June/July 2003

Remote tracking can play a major role in recovering stolen vehicles or goods. But some tracking systems put the accent on security, while others major on the management benefits. Sharon Clancy considers what's on offer

In recent years vehicle tracking has become synonymous with driver and vehicle management and improving supply-chain efficiency. It's easy to forget that early vehicle tracking systems were developed primarily for security, and were intended to protect high-value loads from being hi-jacked or stolen.

However, theft of vans and heavy goods vehicles and their loads is on the increase, and more attention is now being paid again to ways of using real-time vehicle tracking to help recover them.

Even if your GPS tracking system has been set up primarily for fleet management purposes, tracking stolen vehicles is possible on an exception reporting basis. The main obstacle is actually knowing the vehicle has been stolen in the first place. Without 24-hour monitoring ­ for example, if vehicles are stolen at night or weekends ­ there can be critical delays in verifying alarms and contacting police.

 

Two effective solutions have emerged to overcome the notification problem. One is to have event-triggered alarms that send a message via GSM, data network or radio if an unforeseen event occurs. Such events can range from unauthorised door openings in the load compartment to unauthorised movement of the vehicle or trailer itself. These can be picked up by motion detectors, which may be triggered if the keys are not in the ignition or the trailer is moving but hooked up to an unidentifiable tractor unit.

The other solution is to use fleet management software to place a "virtual security fence" around the vehicle or depot in much the same way that managers use them to monitor delivery progress. If the vehicle is moved without authorisation, fails to arrive when expected or goes outside the geofence, the on-board system triggers an alert.

The attraction of geofences is that they can be altered to suit real-time situations and can be vehicle- or site-specific. A truck parked at a motorway service area, for example, can have a temporary "watchbox" placed around it while the driver takes a break.

These precautions work very well in office hours, but raise the question of who receives and verifies the alarm at nights and weekends. What seems clear is that many fleets will require constant round-the-clock coverage. That means either the fleet management software must be programmed to alert a manager directly via a home or mobile telephone, or the alarm must be sent to a monitoring bureau or control centre. The bureau still has to verify the alarm (to avoid wasting police time), but can play a valuable role in liasing with authorities.

MinorPlanet advises customers by mobile phone of any security alerts it receives. "Time is of the essence with stolen vehicles," says company spokesman Neil Cotton. "The quicker police know a vehicle has been stolen, the better the chances of recovery."

Minorplanet has two alarm systems: Guardbox places a temporary fence around the vehicle, while Watchbox ring-fences a complete depot, and sends an alarm if any vehicle leaves without authorisation.

Typical of fleet management-triggered alarms is Siemens Datatrak's Commbase 3.05, which allows users to define operating parameters via a series of watchboxes which can obey geographical and time-oriented rules. When events occur outside the pre-set parameters, a message is sent to the control centre.

Where Datatrak is atypical is that it is one of the few tracking systems that works by means of land-based radio transmissions rather than GPS. It was also one of the first systems developed to deter thieves, having been set up in 1988 by Securicor to track cash-in-transit vans. Unlike GPS, radio signals require no line-of-sight between vehicle and radio beacon to record a position, making it easy to track vehicles in built-up urban areas ­ even when they are in garages or metal shipping containers.

Each vehicle on the Datatrak network is assigned one or more transmission slots within a 28-minute time cycle, depending on how frequently updates are required. The base receiving stations are synchronised to the same 28-minute cycle and identify the vehicles by the transmission time slot. The base station reformats the data, tags it with a vehicle slot number and transmits it to a regional computer centre. Event-activated alarm positions are transmitted every 17 seconds on slots kept specifically for the purpose.

Tracker also uses radio beacon technology for stolen vehicle tracking, but its network is configured differently. The on-board radio transmitters are only activated when the control centre verifies or is notified that a vehicle has been stolen (see box). For its fleet management services, Tracker uses GPS location, believing the two technologies offer operators the best combination.

There is now a third contender in this specific sector of the telematics market, the Australian-owned QuikTrak. This company reasons that GPS-based systems tend to have little crime detection capability, other than panic buttons, and hauliers themselves have limited monitoring capability (often not round-the-clock), and few skills in verifying alarms or contacting police.

QuikTrak again uses radio beacons to locate vehicles, but a key difference is that the on-board transponder simply transmits a constant signal which is received and processed by external receivers on the network. These in turn relay the data to remote processing sites, where the actual position is calculated. QuikTrak transponders use low-power spread-spectrum radio technology to send messages to QuikTrak receiver sites.

Security systems

Alongside Tracker, there are two other systems dedicated to stolen vehicle recovery ­ Eurowatch and Navtrak. Navtrak is owned by ITIS Holdings, the group that invented the Floating Vehicle Data traffic congestion measuring system. Like Tracker, Navtrak operates covertly, but it differs in that it is constantly updating its position via an on-board GPS receiver and logging the information on an on-board telematics box. If the vehicle is stolen, the Navtrak monitoring bureau sends a GSM message to check the vehicle location, and then tracks it while simultaneously verifying with the operator whether the movement is legal, and if not, liaising with the police.

