Nov/Dec 2003

Vehicle tracking and fleet management specialist ICS Black Box has moved into the personal tracking and security market with the launch of a product called HiPer Black Box - and the company claims it is the smallest portable telematics device currently available.

It looks a bit like a mobile phone handset, but lacks the dialling facilities. Instead, it has a single red emergency button and an ancillary button. It does have a GSM phone core, however, as well as a built-in GPS location unit.

The red button allows the user to call up a control centre. It automatically transmits the location and also allows the user to make a voice call describing the nature of the emergency. The ancillary button allows the user to make a call to one other a pre-defined number.

A further feature of the system is the ability to set up a virtual "fence" around the user, so that the device can send a warning when the user crosses this geofence boundary.