Once a large truck leaves the depot, its owner is typically “blind” as to what happens on the road.  The risks of the high value of the loads they transport as well as the inherent dangers of the loads and almost complete lack of information about what happens to the vehicle and its load once it leaves the depot are a constant source of stress for the owners and operators of such fleets.

The camTrac Mobile vehicle monitoring solution, by using a combination of traditional vehicle functions monitoring and GPS tracking PLUS onboard video recording, allows the fleet owner the ability to SEE what is happening to the fleet out on the open road.

Most traditional vehicle monitoring systems rely on derived information, not direct information.  For instance, some systems will generate a signal when a diesel cap is opened – this is less useful than it at first appears, seeing as one has no idea who

opened the cap, why they opened it and what they did once it was opened.  By being able to SEE an incident, one knows what happened and who was involved, first hand – no need to guess.

Similarly, the scene of an accident normally is filled with people using tape measures and cameras to try and derive or piece together the sequence of events by the evidence left behind by tyres skidding or oil leaked.  Wouldn’t it be so much more valuable to be able to see what happened in the cab before the accident, what happened around the vehicle during the event and what happened after the event.  Apart from the obvious benefits of being able to ascertain the events on the vehicle itself, the activities of third parties through the event can also be seen. 

This aids with being able to resolve insurance claims speedily.  Knowing what happens is also key to the prevention of a recurrence of similar future events.

The camTrac surveillance solution consists of a Mobile Digital Video Recorder (MDVR), custom designed for the harsh South African trucking environment.  Each installation can have up to eight cameras strategically installed to capture the most important events in each specific industry.  Common applications are to view the road ahead of the vehicle, the fuel tanks, the cabin and the load.  In addition to the video, the MDVR is able to record all the main vehicle functions as well as recording GPS position and via an inertial sensor, shocks to the vehicle.

A unique feature of the camTrac surveillance methodology is that all data recorded is accessible remotely as well. 

camTrac operates a 24x7 control room which receives and processes this remote data to assist clients with monitoring their vehicles.  It would be impractical with current bandwidth availability to permanently stream the data to the remote site, so instead, the data is streamed by exception – either by a panic or by request.  In order to secure the full video data set for later forensic investigation, the system is designed to transfer all data to the base station as soon as the vehicle is turned off at the depot.

Features 

Integrated GPRS/EDGE/3G

Integrated WI-FI

Integrated GPS

Live GPS tracking

Record up to 8 channels simultaneously

Overlay speed and other sensors on recorded video

Receive real time video feed at control room

Record up to 30 days of video and event

Use recorded video footage for training

Asses driver behavior

Advantages

Improved customer satisfaction

Wireless Remotely monitoring

Manpower Savings

Safer working environment

Reduction in overtime

Stop fuel and cargo theft

Insurance reductions

Reduce abuse of vehicle

Stop unscheduled  stops