All the positioning data is stored on the truck or trailer and then downloaded. Live tracking is not necessary, believes Giles Harridge, NavTrak's managing director. "The police get a minute-by-minute record of where the vehicle has been, and can raid addresses to apprehend thieves and sometimes recover the load. The historical record is important."

A typical cost for a five-vehicle fleet would be £5.95 per vehicle per week, says Harridge. NavTrak's system can also be used on trailers, in this case using a rechargeable battery with a 14-day life. The unit operates in battery-preserve mode, automatically waking up periodically to report its position.

Notification can be automatic for vehicles that are additionally equipped with Navtrak's driver authorisation system, or ADR (Automatic Driver Recognition). "An increasing volume of trucks stolen are taken using their keys," points out Harridge, "or when they are parked at the roadside and the engine has to be left running to power auxiliary equipment. ADR overcomes that."

Authorised drivers have a small keyfob-sized card, which they can carry discreetly on their person ­ in a shirt or trouser pocket, for example. One ADR card can be programmed to work across a number of vehicles, and multiple ADR cards can be programmed for a single NavTrak unit.

NavTrak has also teamed up with Eurowatch to offer tracking in Europe for commercial vehicles as well as cars. Trucks are charged a licence fee of £250 per vehicle per year.

Eurowatch was established by freight specialist Tri-Mex, a Anglo-Norwegian company providing electronic freight security and anti-hijack services for high-value loads. Tri-Mex's history means it has links with most of the major police forces in Europe, and it is these which form the basis of its Eurowatch pan-European stolen vehicle tracking service.

In an emergency, data is transmitted automatically to Eurowatch, which then relays position information into the control rooms of police forces in foreign countries, where it is displayed in real time on electronic maps.

Eurowatch's key selling point is that through its agreements with various police forces it can talk to local police in their own language. "Drivers or UK-based fleet managers are not left struggling to contact police in another country and talk to them in a foreign language," points out the company's Peter Vivian-Thompson. In its first six months of operation Eurowatch helped combat crime six times, recovering goods and vehicles worth 2 million euros in Sweden, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

Vehicles must be equipped with a GPS positioning system, and operators pay an annual fee per vehicle ­ currently £350 for a single truck, although no doubt fleet discounts will apply. Coverage has just been extended to Turkey, Morocco, the Balkans and the Baltic States.

Navtrak customers are linked to Eurowatch via its new EventChannel, a free-of-charge application programming interface (API) that allows telematics vendors to link their products to Eurowatch. The system works with any tracking system that gives latitude and longitude data.

Tri-Mex has just introduced another service for very high-value goods called Openwatch. It monitors a vehicle's journey from start to finish, and is linked into the hauliers' office systems. Monitoring is provided by the Tri-Mex control centre, which verifies alarms received and initiates reactive procedures accordingly. In an emergency the Eurowatch network is used to notify police.

Telematics bureaux

Telematics specialists such as Cybit, Isotrak and Thales offer stolen-vehicle tracking as a part of their broader portfolio of Internet-based services.

"Once we know a vehicle has been stolen, we poll the vehicle, track it in real time and then liaise with the police," explains Richard Cartland, managing director of Thales. "We have a permanent line to police control centres in every police force in the UK, and can guide police to within 10 metres of the vehicle, or within 5 metres if we can use differential correction."

Thales' on-board telematics control unit can record data from on-board sensors which monitor events such as door openings and breaks in power lines.

Cartland says vigilance is needed to stay one step ahead of the thieves. "Geofencing is the smart way to protect a depot. Deadlocks on load compartments make it harder to access the load even when the truck or trailer is stolen, giving us valuable time. Motion sensors allow us to detect theft of lighter trucks even if thieves push them on to low loaders without starting the engine. "

Cybit was one of the first companies to introduce geofencing to its hub-based telematics system, which is now available on the Web via Fleetstar On-line, developed from a system it acquired from Trafficmaster. "Costs of real-time tracking have fallen dramatically with the introduction of GPRS," says chief executive Richard Horsman.

The company is pioneering security for drivers and lone workers with its GPService Pilot hands-free telematics kit. Drivers who are being threatened can press an SOS button which contacts the Cybit bureau. The driver can receive directions to the nearest police station and have his or her movements tracked by Cybit or the fleet manager.

The future

Police authorities all over Europe now seem to be tackling truck and trailer theft. Eurowatch and the UK's Truckpol stolen-vehicle reporting service (operated by the Metropolitan Police) are evidence of that. But before they can help, they have to know where the vehicles are; and covert tracking can help. The costs can usually be measured in terms of pence per day, which is peanuts once you take into consideration the cost of replacement vehicles, the rise in insurance costs and other factors that result from non-recovery.

tracking trailers ­ a special case

Tracking trailers is easy when they are hooked up to a tractor unit, but not so easy once they are uncoupled, or parked loaded in a yard.

