Next-Generation Tracker Debuts

August 1, 2015  - By

Photo: StickNTrackStickNTrack — an award-winning low-power tracker from Sensolus — is now active in eight European countries.

StickNTrack guards and tracks position, journeys, motion and status of any non-powered asset without the hassle of charging batteries, managing SIM cards or an intrusive installation, Sensolus said.

StickNTrack’s web-based service platform is tailored for low-power asset tracking communicating over the French-based Sigfox. Because Sigfox is an ultra low-power communication network, it significantly reduces StickNTrack’s power needs so that it consumes up to 40 times less power and lowers life-cycle costs by 50 percent compared to existing compact GPRS/GPS products, Sensolus said.

The tracker’s power can last up to five years. In the third quarter, an upgraded version will be released with extended battery lifetime up to nine years, according to Kristoff Van Rattinghe, who developed StickNTrack along with Laurence Claeys, Johan Criel and Koen Van Vlaenderen.

Users can access the StickNTrack web portal with any smartphone running Android OS or iOS. The full feature set can be accessed on a tablet or laptop. Features include interactive timelines, intuitive geofencing, email alerting and optimized energy savings.

The ruggedized, waterproof StickNTrack is 120 x 50 x 25 millimeters and weighs 255 grams. It can track assets on the water, such as yachts or buoys, providing automated logbooks, alerting users when assets enter or exit specific zones (such as harbors), and providing real-time journey information for those at home.

StickNTrack’s developers took third place in the 2014 European Satellite Navigation Competition, after taking first in the Flanders regional competition. It also won the European Space Agency’s Innovation Award.

Dubbed a “distruptive innovation” by the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), StickNTrack “opens up an abundance of new business opportunities in tracking trailers, containers, machinery, tools, bikes and more. Future accuracy and availability improvements based on GNSS will trigger additional advancements, such as by automating supply chains for packages and their delivery. Ultimately, stickNtrack is a next-generation location tracker that significantly lowers the barriers to embedding even more GNSS technology into our daily lives.”

“Every day new types of non-powered assets are being connected to our service platform,” Van Rattinghe said. In the coming years, Sigfox aims to provide global coverage.

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