Case Studies
Tracking company
The Serval data capture service from Eseye slashed the connectivity costs for one vehicle tracking company.
The Customer’s Problem
Eseye was approached by a vehicle tracking company and asked to quote for cellular connections with 10Mb bundled data each month. The company was using SIM cards with a 3MB allowance from a SIM card reseller, and regularly being charged out of bundle data.
Following analysis, Eseye believed that there were a number of ways in which the customer’s problems could be addressed and the data requirement reduced.
Eseye supplied a single SIM card for testing. At the Eseye APN, analysis tools were used to record on a minute-by minute the amount of data sent by the tracker. Eseye was quickly able to show the tracker was sending more than a hundred bytes of data per position fix, and the server was responding to the device with a similar amount of data, the total coming to just over 400 bytes per position fix.
The fix required only the latitude and longitude to be sent. The tracker was however configured to send a plethora of additional information that could readily be added based on knowledge of the SIM.
Eseye’s Solution with Serval
By switching to using Serval, the data payload wad reduced to just 9 digits of data for latitude, and a similar number for longitude. Encoding this as binary data (two 32 bit numbers) and using a 4 byte acknowledgement the total data usage per fix was reduced to 16 bytes. Selecting UDP over TCP removed a significant overhead,
Eseye then implemented some moddleware at its APN to recreate the original data format for onward transmission to the tracking database over a secure APN.
The Result for the Customer
Using Eseye’s expertise and Serval data capture server, data use came down by nearly 97% to a. Where the customer had been looking to increase the bundled data, and were merely shopping on price, Eseye were able to show that the same level of service could be provided using significantly less data.
Whilst slashing the monthly connectivity bill, they could also provide their users with more responsive services by increasing the frequency of fixes – a great competitive advantage.
Next Steps for the Project
A further feature of Serval is the ability to store and forward messages to the device. This allows web applications to securely communicate with the remote unit without needing a fixed IP address SIM card, VPN or requiring the device to regularly poll for data. The instant the device comes online, Serval immediately sends any pending data packets – saving cost and battery power.
The customer is now testing an updated application that uses the Serval interface to send messages from their web front end to the tracking devices. This will allow the users to remotely configure features of the tracker such as geo-fence and Immobilise functions.
The Future
With the worry of excessive data costs out of the way, the customer is planning a new generation of tracking devices which will pull additional information such as fuel consumption and other driver behaviour indicators from the vehicle. Armed with this, their users will not only know where the vehicles are, but also help them drive more safely and economically.