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A San Jose, Calif. company has developed a way to track valuable vehicles and their operators.

The company, TeleNav, has introduced the Asset Tracker.

The battery-powered Global Positioning System (GPS) Asset Tracker can be placed on a vehicle, trailer, tractor or other piece of heavy equipment to monitor its location.

Someone in the company office could check the computer to see a map displaying where the equipment is located.

“Security is a big application for the Asset Tracker,” said Sal Dhanani, co-founder and senior director of marketing for TeleNav.

TeleNav's Asset Tracker is a small black box (2.36-inches-by-1.8-inches-by-0.8-inch) with an antenna. It weighs about 2.65 ounces and looks similar to a pager. The box contains a GPS receiver plus wireless modem.

The receiver scans for satellite signals and then triangulates its location based upon which satellites it receives a signal from. The modem sends the information to the office computer.

The Asset Tracker uses an internal rechargeable 1330-mAh Lithium-ion battery that works up to three weeks. The item can be stowed in a glove box, under a seat, or in a side pocket. It can also be hidden under the hood or somewhere on the vehicle frame.

Using a personal computer and an Internet browser, the equipment owner can log into a password-protected Web site and view the exact position of the mobile asset. The site is updated hourly.

The Asset Tracker can also serve as a “geo-fence.” The customized tracker sends an alert as soon as the asset moves from its assigned location.

The TeleNav Asset Tracker is priced at $200, with a one-time setup fee of $20, and a monthly subscription cost of about $20.

Popular company

TeleNav is a global leader in location-based applications delivered via a mobile device.

The company was first to launch a GPS navigation, called the TeleNav GPS Navigator and mobile workforce management service on a cell phone in North America.

Partnered with many wireless carriers and device manufacturers, TeleNav offers products in 21 countries on 15 carriers covering 1 billion subscribers on more than 200 cell phone devices.

AT&T, Sprint and Nextel have run television ads that show how customers can receive directions on their cell phones. That technology is powered by TeleNav and is available for about $10 per month on a variety of phones.

TeleNav GPS Navigator needs to connect to TeleNav services to retrieve routing and mapping information. In order to connect, the phone needs a data plan for Internet access from the phone's carrier, which could cost several hundred dollars a year.

Dhanani said the company found its niche about 10 years ago.

“We started with a vision of providing GPS services over cell phones,” he said. “That was about the time that FCC had mandated that GPS and other location technology be put into phones for 911 purposes. Our CEO thought that same GPS capability could be used for commercial services, like navigation.”

Some popular GPS devices use small computers that receive satellite signals to determine a vehicle's location. Maps, already downloaded into the computer, plot a vehicle's course.

TeleNav does the same thing with cell phones, but the maps are not downloaded into the cell phone as with the GPS computer device. This allows TeleNav customers to have the most up-to-date maps and point of interest information available.

“That business continues to be a core industry that is growing fast,” Dhanani said.

Customers began asking for more services including the ability to track the movement of a cell phone.

TeleNav decided to enter the “mobile resource management vehicle location business” in 2003 and 2004.

The company has now launched a new product/service called TeleNav Vehicle Tracker. This tool helps companies monitor and manage expensive pieces of machinery.

An embedded GPS modem in the vehicle provides an exact location that ensures the owner or manager that each vehicle is where it is supposed to be.

The modem provides real-time location of every vehicle on an animated map and allows the owner to oversee speed, stops and location compliance to keep insurance premiums low. It also provides alerts when vehicles enter or exit specific areas.

In addition, TeleNav Vehicle Tracker helps reduce fleet mileage by minimizing unplanned miles.

“We can calculate the shortest route between the warehouse and the farm, for example, and reduce fuel consumption by providing navigation and route optimization,” Dhanani said. “We provide a lot of management tools like that to reduce fuel costs, keep the fleet on schedule and address customer care issues.”

Near future

TeleNav intends to soon offer more information and services.

“You cannot only see where the vehicle is, but also get their engine diagnostic information,” Dhanani said. “If you have a refrigeration unit, you can check the temperature, how many times the door was opened and closed, and so on. It's more sophisticated.”

Dhanani has learned from customers that such devices could be helpful all along the food chain - from farm to fork. He is interested in learning how tracking could be more useful to production agriculture.

TeleNav Vehicle Tracker will be able to follow the mobile unit as it moves from location to location. It's still hypothetical, but eventually the tracking device might transmit information on how the equipment is operating and if fluid levels remain in normal ranges.

When the diagnostics tool is developed, many possibilities become available for farm and ranch vehicles with continuous real time embedded GPS modems.

The GPS modem could be used as a training tool. Farmers often use the training seat in the tractor to coach new employees before sending them out on their own. The GPS modem could serve as another step to watch the progress of the operator and tractor when the farm owner feels they are ready to start working on their own.

Ag businesses that rent out forage harvesting equipment, pay loaders or skid loaders could make sure the equipment is used according to contract agreements.

A tractor or a piece of large equipment kept at a field location could be equipped with a security system that provides a warning alert at the owner's if someone tries to break in.

“Our customers remain our greatest inspiration, because they keep coming up with ideas on how we can expand our products to meet their needs and solve their problems,” Dhanani said.

For more information, visit www.telenav.com.