Whether it's a simple SatNav system helping you find your way around new areas or a complicated fleet management system installed by your employer, GPS tackers are becoming standard gadgets in the cabs of many a truck. If you're a trucker the chances are you already have one or will find yourself getting one in the near future. With this in mind we thought it might be interesting to take a brief look at exactly how these systems work.
GPS which stands for Global Positioning system was original developed by the U.S. military to guide smart bombs and homing missiles, the technology completely changed the ways wars could be fort. In WW2 bombs that simply landed in the right city were often considered to be on target, since GPS bombs are now expected to land within a few feet of their target. It is now possible to target not just individual buildings, but individual rooms of buildings.
The technology does not just work with bombs; GPS can be used to track any person or vehicle anywhere in the world. As with most technologies as improvements are made the price comes down, and within the last few years it has reached a price grade that the everyday consumer can afford. It now comes as standard in many cars, smart phones and even cameras.
A GPS system works out its position by reading signals being broadcast from satellites orbiting the earth. There are 27 satellites in orbit being used for the purpose of GPS. At any one time 24 of these satellites are operational with the remaining three on standby in case one should suffer an error. This allows constant satellite coverage of the entire planet. Each satellite weighs between three and four thousand pounds. Your GPS devices searches the sky for signals from three or more of these satellites, it then records the time it takes for the satellite signal to reach you from each satellite to work out exactly where you are. It then plots this position on a map and uses sophisticated computer software to give you directions and plan routes for you. By monitoring how quickly the information from the satellite changes other details like speed at which you are traveling can also be established.
There are two kinds of tracking systems available, active tracking and passive tracking. Passive tracking is what is used in most car satnavs; they are simply used to tell the car driver where they are and work out directions. Active trackers however also link into the mobile phone GPRS network and send information to a central computer about your speed and location. These are used by many businesses who want to be able to keep track of all their vehicles and personnel at all times. These are frequently used for delivery companies wanting to offer package tracking to their customers, or security services wanting to be able to quickly establish who is closest person to an incident that needs to be reached quickly.
As GPS devices continue to fall in price the uses for them are only going to increase, we are already seeing location based advertising to phones that automatically behave differently depending on where you are. The ideas fuelling these technologies are still in there infancy.