CONTINUOUS NETWORK CONNECTIVITY WITH AUTO TOP-UP FEATURE

Introduction

Many transport businesses are regulated by governments worldwide. For example, lorries must be equipped with digital tachographs so that the data is sent according to a schedule; E-TOLL, modern toll collection solutions, are governed and electronically charged. Reporting is being digitised and made mandatory at the government level. Given this, measures should be put in place to facilitate the ease of data transfer and ensure its stability.

Solution description

As most transport and logistics companies are controlled by public authorities, fleet owners are required to submit digital tachograph charts regularly based on strict rules. Failure to submit data on time will inevitably result in heavy fines. According to the UK government website GOV.UK, the maximum fine for failing to do so can reach up to £10,000 and as much as 2-year imprisonment!

In the case of E-TOLL, a GPS tracker sends information on the location of a vehicle, the data is processed in the payment collection system, and a local National Revenue Administration automatically taxes the vehicle or fleet owners respectively. For example, if the data is not submitted on time in Poland, a car owner has to pay a fine, which starts at €300 per violation, as stated on the Ministry of Finance website etoll.gov.pl.

But what happens if the data is used up or the mobile network SIM card expires? Of course, the tracking device will be disconnected from the GSM network and no data will be sent at all.

Consider this situation – a day-long queue of vehicles is formed near a customs gate. By the time a lorry crosses the border, the data volume may be already depleted or the SIM card plan may have expired, and a fleet administration has not received automated notifications of such events and remains unaware of the situation. Consequently, the lorry driver may not download the digital tachograph data on time which could result in hefty fines for the fleet owner.

Going further, logistics, utilities, and delivery services are often on duty at the weekends, when administration personnel or managers in charge may have a day off. This could mean that nobody reads (or has access to) the relevant system notifications. If all the SIM card data is used up by, let’s say, Saturday evening, there possibly will be no one to top up them manually. Once again, vehicle GPS trackers will not be connected to a network and will not be able to transmit either tachograph data or transport of interest location and journey whereabouts to servers of the E-TOLL payment management system. The office administration may not realise the gravity of the situation until the upcoming Monday, and, in many cases, it will already be too late to avoid penalties.

Fortunately, Teltonika Telematics has a practical solution to help corporate fleets avoid such needless fines and ensure that the SIM cards of GPS trackers are always connected to the GSM network.

Every single Teltonika vehicle GPS tracker has a placeholder for a plastic (regular) SIM card or a possibility to install an eSIM module. The SIM card or eSIM is part of the Teltonika Global Connectivity Solution and is used to connect to mobile networks, and the GPS device will be able to send and receive data to and from locations covered by the data plan.

For example, the Teltonika Global Plan currently allows you to prevent roaming costs in 110 countries around the world and uses the same amount of data anywhere. But the fact is, any data plan has a limited number of megabytes, and if they are used up, a GPS tracker loses an access to the mobile network.

How it works - to keep SIM cards up and running continuously without physical and manual interference, we offer the convenient and practical Auto Top-Up feature. As the name implies, when properly set up, this function automatically renews the same data plan under the same conditions when the remaining amount of data has been used up to a specified limit. Thanks to it, fleet managers and business owners will not run into trouble if a SIM card plan data is nearly used up, or expiration term is around the corner but a person in charge has missed all the notifications, off duty, or simply forgot to top up the plan timely.

Please note, the mobile top-ups themselves need to be purchased in advance, so that they can automatically top up SIM cards of GPS trackers mounted on vehicles. To get ready to use the Auto Top-Up feature, please contact your Teltonika Sales Manager at your convenience. Handily, any number of top-ups can be purchased in advance, so fleets of any size will not be short of connectivity options.

With the SIM card management IoT Platform, you can set up specific SIM cards to be topped up, choose notification rules (via email or SMS) when 90% or any other percentage of data is used up, or inform a person in charge that the last top-up has been depleted and there are no more of them left. As a result, there is no point to monitor the amount of data or the expiry date anymore, as automatic top-ups reduce the need for manual maintenance of the SIM cards, and fleet GPS trackers will always remain connected to the GSM network with no service interruptions.

Going back to our challenge examples above, if the data volume is exhausted when parcels are being delivered on a Sunday afternoon, or a lorry driver finally arrives at the destination after a day of queuing outside office working hours, all Teltonika vehicle GPS trackers will remain connected to the mobile network and fully operational. No data loss, no fines, no hassle. Read more about Digital Tachograph Monitoring and e-TOLL Certified Vehicle GPS Trackers in our published use case articles.

