Particle Announces New Tracking System to Support IoT Deployments in Transportation & Logistics, Cold Chain, and Micromobility

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Particle, the edge-to-cloud IoT platform built to connect the unconnected, today announced its new Tracking System to provide organizations with the ability to track the locations of a wide variety of mobile assets with its powerful, configurable, extensible and field-ready solution. In a forthcoming study from Particle that surveyed over 1,000 IoT engineers and industry experts, Asset Tracking ranked as one of the top three most in-demand applications for IoT technology.

Built on the Particle platform spanning integrated Internet-of-Things (IoT) hardware, edge software, connectivity, and cloud-based management software, Particle's Tracking System empowers customers to track the real-time location of critical assets and capture additional intelligence via sensor data including temperature and acceleration as well as remotely control mobile equipment and vehicles.

Asset Tracking operations are critical for both emerging and established industries, including supply chain & logistics providers, cold chain operations, micromobility businesses such as connected scooter & eBike vendors, transportation, and general purpose high-value capital asset tracking and monitoring. While conventional Asset Tracking and telematics tools have often historically focused on basic use cases such as collecting the location data of critical assets, next-generation capabilities powered by IoT technologies enable organizations to develop more sophisticated solutions to support industry-specific use cases:

• Transportation & logistics managers use real-time data and for comprehensive fleet management, to monitor the quality of goods in transit, and identify where organizations can save energy and resources
• Cold chain logistics providers need to ensure quality and compliance for at rest and in-transit goods ranging from food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals
• Manufacturers and distributors of machines and equipment across a wide range of industries from construction to equipment rental firms must track the location of high-value capital assets to maximize asset utilization, prevent theft and loss, and monitor inventory
• Micromobility providers require not only basic capabilities to track scooters / e-bikes by location, but also need to remotely update the device to continually improve their product and address evolving compliance standards as well as monitor operational status, such as tracking whether a scooter's headlights are on or off upon parking.

Particle's Tracking System builds on the existing edge-to-cloud IoT platform with the following new offerings:

• Tracking Services is a suite of software purpose-built for asset tracking applications that extends Particle's platform with geolocation services (mapping and geodatabase) and a configuration service for defining fleet-wide behaviors such as reporting interval on-the-fly. Tracker Services also includes an open firmware application framework for devices that integrates with off-the-shelf IoT sensors and can be deeply customized to support sophisticated tracker applications.
• Tracker SoM is a powerful, configurable, and extensible IoT System-on-Module (SoM) that builds on Particle's Tracking Services foundation and provides a powerful MCU, GNSS, and advanced peripherals in a compact form factor. Tracker SoM serves as an accelerated starting point to organizations that require a tailored tracking solution for sophisticated applications as well as a fully-certified foundation for original equipment manufacturers developing commercial products.
• Tracker One is a field-ready Asset Tracking solution that utilizes the Particle Tracking Services and Tracker SoM to provide customers with an out-of-the-box product that incorporates edge hardware, edge software, cellular connectivity, and software capabilities. Tracker One is fully certified, immediately deployable, and requires no additional development on the behalf of users for a true off-the-shelf solution.

"IoT is an extraordinarily broad industry, and many businesses who want to remotely monitor or control their machines and equipment don't have high-quality off-the-shelf IoT products available to them that suit their needs," says Zach Supalla, CEO of Particle. "With Particle's new Asset Tracking developments, we are providing a field-ready product that can be modified, reconfigured, and reprogrammed to suit the needs of every customer with mobile machines, vehicles, and equipment, allowing them to quickly start collecting critical data and real-time intelligence off of these machines and assets and start solving real problems for their customers."

Key capabilities of the new Asset Tracking solutions include:

• Integrated software suite offering an intuitive interface to monitor assets, configure hardware, manage industry-leading remote over-the-air updates, generate reports, and manage integrations
• "All-in-one" edge-to-cloud platform spanning purpose-built edge hardware, edge software, cellular connectivity, and management software to avoid the cost, complexity, and security risks of a piecemeal approach
• Rapid time to market through out-of-the-box field-ready solutions
• The opportunity to configure and customize solutions for sophisticated asset tracking applications
• Global cellular connectivity options including LTE CAT M1 in North America and LTE CAT 1 with 3G and 2G fallback in EMEAA
• Powerful and accurate real-time location tracking with GNSS and onboard dead-reckoning for 1.8m CEP50 GPS accuracy paired with onboard capabilities including a high-precision thermistor as well as an accelerometer and gyroscope for motion detection, positioning, and orientation insight
• High-extensibility via onboard integrated CAN Bus controller and transceiver as well as an I/O expander for additional capability expansion via industry standard protocols
• Purpose-built, open source edge software for comprehensive device management out-of-the-box paired with accessible libraries for advanced configuration and custom development

"As the world's first platform offering logistics players smart, light electric vehicles as a service, IoT-enabled asset tracking capabilities are critical to our business and Particle has been a trusted solution provider and strong partner," says Mina Nada, CEO and Co-Founder of Bolt Bikes. "We are excited to see Particle's continued advancement with the introduction of their new asset tracking solution and look forward to continuing to leverage their edge-to-cloud offering."

Particle works with customers across a wide range of industries including supply chain and logistics providers, industrial manufacturing, agriculture, micromobility, and local governments implementing smart city solutions. Particle's Asset Tracking solution is available now in an early access program. Businesses and organizations interested in the Particle Asset Tracking solution can visit www.particle.io/iot-asset-tracking.

About Particle

Particle is the only end-to-end IoT platform that combines software, hardware, and connectivity as an integrated solution that ensures their customers' IoT products are reliable, scalable, and secure. Thousands of companies ranging from traditional manufacturers to fast-growing start-ups are launching IoT products powered by Particle.  Particle works with leading companies across a variety of industries, including customers like Jacuzzi, Continental Tires, Watsco, Shifted Energy, Anderson EV, and Opti. Particle is venture backed and has offices in San Francisco, Shenzhen, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Boston. For more information visit www.particle.io. Particle boasts the largest developer community in the IoT industry, with nearly 200,000 developers and engineers in more than 170 countries building with Particle.

SOURCE Particle

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