Tracking Systems
Tracking systems monitor the location of freight, aircraft, trains, trucks, marine vessels, and people.

Tracking Systems

Tracking systems are used, as their name suggests, to track things.  The things tracked are typically referred to as entities.  Entities that are commonly tracked include people, trucks, cars, packages, shipping containers, boats, trains, aircraft, etc.  Almost everyone has experience using a tracking system in some capacity.  For example, when you order something delivered by UPS or FedEx, you can track it as it makes its way to your doorstep.  The tracking system will tell you where it was last, where it’s headed, and when it’s expected to be delivered.  This is a Freight Tracking example.

Freight Tracking

Freight is anything that can be transported by truck, train, ship, aircraft, or other means of transportation.  Freight tracking involves knowing where those Freight Trackingthings have been and where they are at any given time.  Why would you want to know that?  If you’re in the business of ensuring goods arrive on time at their destination, the first step to achieving that is monitoring where the goods are currently – that’s why you might need freight tracking.  For example, if you operate a fleet of trucks, tracking your trucks would be a good idea.  To track a truck, you might install hardware in the trucks specifically for that purpose.  Or, if you provide smart phones for all your drivers, the trucks could be tracked using the smart phones.

Another purpose of freight tracking is ensuring the location of especially sensitive goods while they’re in transit.  Perhaps the goods are particularly rare or valuable and losing them would be costly.  In this case, your freight tracking system should include dedicated reporting equipment located among the goods being transported and potentially redundant reporting equipment for added safety.

Freight tracking features are commonly included in logistics systems.

Other implementations of tracking systems involve the use of sensor networks (RF receivers, radars, sonars, cameras, etc.) tracking entities that aren’t actively (or knowingly) participating in the tracking system.  In these systems, entity locations are detected by each sensor or data source independently and the results are all merged together using data fusion.  These types of tracking systems are primarily found in research, aviation, military intelligence, and law enforcement.

Please contact us with any questions or to discuss your custom tracking system needs.