Mr. Kader’s dream car just got delivered. As far as he can remember from the childhood, he always wanted to own an SUV. Now at his late 30’s, he finally got to fulfill his dream. He is pretty excited about it. He even invited a few close friends and relatives over to throw a little party. One of the invitee was his nephew Robin. So, after talking a while, when Robin asked if he is going to install a GPS tracker it made him curious to say the following
Mr. Kader: What’s that? I have heard about it, but never truly understood the thing.
Robin: It’s a device uncle. Basically, it’s a tracking system using satellites.
Mr. Kader: You know Nephew I don’t know this fancy science Stuff. You are an Engineer! So describe it in simple words?
Robin: Well, I certainly can try. Firstly, Let’s break down things a bit. GPS part in “GPS Tracker” essentially is an acronym of Global Positioning System. It was built by US military and fully functional since 1995. The GPS system currently has 31 active satellites in orbits. The satellites orbit about 20,000 km from the earth’s surface are designed thus a way so that there are always 6 satellites in view, from most places on the earth.
So, how does it work? Let me show you with a simple drawing. Let’s assume, you are lost somewhere. You don’t remember anything for some reason. You find someone in the street and asked, “where am I?” he says “You are 50 kilometers away from Narayngonj.”
Though it’s a good fact to know, it doesn’t really help you or anything. You could be anywhere around Narayngonj with an imaginary circle radius of 50 kilos. Then you asked another person and she says “you are 100 kilos from Dhaka.” Now we are getting somewhere. Ask a few more and draw combining circles and voila! You pinpointed your location as Keranigonj.
This is called Trilateration based on intersection of spheres and the same concept is used in GPS location tracker using around six satellites for every location which works with high frequency low power radio signals.
Mr. Kader: That’s good to know, but what’s a GPS Tracker?
Robin: A GPS tracker is actually a GPS receiver. So it doesn’t essentially contact with the satellite or anything, it just listens to four or more satellites that are constantly sending radio signals. Some specialized devices can use mobile tower’s signal strength or Wi-Fi for GPRS tracker.
Mr. Kader: Great, but what are the uses of GPS Tracker?
Robin: Well to be fair, the possibilities are endless. Law enforcement can track criminals, in different races it is used to track racers, Espionage, surveillances for notorious people, monitoring wild animals, pets, elderlies, employees etc.
For you, VTS or Vehicle Tracking System should be one of the most important thing that your car has.
GPS vehicle Tracker is installed permanently in vehicles and do not need charging. The VTS system installed in a vehicle automatically figures out the location of that vehicle and transmits the data through a cellular network to a server. This server monitors the whereabouts of a vehicle in real time. With real-time GPS tracking device, stolen vehicles can be recovered quickly.
Various measurements, for example, fuel usage, speed, car battery status, engine temperature, turn on-off time, can be determined as well as how far you’ve traveled, your current speed, a trail showing you exactly where you have traveled on the map.
Safety of the driver, passengers and vehicles are of great importance for anyone. Unsafe driving habits, entry into dangerous zones, or mishaps on the road can be detected in no time to take corrective actions. Use it to keep your kids safe, prevent loss.
Mr. Kader: Whoa! Seems too good to be true. Such a delicate thing must cost a big buck. Is it available in the country? Or I have to import one?
Robin: Actually it really Is available in Bangladesh. In fact, one posthumous Bangladeshi company OnnoRokom Electronics made one VTS called “Prohori”, which I heard is no less than any other international brand. You should try their demo. If you don’t like them, you can think of something else then.
Mr. Kader: Great! Will try to contact them as soon as possible.
