How IoT empowers Fleet Management & Tracking System

How IoT empowers Fleet Management & Tracking System

“The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.” –Wikipedia.

One of the biggest problems logistics industry faces is the tracking of fleet. With Vehicle Tracking solutions powered by IoT devices, a Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) is not only implementable but also economical. As per the study, there were 15 billion connected devices in 2015 and they will rise to 50 billion by 2020–a staggering rise of 333% since 2012 in the number of IoT devices. The report further indicates that Logistics Industry would be the biggest beneficiary of IoT.

As a fleet management solution, IoT can be utilized to perform very specific and important functions. Typically, sensor nodes can be attached to nearly anything in a fleet that operations managers want to keep track of. This includes vehicles, equipment, fleet headquarters, or even points along specific routes. These sensors then collect data that is transmitted, in real-time, to a cloud server. Once in the cloud, the data is sent to a data dashboard, i.e., an application on a mobile or desktop device, that displays the relevant data for your IoT network.

Data dashboards are an integral part of IoT functionality. They serve as the hub for the collected data from your sensor nodes. This information can then be displayed in ways that can be easily assessed and acted upon. Information collected from your sensors can be displayed as either graphs, gauges, or even raw numerical data. Not only is the way your data displayed customizable, but which data you want displayed can also be configured.

As a fleet management system, IoT sensors and the data that accompanies them can be applied in several different ways. IoT data can be used to generate actionable insights about road weather conditions and traffic, and vehicle health. The direct results of utilizing an IoT enabled fleet management system are safer operations for your drivers, and more efficient operations for your overall fleet.

How an IoT based typical fleet tracking system works

• Location data collected by on-vehicle sensors, including GPS, OBD II sensors.
• Data from all sensors is periodically sent to the local gateway over a mobile data connection as the vehicle moves.
• Gateway sends information to network server where speed, location, direction and other variables are collected and send to a secure application server in the cloud
• Application server sends reports and alerts on movement and safety of the vehicle to the driver’s or supervisor’s mobile.

Conclusion

The technology is still evolving, and as vehicle tracking solutions providers find many use cases, Internet of Things will turn out to be the lifeline of the fleet management industry. Early adopters of IoT will enjoy an absolute advantage over others because firstly, it will help reduce the overall cost by optimum utilization of resources, and secondly, it will help in acquiring, sharing and acting on real-time data which results in quick and precise decisions.

TrackRover’s IoT-based fleet management & tracking system is way lot efficient than a traditional tracking system is. If you’re into logistic industry, you should definitely think about upgrading your systems. Contact us for more details.

Source: Wikipedia, Google, Fathym, Peerbits, Freepix