When the owner loses their pet, they can use the app or dashboard (custom development by SODAQ) to trigger the device into active mode. The device will receive this alert at the agreed listening interval and based on the exact command it then receives it will either go into active tracking mode using GPS positioning, WiFi positioning, or both. In all cases, cell towers are also scanned and used for positioning. Again, this will happen at a predetermined interval (default = 30 seconds). From this moment, the owner will be able to find back their pet by seeing the device location in the app. After the pet has been found, the device can be put back to sleep and depending on the duration of active tracking may need to be recharged over USB, so that it has sufficient buffer to sustain idle mode indefinitely.
In this case, under the hood the device is running on a Nordic NRF9160, which provides the processing power, GPS positioning and LTE-M communication within one SIP (system-in-package).
During the project realization our clients (van Oord) found more use cases to test the trackers and are installing them now on the small vessels that do not have AIS transponders on board and that are therefore not displayed on the radars. The main applications within this installation is vessels’ tracking and collision avoidance. Another use case can be effectiveness assessment of the rented equipment. Now the project is in the installation phase and SODAQ will be glad to share its results in future.