Telematics Access Point Sharing for Agricultural Fleets
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Equipping each agricultural or industrial machine or vehicle in a fleet with a cellular telematics modem and a subscription for cellular internet access is prohibitively expensive, making it impractical to provide telematics capabilities to numerous machines or vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a short-range local wireless network, where at least one machine or vehicle with a cellular telematics modem and subscription acts as a telematics access point, allowing other machines or vehicles without direct access to transmit and receive data through this access point to a back-office server, using devices like Bluetooth, PAN, or WLAN/Wi-Fi.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If each agricultural or industrial machine or vehicle is equipped with a cellular telematics modem and subscription, then telematics capabilities are provided to all machines, but the cost becomes prohibitively expensive
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple machines share a single cellular telematics modem and subscription by forming a wireless mesh network, where telematics functionality is combined across the fleet rather than duplicated on each individual machine
Solution Approach 2:
The cellular telematics modem on one machine serves multiple functions by acting as a shared access point for the entire fleet, enabling universal telematics capability across all machines without requiring individual modems on each
2Ease of operation
If a cellular telematics modem is installed on each vehicle, then direct access to telecommunication system is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Machines with cellular modems act as intermediary nodes that relay data between machines without direct cellular access and the telecommunication system, eliminating the need for every machine to have direct cellular connectivity
Solution Approach 2:
The fleet is segmented into two groups: machines with cellular modems that provide access, and machines without modems that receive access through the network, allowing differential configuration based on individual machine capabilities
Data Source
AI summary
A system shares a telematics access point between agricultural or industrial machines or vehicles utilizing short-range wireless connection devices for each of the machines or vehicles. The short-range wireless connection devices create a short-range local wireless network and transmit status messages from each of the machines or vehicles, indicating whether the machine or vehicle to which each short-range wireless connection device is connected has a cellular telematics modem and an active valid subscription for cellular internet access. At least one telematics access point is chosen from among the machines or vehicles having a modem and a subscription. The wireless connection devices transmit data and informatics to the telematics access point. The telematics access point transmits the data and informatics to a back-office server using the cellular telematics modem by way of a telecommunication system.