EX4U GSM 3G & GPS Components and Services



  • GSM 3G & GPS units. Please browse our GSM&GPS pages or contact EX4U for advanced specialized security systems.
  • Telemetric components.
  • Internet based Location & Fleet Management, used to encompass the management of any/all aspects relating to a company's vehicle fleet from the allocation of resources to fuel economies.
  • Vehicle Tracking, this component is usually GPS based, but sometimes it can be based on a Cellular triangulation platform (assisted GPS - AGPS).


EX4U logistics, tracking and tracing is the concept of locating persons or property that is being forwarded from an origin to a destination through various hubs and passing along spokes, and determining the location and other status of such object.
Usually this concept is supported by means of reckoning and reporting of the position of the vehicles transporting containers with the object in real-time. This approach leaves the task to compose a coherent depiction of the status reports.
Another approach is to report the arrival or departure of the object and recording the identification of the object, the location where observed, the time, and the status, e.g. on damage or loading. This approach leaves the task to verify the reports regarding consistency and completeness. An example of this method might be the package tracking provided by shippers, such as Couriers.
Mechanical Diagnostics
Advanced Fleet management systems can connect to the vehicle's onboard computer, and gather data for the user.
Details such as milage, fuel consumption, and much more, are gathered into a global statistics scheme.
Driver Behavior
By combining received data from the Vehicle Tracking system and the onboard computer, it is possible to form a profile for any given driver.

GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications


       The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM service is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are Digital call quality, which means that it is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant that data communication was built into the system from very early on. GSM is an open standard which is currently developed by the 3rd Generation Patership Project (3GPP).

Circuit Switched Data, often referred to as CSD, is the original form of data transmission developed for the TDMA-based mobile phone systems like GSM. CSD uses a single radio time slot to deliver 9.6 kbit/s data transmission to the GSM Network and Switching Subsystem where it could be connected through the equivalent of a normal modem to the PSTN allowing direct calls to any dial up service.
A CSD call functions in a very similar way to a normal voice call in a GSM network. A single dedicated radio time slot is allocated between the phone and the base station. A dedicated "sub-time slot" (16 kbit/s) is allocated from the base station to the transcoder, and finally another time slot (64 kbit/s) is allocated from the transcoder to the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC).

GSM data transmission has advanced since the introduction of CSD:

  • HSCSD is a system based on CSD but designed to provide higher data rates by means of more efficient channel coding and/or multiple (up to 4) time slots.
  • GPRS provides more efficient packet-based data transmission directly from the mobile phone at speeds similar to HSCSD.
  • Finally EDGE (E-GPRS) and UMTS provide improved radio interfaces with higher data rates, while still being backward
  • compatible with the GSM core network.

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a mobile data service available to users of GSM mobile phones. It is often described as "2.5G", that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony. It provides moderate speed data transfer, by using unused TDMA channels in the GSM network. Originally there was some thought to extend GPRS to cover other standards, but instead those networks are being converted to use the GSM standard, so that is the only kind of network where GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated into GSM standards releases starting withRelease 97and onwards. Standardized now by the 3GPP.

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile phone technologies. It uses W-CDMA as the underlying standard, is standardized by the 3GPP, and is the European answer to the ITU IMT-2000 requirements for 3G Cellular radio systems.
UMTS supports up to 1920 kbit/s data transfer rates (and not 2 Mbit/s as frequently seen), although at the moment users in the real networks can expect performance up to 384 kbit/s - in Japan upgrades to 3 Mbit/s are in preparation. However, this is still much greater than the 14.4 kbit/s of a single GSM error-corrected circuit switched data channel or multiple 14.4 kbit/s channels in HSCSD, and - in competition to other network technologies such as CDMA-2000, PHS or WLAN - offers access to the WWW and other data services on mobile devices.

Global Positioning System

     The Global Positioning System, usually called GPS, is the only fully-functional satellite navigation system. Officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging Global Positioning System).
A constellation of more than fifty GPS satellites broadcasts precise timing signals by radio, allowing any GPS receiver (abbreviated to GPSr) to accurately determine its location ( longitude, latitude and altitude) in any weather, day or night, anywhere on Earth.
GPS has become a vital global utility, indispensable for modern navigation on land, sea, and air around the world, as well as an important tool for map-making and land-surveying. GPS also provides an extremely precise time reference, required for telecommunications and some scientific research, including the study of earthquakes. GPS receivers can also gauge altitude and speed with a very high degree of accuracy.


Galileo Positioning System

   The Galileo positioning system is a proposed satellite navigation system, to be built by the European Union (EU) as an alternative to NAVSTAR (which is controlled by the United States military) and the Russian GLONASS. The system should be operational by 2011 to 2014.
It is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Galileo positioning system is not to be abbreviated to GPS, which refers specificially to the existing United States system, but would be referred to as 'Galileo'.
Galileo is intended to provide:
  • Greater precision to all users than is currently available.
  • Improved coverage of satellite signals at higher latitudes, which northern regions such as Scandinavia will benefit from.
  • A positioning system upon which European nations can rely even in times of war or political disagreement.

The required satellites, the planned number is 30, will launched throughout the period 2011 - 2014 and the system will be up and running and under civilian control.

Services
There will be four different navigation services available:

  • The Open Service (OS) will be free for anyone to access. The OS signals will be broadcast in two bands, at 1164-1214 MHz and at 1563-1591 MHz. Receivers will achieve an accuracy of <4 m horizontally and <8 m vertically if they use both OS bands. Receivers that use only a single band will still achieve <15 m horizontally and <35 m vertically, comparable to what the civilian GPS C/A service provides today. It is expected that most future mass market receivers, such as automotive navigation system, will process both the GPS C/A and the Galileo OS signals, for maximum coverage.
  • The encrypted Commercial Service (CS) will be available for a fee and will offer an accuracy of better than 1 m. The CS can also be complemented by ground stations to bring the accuracy down to less than 10 cm. This signal will be broadcast in three frequency bands, the two used for the OS signals, as well as at 1260-300 MHz.
  • The encrypted Public Regulated Service (PRS) and Safety of Life Service (SoL) will both provide an accuracy comparable to the Open Service. Their main aim is robustness against jamming and the reliable detection of problems within 10 seconds. They will be targeted at security authorities (police, military, etc.) and safety-critical transport applications (air-traffic control, automated aircraft landing, etc.), respectively.

In addition, the Galileo satellites will be able to detect and report signals from COSPAS-SARSAT search-and-rescue beacons in the 406.0-406.1 MHz band, which makes them a part of the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS).