Tracking system

Introduction

The Particle Asset Tracking System is an integrated, customizable, hardware, firmware, and cloud-based system with GNSS (GPS) and cellular connectivity.

Hardware

The Tracker One is a complete system with a waterproof IP67-rated enclosure.

The Monitor One is enclosed in a heavy duty waterproof enclosure that is large enough to contain expansion cards.

The Tracker SoM system-on-a-module is inside the Tracker One and Monitor One, but can also be purchased separately so you can reflow solder it to your own custom base board for the ultimate in flexibility.

Features include:

• LTE Cat 1 (EMEAA) or LTE Cat M1 (North America) cellular modem
• GNSS (supports GPS, SBAS, QZSS, GLONASS, BeiDou, and Galileo) with up to 1.8m accuracy and untethered dead-reckoning
• Support for CAN bus and 5V power for CAN devices
• Built-in Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)

Cloud stack

The Particle Asset Tracking system builds upon the Particle cloud foundation of device management and events, adding two new major services:

• The Configuration Service allows for fleet-wide and per-device configuration stored into the cloud and automatically synchronized with devices.
• The Location Service receives geolocation and other data from devices and stores it in a database.

Firmware stack

One difference from other Particle devices is that the Tracker One firmware can be used in three different ways:

• Completely off-the-shelf. With its cloud-based configuration, you can use the firmware as-is with no modifications in some cases.
• Semi-custom. The Tracker One firmware is customizable on-device making it possible to add new sensors and customize behavior while still making it easy to upgrade the base firmware.
• Custom. The Tracker One firmware is open-source so you can duplicate and modify it ("fork") for completely custom applications. Or build your own completely from scratch.

Customizable

This video covers the Tracker basics including Tracker Edge, adding custom data to location publishes, and adding new settings panels for your own custom settings to the Particle console using a configuration schema.

Fully off-the-shelf

• Tracker One hardware is designed to be used without modification. It's fully assembled and ready to go.
• Tracker Edge firmware on Tracker One can be used without modification. You can use the firmware off-the-shelf and customize it from the Particle console, with no writing of device firmware necessary at all.

Semi-custom firmware

• You can use the Particle Edge reference firmware as a base and add your own code to extend it quickly and easily.
• Designed to make it easy to upgrade the base firmware while keeping your customizations in place.
• Add external sensors via the Tracker One M8 connector without opening the case.

Tracker carrier board

• The circuit board in the Tracker One will be available separately for semi-custom designs.
• Use your own enclosure or modify the Tracker One enclosure to fit your needs. The Tracker One enclosure design is open-source.
• Optionally add an expansion daughter board using a JST PHR-8 for internal access to the same signals as the Tracker One M8 connector.

Fully custom

• Reflow solder the Tracker SoM onto your own custom base board with the features you need for your product.
• Design your board and enclosure together to fit your needs.
• Best option if you need external antennas for both cellular and GNSS.

Find out more

Most of the documentation can be found in Getting started, Reference, and Datasheets sections.

Tutorials

In the Asset Tracking section in Tutorials:

• Setup guide
• Introduction to Tracker Edge firmware
• Evaluation Board Tutorials
• Expanding the Tracker One using the external M8 connector
• Introduction to CAN Bus

Want to add temperature, pressure, and humidity data to your location publishes using the Tracker Evaluation Board? Check out this example of using a BME280 temperature, pressure, and humidity sensor connected by I2C to add data to location publishes.

And other tutorial resources:

• The map view and settings are described in the Console Documentation.
• Cellular carriers for the Tracker SoM can be found in the Carrier List.

Reference

• The Device OS Firmware API reference includes information specific to the Tracker SoM, such as the difference in GPIO. The new POSIX Filesystem is documented there as well.
• The Particle Cloud API Reference includes information about Tracking events as well as a reference for the Tracker Cloud API.
• The Tracker Edge Firmware Reference describes the Tracker Edge reference firmware API used to write device firmware. It allows for customizing the on-device code to access custom sensors and run your own code on the device.
• The Pin Info page includes more information on the available pins on the Tracker SoM.

Datasheets

Here you'll find detailed technical specifications for the:

• Tracker SoM
• Tracker SoM Evaluation Board, for getting started with the Tracker SoM
• Tracker One, ready-to-go and fully assembled with an IP67-rated enclosure

If you're building a carrier board you'll probably want to use the Eagle CAD Tracker SoM footprint in the Hardware Libraries. You can also import this into other CAD programs.

Models