The Hindu : Business : Tracking vehicle movement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

Business

Business

Tracking vehicle movement

By R. Prasad

CHENNAI, AUG. 17. Tracking vehicles has become a child's play with the launch of a device, Markker, by the Bangalore based RoadWaves Wireless Technologies (P) Ltd. Markker provides location details with an accuracy of plus or minus ten metres and allows for two-way communication between the customer and the device. The customer has an option to choose either SMS or GPRS (General Packet radio Service) as the preferred mode of communication. "Every Markker has a SIM card and mobile phone inside. This permits two way communication with Markker fitted in a vehicle," said Suresh M. Selvanathan, CEO, RoadWaves Wireless Technologies.

The feature of the device is the absence of antenna, displays or cables jutting out of the device that lend itself to tampering.

The battery backup inside the device allows it to work up to 48 hours even if the cable connecting it to the battery is severed off. In addition to its compact architecture, the device allows itself to be stealth mounted as long as it is substantially exposed to the sky.

RoadWaves has tied up with Airtel for mobile communication and is also operating call centres to help customers track vehicle movement. This gives the customer the choice to track fleet movement either by receiving a SMS from the device fitted inside the vehicle or contacting the call centre.

To start with, two call centres have been started, one each in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. There are plans to open 25 such centres in other states in six months. Alternatively, vehicles can also be tracked by accessing the Net.

Vehicles can be tracked every minute when GPRS is chosen or once every 40 km, 20 km or 10 km when SMS is the preferred choice of communication. The GPRS mode of tracking costs Rs. 350 a month. In addition to this, customers can also get location details by sending a SMS to the device or turning to call centres. The customer pays for such calls, as these are not part of the plan. But this is largely made unnecessary as the device has 65,000 significant places along the roads stored in its memory. "In addition to location and speed details, call centres will also provide a host of other data required by the customer for free," said Mr. Selvanathan.

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