into other areas of the business. Consistently tagging, giving a title and insuring unused assets is expensive and renting would be a better business decision during surge times.

 

The Right Asset Tracker For Your Fleet

The benefits of smart utilization can be provided by most asset trackers, but each track excels in different situations. To determine which asset tracker a fleet would find most beneficial, let’s have a look at the different types of trackers available to take advantage of.

 

The Flex Solar-Making Use Of Free Energy

The Flex Solar is a solar powered asset tracker designed to track bulk cargo containers, vehicles and other large assets with no direct power supply. Solar energy is a great source of energy for large assets travelling far or being stored outside for long (like shipping containers) because they are often standalone assets with no power supply. 


The ZenRemora – A Simple Solution To Asset Tracking

The ZenRemora is a great alternative to the Flex Solar if you have to rely on an ion battery if solar energy is challenging to depend on. On top of general asset monitoring, it also has additional features including anti-theft mode, tamper detection, geo-fence awareness and expandability opportunities with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons.

 

The ZenFalcon – Temperature Is Now A Known Variable

The ZenFalcon is a temperature-sensitive asset tracker allowing fleets to monitor temperature and humidity. Fleets can continually monitor these variables with the 5-year battery life and hourly reporting ZenFalcon has to offer. If ensuring that the goods/assets are in proper temperature and humidity conditions, the ZenFalcon should be taken into consideration.

 

The BlackBerry Radar – Prioritizing Load Management

The BlackBerry Radar focuses on asset tracking for cargo, vehicles and non-motorized assets like bulk containers, trailers and various equipment where content capacity has to primarily be monitored. Implementing this allows fleets to properly plan their loading process for improved efficiency. 

 

ZenBeacon – Asset Tracking Independent Of Cellular Coverage

The ZenBeacon provides data on light exposure, temperature, asset impact and provides an alternative to Radio Frequency Identity (RFID) tracking via BLE beacons. Designed to have a long battery life, this would be beneficial for assets traveling to locations with no cellular coverage.

 

The SmartOne’sC – Reliability Outside Of Cellular Coverage

The SmartOne’sC is a self-charging solution to support long term remote deployments without the need to replace the battery. Using a highly efficient solar cell, it can continuously charge the battery and maximize operating life, even under extreme weather conditions.

Using any of these trackers will shed light on what assets are truly being used, allowing for decisions about renting, selling and purchasing to be made. For example, if there are certain assets not being used enough to justify the purchase and upkeep costs, operators may decide to only rent the assets during peak times. In comparison, fleets who see some assets being overly depended on, will allow them to see whether they should consider renting or even purchasing additional assets to alleviate stress and maintenance requirements on the assets already deployed. 

All these trackers can determine the utilization rates of an asset, but they each excel at different things. Depending on what matches your fleet’s needs, that would be the asset tracker to learn more about. Improving utilization rates for each asset in a fleet will help financially and improve overall management in the long run. For further learning about the specifics and details of these trackers, contact us now.