Automatic vehicle location

Automatic vehicle location (AVL or ~locating; telelocating in EU) is a means for automatically determining and transmitting the geographic location of a vehicle. This data, from one or more vehicles, may then be collected by a vehicle tracking system for a picture of vehicle travel. As of 2017, the technology has reached the point of having the transmitting device be: smaller than the size of a human thumb (thus easier to conceal), able to run 6 months or more between battery chargings, easy to communicate with smartphones (merely requiring a duplicate SIM card from one's mobile phone carrier in most cases) and all for less than $20 USD.

Most commonly, the location is determined using GPS, and the transmission mechanism is SMS, GPRS, a satellite or terrestrial radio from the vehicle to a radio receiver; a single antenna unit covering all the needed frequency bands can be employed. GSM and EVDO are the most common services applied, because of the low data rate needed for AVL, and the low cost and near-ubiquitous nature of these public networks. The low bandwidth requirements also allow for satellite technology to receive telemetry data at a moderately higher cost, but across a global coverage area and into very remote locations not covered well by terrestrial radio or public carriers. Other options for determining actual location, for example in environments where GPS illumination is poor, are dead reckoning, i.e. inertial navigation, or active RFID systems or cooperative RTLS systems. With advantage, combinations of these systems may be applied. In addition, terrestrial radio positioning systems utilizing an LF (Low Frequency) switched packet radio network were also used as an alternative to GPS based systems.

Automatic vehicle locating is a powerful concept for managing fleets of vehicles, as service vehicles, emergency vehicles, and especially precious construction equipment, also public transport vehicles (buses and trains). It is also used to track mobile assets, such as non wheeled construction equipment, non motorized trailers, and mobile power generators.

A user with a stolen bicycle can track its movements and discover chop shops as well as other places criminals are likely to congregate.

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Wikipedia