Opinion: Choosing the Right Capabilities for Asset Tracking
B>By Craig Boddy
I>Vice President of Mobile Asset Tracking
isao Systems Inc.
The good news is — those days are over. Machine-to-machine communication via satellite now makes it possible to monitor the whereabouts of an entire fleet in real time. The better news is that there is now a lot more to vehicle monitoring than pinpointing a location on a computer screen.
Asset tracking is downright sophisticated these days.
The first-generation model with which we’re all familiar is configured to “wake up” at programmed intervals and report via satellite every few hours as the truck moves toward its destination. Some systems incorporated sensors that send an alert if a door is ajar or if the temperature in a refrigerated unit drops below a certain point.
While these features are great to have for trucks loaded with highly valuable electronics or perishable goods, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Here is some of what’s available:
Monitoring technology can be used to inflate tires on the road. This is possible because of a tire-pressure sensor. It measures to see when tire pressure falls below a certain point and then triggers the inflation device. With tires being the second-largest variable cost on a fleet, behind fuel, the prevention of even half the number of common blowouts can have a huge effect on the bottom line.
A fleet owner also can get a sensor to monitor fuel mileage. Information on an entire vehicle can be monitored in real time. An engine can be shut down remotely. Ultra-wide-band energy can be used to measure the volume of cargo. The system transmits a holographic picture of a trailer’s contents, thereby making cargo-monitoring easier.
Once a company has the infrastructure to handle large quantities of data, the sky is the limit. Radio frequency identification tags, for instance, can be used to monitor products at the package level, but as an immediate step, pallet-tracking is an option.
While it does not provide the cradle-to-grave visibility of individual package tracking, it does allow a carrier and a shipper to monitor location by the pallet during shipping. The distinction between the two is that product-tracking generates reams of package movement data for the manufacturer and the retailer, which they can use to streamline and optimize their business processes.
In contrast, pallet-tracking produces solid information on location during the time between a shipment’s leaving a manufacturing site and its arrival at its destination. The largest reason why many companies aren’t adopting RFID is the sheer cost. At roughly 5 cents a unit, package RFID has not been consistently proven cost-justifiable. Pallet-tracking does some of what package RFID does, but inexpensively.
Advances in communication are coming so rapidly that fleet owners need to make sure they truly understand the capabilities they purchase. For example, geofencing is getting a lot of attention, but what many fleet owners aren’t aware of is that there usually isn’t “true” geofencing. Truly active geofencing requires line power so that fresh global-positioning-system readings are constantly being transmitted.
What most consumers have is passive geofencing. That means a sensor takes a reading on its normal schedule, and if the truck happens to be inside — or outside — “the fence,” then an alert is sent. There is a good possibility that the truck crossed the predetermined border hours earlier. This is not good if a loading dock needed that information three hours ago.
Another problem is that for detached trailers, line power is not an ideal option. Line powering takes much longer to install, and that enlarges the logistics issues of taking on a trailer-tracking product. However, there is a happy medium. A start-stop motion sensor can trigger the device to take a reading at the occurrence of either event. This increases the odds that a reading will be taken in close proximity to the fence. This keeps battery consumption low while getting many of the benefits of a true geofence.
The next step is making sense, from a logistical standpoint, of all the captured data. The reporting capabilities are just as crucial to business processes as they are to the supply chain. A few companies currently have the software functionality to manipulate data into usable information, but the majority of them suffer from information overload. Large investments are going to be made over the next five years in reporting software.
Technology has transformed trucking, but there is still so much more on the horizon. Trucking is the lifeblood of U.S. capitalism. The more efficient and technology-driven supply management becomes, the more everyone benefits.
Visao is a division of Teletouch Communications Inc. The two Tyler, Texas, companies provide wireless communications services to trucking and other industries.
This story, see the Aug. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
