Urban field service personnel spend their days navigating the hustling, bustling cities and suburbs, where populations are high and cell coverage abundant. Enterprises using GPS tracking to monitor vehicles, equipment and personnel can easily link field vehicles to fleet managers and dispatchers by transmitting data across ground-based cell-tower networks (CDMA / GPRS).

The GPS location data, which has been calculated with data received from GPS satellites, is sent from the tracking device to a cell tower. By bouncing the GPS data off of the first tower, to a second, and a third, and so forth, the exact location of the device, and associated vehicle or person, can be sent to the receiving manager or dispatcher.

However, GPS tracking devices in vehicles located outside of cellular range – in remote and sometimes dangerous areas hundreds of miles from any towns or cities, for example – cannot acquire navigational mapping or send data via cell-tower networks until the device is returned to the range.

In those instances, location and vehicle data can be stored by the tracking device, and transmitted later via a process called “store and forward.”

If delayed receipt of tracking data is a problem, operations that deploy into remote areas over long periods of time, and rely on real-time mapping and tracking information, can turn, instead, to a powerful alternative.

Vehicles, Boats, and Heavy Equipment can be Tracked and Monitored in Areas far out of Cellular Range using Communication Satellite Networks.

Maritime shipping and fishing operations, large scale energy production, scientific expeditions, forestry, and search and rescue are just a few of the many activities that often occur in areas beyond the range of cell towers.

What exactly is a communication satellite, and how can it be used for GPS tracking?

Communication satellites are dedicated earth orbiters built exclusively for the purpose of facilitating communications across the planet. The first ever communication satellite was launched by the United States in December of 1958. Today, between 2,000 to 3,000 are in orbit, many owned by private companies such as the network used by GPS Trackit for its Satellite device.

Communication satellites usually move in geosynchronous orbit, in which the satellite follows the path of the equator orbiting at the same rate as the earth’s rotation. A communications satellite will receive a signal from an earth station, in this case a GPS tracking device, then will send the signal back to a different or the same earth station.

Many Companies in a Variety of Fields Can Benefit from Satellite GPS Tracking

GPS tracking via communication satellites can be incredibly useful for business, educational, charitable, government and military operations that send valuable assets and people into secluded parts of the world.

Problem:

Argentina has some of the best conditions on the planet for renewable wind power. Wind farms are making life much easier for Argentinian people. Many of these energy farms are located miles from any cellular coverage.

Solution:

Communications satellite GPS can be used to map routes to installation sites, track the transportation of the windmill parts, keep tabs on the building process, and monitor the standing windmills over time.

Problem:

Research organizations and institutions often deliver scientists, expensive instruments, vehicles, and gear to scarcely populated parts of the planet, whether to investigate new species, perform medical research, or dig up dinosaur bones. Expeditions to the mountains of Indonesia, Peru, and Madagascar, for example, will put scientists and their guides very far out of cell range.

Solution:

Communication satellites can be used to monitor the locations of both vehicles and scientific equipment, sending real-time location data and even emergency alerts 24/7 to people back home.

Problem:

More commonly familiar in day to day life are TV news mobile units and crews. Reporters and support crew, cameras, sound equipment, helicopters, and vans are often sent to disaster zones in which all cellular communication is down, or to remote international communities with no cell coverage, to report on important events.

Solution:

Communication satellites can be combined with the broadcast capabilities of mobile news units to help producers keep tabs on vehicles, equipment and other valuable assets, as well as personnel.

Satellite communications is both fascinating and useful in many ways. As far as GPS tracking goes, it can provide immense security for people embarking on dangerous or simply adventurous endeavors.

“GPSTrackIt.com/ is always looking at ways to advance and provide products to our customers that help solve problems.

With our Satellite product there is no dependency on a cellular network. You can locate and track your vehicles in about 80% of the world. Normal GPS devices use satellites to get the pinpoints and then transmit that data over a cellular network. If there is no cellular network you have to wait until your vehicle or equipment gets back into an area where cellular coverage is available.

…The GPSTrackIt.com/ T5000-Satellite Fleet Pro Management package will let you know where your vehicle or assets are all the time.” – Chris McHenry, GPSTrackIt.com/ National Account Executive

To find out more about the T5000-Satellite tracking system by GPS Trackit, complete an online form or call a GPS Trackit Fleet Advisor today at 866-320-5810.