TMC Innovations has pioneered stand-alone trailer tracking with its Susie-Track system, which has its own unique power management system to keep monitoring the trailer for about three months when uncoupled. It automatically detects coupling, uncoupling and other events, and can be linked to security systems such as door sensors, parking brake immobilers, curtain-slash sensors and TIR cable tamper detectors.

Susie-Track is discretely mounted and uses the existing electrical connection between tractor and trailer. Any attempt to cut the wiring automatically activates an alarm, and can optionally immobilise the trailer.

Fleets can also fit a Tractor-ID to tractor units. If an unauthorised tractor is hitched up, an alarm is triggered and live tracking commences. There is an optional park brake immobiliser, which can only be released when the trailer is coupled to an authorised tractor.

There is space in the Susie-Track box for a telematics unit, which can work with systems from suppliers such as Siemens Datatrak and Isotrak, and even with satellite communication devices such as Inmarsat D+ or Space-Checker units.

Another useful way of tracking trailers covertly is to fasten the load doors with electronic seals that can be linked up to tracking systems via radio frequency. Crypta Data Tag from Unisto (formerly Encrypta) and OEM Group's Secureseal.data are two examples.

The tags record the vehicle or trailer number, the seal number and the time that the load was sealed. The data is transmitted by the seal on the back of the delivery vehicle to an antenna by the gate when it leaves the depot. When it arrives at the delivery point the seal details are transmitted again. If the number is unchanged then the computer instructs the barrier to rise and the delivery is made.

Another supplier, Aeromark, offers a system called tripLOCK that combines remote tracking with security monitoring. Like an electronic seal, it is removable and self-contained, but it can also be set up to measure on-board functions like door openings.

Live with Tracker: Sharon Clancy goes out on patrol

When it was first launched in the UK in 1993, Tracker was ground-breaking and unique. Its primary purpose was stolen vehicle recovery and to that end the company behind it reached agreement with all 52 police authorities in the UK that a least one patrol vehicle in each force would be fitted with a Tracker locating unit.

The system operates on old-fashioned VHF radio frequencies. Ten years on, I was keen to find out whether the police were still enthusiastic as ever about Tracker; or were hankering for something more modern?

To find out, I went out on patrol with PC Mark Crozier and his colleague from Bournville police station in Birmingham, which comes under the West Midlands police authority (covering 900 sq km). There are around 100 vehicles in the traffic police department, plus a helicopter ­ all fitted with Tracker units.

One key advantage for the police is that Tracker units only broadcast when the vehicle has been stolen. The coded signal containing vehicle details is transmitted every half second, and is automatically picked by any Tracker-equipped patrol car within a five-mile radius. Officers then use the Tracker equipment in their car to pinpoint the vehicle's location.

Once a patrol car team has picked up a signal, they alert the police control centre, which may send help in tracking it. "With two vehicles we can triangulate the position, so we can pinpoint the vehicle faster," PC Crozier explains, "but this is not essential. Such a lot of our cars have Tracker that if we do lose the vehicle ­ because it moves on to the motorway, for example ­ there's a strong chance another police unit will pick up the signal."

Tracker uses a combination of signal strength and a direction indicator to guide police to the stolen unit. Each Tracker unit has a simple light bar system on the left-hand side of the console. The number of bars rises and falls according to proximity. Once the vehicle gets close, the unit switches to local mode, using the same light bar. On the right is a compass direction-finder, telling the police which direction the coded signal is coming from. Once a signal has been picked up, the unit also emits a steady audible beep.

Mk I Trackers are analogue and fit in the dashboard console, but the digital Mk II version is slim enough to fit in the passenger sun visor. The officer can keep more of his attention on the road, PC Crozier points out, because there is less distance for the eye to travel to and from the Tracker unit.

Police do also get involved in tracking stolen vehicles equipped with GPS, of course. "Companies can direct us to the vehicles on a street-by-street basis via our control centre. That's fine when the vehicle is stationary, but if it is moving, we have to wait 30 seconds between each position update. That's valuable time when we can and do lose the vehicle. Even if we eventually recover the vehicle, the time-lag can give criminals time to escape."

As real vehicle thieves were apparently having a siesta, we tried a couple of dummy runs instead (having told the control centre what were doing to prevent other police vehicles from descending on us). The Tracker unit was silent while we waited for the dummy vehicle to start emitting its signal, but then sprang to life.

The officers know their area, so don't need maps; if the vehicle is roughly to the north-west and four miles away, for example, they know the quickest way to get there. It's hard to get closer to real-time tracking than with a half-second interval between location updates, so there's virtually no risk of time wasted driving in the wrong direction, even if the stolen vehicle is moving. Even with a moving target, we recovered the "stolen" vehicle in less than 15 minutes.

Challenged by PC Crozier to beat Tracker, I took my car, fitted with a temporary Tracker unit, to the edge of the five-mile area of coverage, across a couple of main intersections. I made sure I was tucked deep in a busy residential estate, down a few side streets. All to no avail. In less then ten minutes the patrol car was on us.

I did think I might have beaten the system when he drove past the cul-de-sac where I was hiding but within seconds, he had backtracked. It's a fair cop.