To sum up, the Auto Top-Up feature provides an effective way to automate the top-up procedure, stay continuously connected online, avoid data flow interruptions and/or unwanted penalties when a SIM card is used up or expires. Get as many mobile top-ups as your business needs, set the rules with an IoT Platform, never be disconnected again and keep your reputation intact!

What you need for a solution?

• FMx1YX device (FMB130is taken as example) which is used to connect to a CAN-CONTROL adapter.

Other devices that work with this solution:

FMB110, FMB120, FMB122, FMB125, FMU125, FMC125, FMM125, FMU130, FMC130, FMM130, FMU126

• The SIM card in order to get data to your server
• CAN-CONTROL adapter. The adapter allows you to control car doors and it works with many of our products
• FOTA WEB to remotely send the configuration to the device.
  

Installation

It’s important to hide the tracker, so it would not be a simple task for the thieves to find and unplug it. But also, please do not forget to follow mounting recommendations as well.

Although devices have high gain antennas it’s important to mount devices with stickers on top and in metal-free space. The device should be firmly fixed to the surface or cables. Please make sure, that device is not fixed to heat emitting or moving parts.

The main accessory for the solution is CAN-CONTROL adapter, please make sure that the right contacts are connected. Also, check more detailed information here and supported vehicle list.

To have a working solution it’s important to properly wire the devices. In the picture below it's shown how to correctly wire the devices.

During installation please follow recommendations in order to avoid damaging device and vehicle:

• Wires should be connected while the module is not plugged in.
• Be sure that after the car computer falls asleep, power is still available on the chosen wire. Depending on the car, this may happen in a 5 to 30 minutes period.
• When the module is connected, be sure to measure the voltage again if it did not decrease.
• The ground wire is connected to the vehicle frame or metal parts that are fixed to the frame.
  

Configuration

2. Car sharing configuration:

Parameter ID – Parameter name GPRS settings:

• 2001 – APN
• 2002 – APN username (if there are no APN username, empty field should be left)
• 2003 – APN password (if there are no APN password, empty field should be left)

Server settings:

• 2004 – Domain
• 2005 – Port
• 2006 – Data sending protocol (0 – TCP, 1 – UDP)

After successful GPRS/SERVER settings configuration, FMB130 device will synchronize time and update records to the configured server. Time intervals and default I/O elements can be changed by using Teltonika Configurator or SMS parameters.

Sleep settings:

• 102 – Sleep settings(0 – Disable, 1 – Gps sleep, 2 – Deep sleep, 3 – Online Deep sleep, 4 – Ultra sleep)

Note: This scenario will not work with Deep Sleep and Ultra Sleep modes, since they disable the device's GSM module to save power.

Can adapter settings:

• 45002 – CAN Adapter program number (This code is written in every connection diagram and it is specific for every vehicle model and make year)

• 45170 – Door status, Priority "Low" (0 – Disabled 1 – Low 2 – High 3 – Panic )

• 45130 – Fuel level, Priority "Low" (0 – Disabled 1 – Low 2 – High 3 – Panic )

• 45220 – Total milage (Counted), Priority "Low" (0 – Disabled 1 – Low 2 – High 3 – Panic )

• 45430 – Security State Flags, Priority "Low" (0 – Disabled 1 – Low 2 – High 3 – Panic )

Quickstart: From default configuration to Car sharing solution in one SMS:

"  setparam 2001:APN;2002:APN_user;2003:APN_password;2004:Domain;2005:Port;2006:0;102:3;45002:ProgramNumber;45170:1;45130:1;45220:1;45430:1"

This SMS will set up your device to report the Car Sharing scenario to the server and the possibility for remote control of vehicle components.

Note: Before SMS text, two space symbols should be inserted if no SMS username or password was set in SMS \ Call settings.

Parsing information

2. Parsing example:

Unparsed received data in hexadecimal stream
000000000000008F080100000177B0A5F838000000000000000000004400280D0000001F09EF00F0001504B301B40051005200590098000B42307443 0F8244000011001812002D13FFE85400BE5500005A0000970000A800000AF10000601A53000000005703CB6B986400002E 97660000000069023B33856B000065B27B000000007D00000000BD00000000018400800000300000050100005C92

