Security & Theft Tractor Theft Tracking
- Thread starter lead_dog
- Start date
VABlue
Platinum Member
How about LoJack? What's the difference between a tractor and a car when you're trying to find it?
kennyd
Advertiser
AbDaBu
New member
patrick_g
Elite Member
AbDaBu, Thanks a lot man! That is very interesting information. It is great to have competition to keep LOJAC from near monopoly status.
Years ago I designed a system for a private investor for security of off-site high dollar heavy equipment. It was not widely usable geographically since it relied on radio repeater coverage (radio coverage like paging systems) since satellite was too expensive at the time. With the proliferation of cell phone towers and ever improving coverage, cell phone based security systems should be getting practical and inexpensive. My premises monitored security system uses a cell phone backup module so if the bad guy cuts the phone lines the alarm system can still dial out.
There is a flaw in many of the anti theft devices. That flaw is in their methodology. IF proper operation of the anti-theft device is required for it to protect your asset it is not so useful. What happens if the bad guy smacks it with a hammer? A better way is to have the monitoring system store the last known location of the asset on a periodic basis (fairly often) and then if the device stops reporting its position you assume it has been destroyed and investigate using the last known location as a starting point.
Pat
Years ago I designed a system for a private investor for security of off-site high dollar heavy equipment. It was not widely usable geographically since it relied on radio repeater coverage (radio coverage like paging systems) since satellite was too expensive at the time. With the proliferation of cell phone towers and ever improving coverage, cell phone based security systems should be getting practical and inexpensive. My premises monitored security system uses a cell phone backup module so if the bad guy cuts the phone lines the alarm system can still dial out.
There is a flaw in many of the anti theft devices. That flaw is in their methodology. IF proper operation of the anti-theft device is required for it to protect your asset it is not so useful. What happens if the bad guy smacks it with a hammer? A better way is to have the monitoring system store the last known location of the asset on a periodic basis (fairly often) and then if the device stops reporting its position you assume it has been destroyed and investigate using the last known location as a starting point.
Pat
sandman2234
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2005
- Messages
- 5,832
- Location
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Tractor
- JD2555 and a few Allis Chalmers and now one Kubota
There are several variations of this for tractor trailers, although it is secondary in the reasons it was designed.
Probabably first in use is Qualcom, a messaging system that monitors and records pretty much everything a truck does including speed/rpm/location and the time it happened. It is satelite based and is used by most of this countries trucking industry.
Highway Master is about the same thing, except cellular based.
Trailer Trac is a non messaging system for pinpointing trailer location. It tells location, empty or loaded and last movements, what truck hooked up to it and when. Unlike the others, it only updates once a day and has battery backup that lasts for about a month.
We had a trailer involved in a rail accident (not mine!!) and the railroad sent it to a scrapyard near our terminal. We finally sent someone to identify it as it showed being in a strange place with no activity and no record of one of our trucks moving it there. After figuring out what had happened, some of the shop guys went over there with sawzalls and cut the front of the trailer out to recover the unit.
David from jax
Probabably first in use is Qualcom, a messaging system that monitors and records pretty much everything a truck does including speed/rpm/location and the time it happened. It is satelite based and is used by most of this countries trucking industry.
Highway Master is about the same thing, except cellular based.
Trailer Trac is a non messaging system for pinpointing trailer location. It tells location, empty or loaded and last movements, what truck hooked up to it and when. Unlike the others, it only updates once a day and has battery backup that lasts for about a month.
We had a trailer involved in a rail accident (not mine!!) and the railroad sent it to a scrapyard near our terminal. We finally sent someone to identify it as it showed being in a strange place with no activity and no record of one of our trucks moving it there. After figuring out what had happened, some of the shop guys went over there with sawzalls and cut the front of the trailer out to recover the unit.
David from jax
patrick_g
Elite Member
The heat and air outfit I use has the GPS connected monitors in the service trucks. An email is automatically sent to management with date, time, location, etc if the speed limit or management set speed is exceeded. A manager can log onto the web site and get all info, current and historical for that vehicle anytime. Cuts down on long lunches at the nudie bar.
Pat
Pat