A GPS unit in a van answers one question: where the vehicle is. As long as the goods stay on board, that is enough, because the van’s position is also the position of every parcel in it. The gap opens when the goods come off: a roll cage left at a customer’s depot, an insulated shipper handed to a courier for the last leg, a pallet waiting at a carrier’s cross-dock. From that point fleet tracking sees nothing, and that is often the part of the journey you are asked to account for.
This article covers the difference between tracking the vehicle and tracking the object, how the two technologies used for the second job work, and when they are worth adding. The case that anchors the argument is pharmaceutical wholesale distribution, where the EU guidelines require you to demonstrate transport conditions even when someone else is doing the transporting.
Tracking the vehicle versus tracking the object
Fleet tracking relies on the vehicle: a tracker in the diagnostic port, a hard-wired unit on the CAN bus, or the data the manufacturer already collects from a connected vehicle. In all three cases the device draws power from the vehicle and stays connected, and it can also read sensors in the load area, such as temperature probes or door contacts. If you want to see which of the three routes fits your vehicles, the fleet tracking mode quiz gives you an answer in four questions, before you talk to any supplier.
Asset tracking relies on the object instead. The device sits on the tote, container or pallet, runs on its own battery and has to last for months without anyone charging it. It follows the goods onto vehicles you don’t own, through warehouses and back to the sender when the container returns empty.
The two add up. Vehicle tracking remains the best source for routes, stops, fuel and driving behaviour; object tracking covers the legs where the vehicle is absent or belongs to someone else.
How a standalone tracker works
A standalone tracker combines three things: a satellite receiver for outdoor positioning, a low-power cellular connection to transmit, and one or more onboard sensors. Indoors, where satellite signals don’t reach, many models estimate position from visible Wi-Fi networks.
The connection you’ll meet most often is NB-IoT, a cellular standard designed for devices that send small amounts of data. According to the GSMA, the mobile operators’ association, it reduces power consumption and improves coverage deep inside buildings and supports battery life of more than ten years for a wide range of use cases. It runs on existing mobile networks, so the customer doesn’t install antennas or gateways.
In practice battery life depends on how often the tracker reports. A position update every few minutes drains the battery far faster than one fix a day with an instant alert on events. The configuration follows the use case, and it is the first question to ask any supplier: at what reporting interval does the quoted battery life hold?
Besides position, the most common sensors on these devices measure:
- temperature and sometimes humidity
- shocks, with the time and severity of the impact
- tilt or tipping
- container opening
- entry into and exit from defined areas, known as geofencing
How a Bluetooth tag works
A Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag is smaller and cheaper, but it has no connection of its own to the internet. It transmits over a few metres, and something nearby has to pick up the signal: the van’s tracker, a smartphone or a receiver installed in the warehouse. Once the tag is out of range of every receiver, the data stops there.
That’s why tags make sense where receivers already exist. In the load area of a tracked van, a temperature beacon is read by the onboard tracker with no wiring, which is the simplest way to get temperature per compartment. On a tote that leaves with a third-party courier, a Bluetooth tag on its own transmits nothing until it comes back within reach of one of your receivers.
| Standalone tracker | Bluetooth tag | |
|---|---|---|
| Connection | its own cellular link (NB-IoT, LTE-M) | none, needs a receiver nearby |
| Where it works | anywhere with mobile coverage | within a few metres of a receiver |
| Position | satellite outdoors, Wi-Fi indoors | that of the receiver reading it |
| Typical use | goods travelling on third-party vehicles | load-area sensors, tools, items in a warehouse |
The pharmaceutical distribution case
The EU Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use (GDP, 2013/C 343/01) devote Chapter 9 to transportation. Three passages bear directly on this topic.
The first is the general principle (9.1): regardless of the mode of transport, it should be possible to demonstrate that the medicines have not been exposed to conditions that may compromise their quality and integrity. The second concerns outsourced transport (9.2): the contract with the carrier should encompass the requirements of Chapter 7, and where the route includes unloading, reloading or transit storage at a hub, particular attention should be paid to temperature monitoring. The third concerns containers (9.3 and 9.4): temperature-sensitive products call for qualified equipment such as thermal packaging or temperature-controlled containers, and the distributor should be able to show customers, on request, that products were kept within the required conditions.
For a wholesaler the practical consequence is straightforward. On routes run with its own refrigerated vehicles, load-area temperature recorded on board covers most of the requirement; our GDP audit checklist is written around the Italian regulator, but Chapter 9 reads the same in every member state. On shipments passed to a courier, a specialist carrier or a hub, the vehicle record stops exactly where your responsibility doesn’t. There, the data logger inside the insulated shipper is the traditional answer: it records, but it is read only on return, after any temperature excursion has already happened. A standalone tracker with a temperature sensor produces the same history and transmits it during the journey, so you can act before the product goes out of range.
There is also a less discussed cost angle. Qualified insulated containers and roll cages are not cheap, and some go missing on the return loop. Knowing where they are, and how long they sit at a customer’s site, cuts replacement purchases.
When it’s worth it, and when it isn’t
Asset tracking makes sense when at least one of these is true:
- the goods travel part of the way on vehicles you don’t own
- you have to demonstrate transport conditions to a customer or an inspector, including on outsourced legs
- you use valuable containers, totes or equipment that come back, and some don’t
- the goods sit for hours or days in places you don’t control
If the goods always leave and arrive on your own vehicles, vehicle tracking with load-area sensors already covers the need. Adding a device to every parcel would mean paying twice for the same information.
Frequently asked questions
Does a van tracker also track the goods?
Yes, while the goods are on board: the vehicle’s position is the parcels’ position, and load-area sensors provide temperature and door status. Once the goods are unloaded or handed to another carrier, the van’s tracker no longer follows them.
What’s the difference between a standalone tracker and a data logger?
Both record temperature over time. A traditional data logger stores the readings and is read at the end of the journey. A standalone tracker transmits them during transport, together with position, and can raise an alert when the temperature goes out of range.
How long does an asset tracker battery last?
It depends mostly on the reporting interval. NB-IoT networks are designed to allow years of autonomy, but a device sending its position every few minutes runs down much faster than one reporting once a day. Always ask which interval the quoted battery life refers to.
Where to start
Before choosing a device, map the journey of the goods and mark the legs where they are not on your vehicles. If there are none, vehicle tracking is enough: OptivoTrack, Optivo’s fleet tracking module, does it in three ways, with or without a device on board, and also reads load-area sensors. If there are, those legs are where an object tracker earns its place, and the data that matters is the data that arrives while you can still act on it.