AVL Data Packet Part	HEX Code Part
Zero Bytes	00 00 00 00
Data Field Length	00 00 00 8F
Codec ID	08 (Codec 8)
Number of Data 1 (Number of Total Records)	01
Timestamp	00 00 01 77 B0 A5 F8 38 (Thursday, February 18, 2021 3:43:00 PM GMT+02:00)
Priority	00
Longitude	00 00 00 00
Latitude	00 00 00 00
Altitude	00 44
Angle	00 28
Satellites	0D
Speed	00 00
Event IO ID	00
N of Total ID	1F
N1 of One Byte IO	09
1’st IO ID	EF (AVL ID: 239, Name: Ignition)
1’st IO Value	00
2’nd IO ID	F0 (AVL ID: 240, Name: Movement)
2’nd IO Value	00
3’rd IO ID	15 (AVL ID: 21, Name: GSM Signal)
3’rd IO Value	04
4'th IO ID	B3 (AVL ID: 179, Name: Digital Output 1)
4'th IO Value	01
5'th IO ID	B4 (AVL ID: 180, Name: Digital Output 2)
5'th IO Value	00
6'th IO ID	51 (AVL ID: 81, Name: Vehicle Speed)
6'th IO Value	00
7'th IO ID	52 (AVL ID: 82, Name: Accelerator Pedal Position)
7'th IO Value	00
8'th IO ID	59 (AVL ID: 89, Name: Fuel level)
8'th IO Value	00
9'th IO ID	98 (AVL ID: 152, Name: Geofence zone 05)
9'th IO Value	00
N2 of Two Byte IO	0B
1’st IO ID	42 (AVL ID: 66, Name: External Voltage)
1’st IO Value	30 74
2’nd IO ID	43 (AVL ID: 67, Name: Battery Voltage)
2’nd IO Value	0F 82
3’rd IO ID	44 (AVL ID: 68, Name: Battery Current)
3’rd IO Value	00 00
4'th IO ID	11 (AVL ID: 17, Name: Axis X)
4'th IO Value	00 18
5'th IO ID	12 (AVL ID: 18,Name: Axis Y)
5'th IO Value	0F 8A
6'th IO ID	13 (AVL ID: 19, Name: Axis Z)
6'th IO Value	FF E8
7'th IO ID	54 (AVL ID: 84,Name: Fuel level)
7'th IO Value	00 BE
8'th IO ID	55 (AVL ID:85, Name: Engine RPM)
8’th IO Value	00 00
9'th IO ID	5A (AVL ID:90, Name: Door Status)
9’th IO Value	00 00
10'th IO ID	97 (AVL ID:151, Name: Battery Temperature)
10'th IO Value	00 00
11'th IO ID	A8 (AVL ID: 168, Battery Voltage)
11'th IO Value	00 00
N4 of Four Byte IO	0A
1'st IO ID	F1 (AVL ID: 241, Name: Active GSM Operator)
1’st IO Value	00 00 60 1A
2’nd IO ID	53 (AVL ID: 83, Name: Fuel Consumed)
2’nd IO Value	00 00 00 00
3’rd IO ID	57 (AVL ID: 87, Name: Total Mileage)
3’rd IO Value	03 CB 6B 98
4’th IO ID	64 (AVL ID: 100, Name: Program Number)
4’th IO Value	00 00 2E 97
5’th IO ID	66 (AVL ID: 102, Name: Engine Worktime)
5’th IO Value	00 00 00 00
6’th IO ID	69 (AVL ID: 105, Name: Total Mileage (counted))
6’th IO Value	02 3B 33 85
7’th IO ID	6B (AVL ID: 107, Name: Fuel Consumed(counted))
7’th IO Value	00 00 65 B2
8’th IO ID	7B (AVL ID: 123, Name: Control State Flags)
8’th IO Value	00 00 00 00
9’th IO ID	7D (AVL ID: 125, Name: Harvesting Time)
9’th IO Value	00 00 00 00
10’th IO ID	BD (AVL ID: 189, Name: Cruise Time)
10’th IO Value	00 00 00 00
N8 of Eight Byte IO	01
1'st IO ID	84 (AVL ID: 132, Name: Security State Flags)
1’st IO Value	00 80 00 00 30 00 00 05
Number of Data 2 (Number of Total Records)	01
CRC-16	00 00 5C 92

Security State Flag Examples:

• 1) Locked doors 00 80 00 00 30 00 00 05
• 2) Unlocked doors 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 05

Convert HEX value to BIN value:

Then count 28'th BIT from the back (28'th bit value shows locked/unlocked states)

• 1) 10000000000000000000000000110000000000000000000000000101
• 2) 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000101

If car is locked value is 1 and if car is unlocked value is 0

To test the car unlocking and locking use these GPRS commands

• 1) To unlock all doors use this command: "lvcanopenalldoors"
• 2) To lock all doors use this command: "lvcanclosealldoors"