VHF Tower Network Asset Tracking System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle tracking systems face challenges such as high costs, complexity, unreliability, and limited indoor and urban canyon coverage, particularly when relying on GPS or cellular networks, and often lack direct police intervention for theft reporting and tracking.
Innovation Solution
The integration of lower-cost auxiliary locating units with transmitters and a VHF tower network, allowing for vehicle and asset location, tracking, and recovery, using a network of VHF towers and a control center to relay signals between primary and auxiliary units, including a position determination subsystem and cellular transceivers for enhanced communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS subsystem is used for vehicle tracking, then location accuracy is improved, but system reliability deteriorates because GPS signals are not available indoors or in urban canyons
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the tracking functionality into two independent segments: GPS-based outdoor tracking and VHF-based indoor/urban tracking. Each segment handles specific scenarios where it is most effective, ensuring continuous coverage across all environments without relying solely on GPS.
Solution Approach 2:
The VHF tower network serves multiple functions: it provides location tracking in areas where GPS is unavailable, enables two-way communication between vehicles and control centers, and supports both active tracking and passive identification modes. This multi-functionality ensures reliable operation across diverse environments.
2Ease of operation
If cellular network is used for signal transmission, then communication capability is improved, but system cost deteriorates due to expensive cell phone account requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The VHF tower network acts as an intermediary communication infrastructure that enables vehicle-control center communication without requiring expensive cellular service subscriptions. The VHF system provides a dedicated, controlled communication channel that bypasses the need for commercial cellular accounts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replicates the essential communication functionality of cellular networks using VHF technology, creating a parallel communication infrastructure that achieves the same objectives (vehicle tracking and communication) without the associated costs of cellular service subscriptions.
3Reliability
If RFID technology is used for vehicle tracking, then tracking capability is improved, but deployment cost deteriorates due to requirement of numerous dedicated readers in close proximity
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from RFID's proximity-based three-dimensional positioning (requiring readers surrounding the target) to VHF's line-of-sight radio wave propagation, enabling tracking over much greater distances and reducing the number of readers needed from numerous close-proximity units to fewer distant towers.
Solution Approach 2:
The VHF receiving transponders in vehicles are low-cost devices that can be easily deployed in large numbers, replacing the expensive dedicated RFID readers. The system accepts that individual units may be temporary or replaceable, focusing on overall system cost-effectiveness rather than individual component durability.
4Device complexity
If VHF tower network is deployed for tracking, then system cost is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates compared to GPS-based systems
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically selects between VHF and GPS based on environmental conditions and operational requirements. VHF provides adequate precision for most tracking purposes at lower cost, while GPS is activated when higher precision is needed or when operating in open areas where GPS signals are available, optimizing the balance between cost and precision.
Data Source
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AI summary
An asset location, tracking, and recovery system and method includes a network of VHF towers and a control center receiving signals from and transmitting signals to the VHF towers. Primary locating units each include a transmitter, a receiver, and a transponder activated when a signal is transmitted by the control center via the VHF towers to the receiver. Auxiliary locating units include at least a transmitter emitting a signal received by at least one primary locating unit receiver which relays that signal to the control center via the VHF towers from the primary locating unit transmitter.