FEMA - 37846 - Evacuees are entered into a computer tracking system in Texas

A tracking system, also known as a locating system, is used for the

observing Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data (information), data via the use of scienti ...

of persons or objects on the move and supplying a timely ordered sequence of location data for further processing. It is important to be aware of human tracking, further details are listed below.

Applications

A myriad of tracking systems exists. Some are 'lag time' indicators, that is, the data is collected after an item has passed a point for example a

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

or choke point or gate. Others are 'real-time' or 'near real-time' like

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

s (GPS) depending on how often the data is refreshed. There are bar-code systems which require items to be scanned and automatic identification ( RFID auto-id). For the most part, the tracking worlds are composed of discrete hardware and software systems for different applications. That is, bar-code systems are separate from

Electronic Product Code The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is designed as a universal identifier (using a idiosyncratic numerical code for each different commodity) that provides a unique identity for every physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. The EPC stru ...

(EPC) systems, GPS systems are separate from active real time locating systems or RTLS for example, a passive RFID system would be used in a warehouse to scan the boxes as they are loaded on a truck - then the truck itself is tracked on a different system using GPS with its own features and software. The major technology “silos” in the supply chain are:

Distribution/warehousing/manufacturing

Indoors assets are tracked repetitively reading e.g. a barcode, any passive and active RFID and feeding read data into Work in Progress models (WIP) or Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) or ERP software. The readers required per choke point are meshed auto-ID or hand-held ID applications. However tracking could also be capable of providing monitoring data without binding to a fixed location by using a cooperative tracking capability, e.g. an RTLS.

Yard management

Outdoors mobile assets of high value are tracked by choke point, 802.11,

Received Signal Strength Indication In telecommunications, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is a measurement of the power present in a received radio signal. RSSI is usually invisible to a user of a receiving device. However, because signal strength can vary greatly and af ...

(RSSI), Time Delay on Arrival (TDOA), active RFID or GPS Yard Management; feeding into either third party yard management software from the provider or to an existing system. Yard Management Systems (YMS) couple location data collected by RFID and GPS systems to help supply chain managers to optimize utilization of yard assets such as trailers and dock doors. YMS systems can use either active or passive RFID tags.

Fleet management

Fleet management Fleet management is the management of: * Commercial motor vehicles such as cars, vans, trucks, specialist vehicles (such as mobile construction machinery), forklifts, and trailers * Private vehicles used for work purposes (the 'grey fleet') * Av ...

is applied as a tracking application using GPS and composing tracks from subsequent vehicle's positions. Each vehicle to be tracked is equipped with a GPS receiver and relays the obtained coordinates via

cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...

satellite network Radio communication service or radiocommunication service is according to Article 1.19 of the International Telecommunication Union's Radio Regulations (ITU RR),ITU Radio Regulations, Section III – Radio services, Article 1.19, definition: Ra ...

s to a home station. Fleet management is required by: * Large fleet operators, (vehicle/railcars/trucking/shipping) * Forwarding operators (containers, machines, heavy cargo, valuable shippings) * Operators who have high equipment and/or cargo/product costs * Operators who have a dynamic workload

Person tracking

Person tracking relies on

unique identifier A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems ...

s that are temporarily ( RFID tags) or permanently assigned to persons like

personal identifier Personal Identifiers (PID) are a subset of personally identifiable information (PII) data elements, which identify an individual and can permit another person to “assume” that individual's identity without their knowledge or consent. Identi ...

s (including

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...

identifiers), or

national identification number A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number or JMBG/EMBG is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purp ...

s and a way to sample their positions, either on short temporal scales as through GPS or for

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

to keep track of a state's

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

s or

temporary resident A temporary resident is a foreign national granted the right to stay in a country for a certain length of time (e.g. with a visa or ), without full citizenship. This may be for study, business, or other reasons. Various countries have their own rul ...

s. The purposes for doing so are numerous, for example from

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

and

public security Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensure ...

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati ...

Attendance management

Mobile phone services

Location-based services A location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, ent ...

(LBS) utilise a combination of

A-GPS Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) is a GNSS augmentation system that often significantly improves the startup performance—i.e., time-to-first-fix (TTFF)—of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). A-GNSS works by providing the necessary data to the ...

, newer GPS and cellular locating technology that is derived from the

telematics Telematics is an interdisciplinary field encompassing telecommunications, vehicular technologies ( road transport, road safety, etc.), electrical engineering (sensors, instrumentation, wireless communications, etc.), and computer science (multimedi ...

and telecom world.

Line of sight The line of sight, also known as visual axis or sightline (also sight line), is an imaginary line between a viewer/observer/spectator's eye(s) and a subject of interest, or their relative direction. The subject may be any definable object taken ...

is not necessarily required for a location fix. This is a significant advantage in certain applications since a GPS signal can still be lost indoors. As such, A-GPS enabled cell phones and

PDA PDA may refer to: Science and technology * Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books *Personal digital assistant, a mobile device * Photodiode array, a type of detector * Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...

s can be located indoors and the handset may be tracked more precisely. This enables non-vehicle centric applications and can bridge the

indoor location An indoor positioning system (IPS) is a network of devices used to locate people or objects where GPS and other satellite technologies lack precision or fail entirely, such as inside multistory buildings, airports, alleys, parking garages, and und ...

gap, typically the domain of RFID and

Real-time locating system Real-time locating systems (RTLS), also known as real-time tracking systems, are used to automatically identify and track the location of objects or people in real time, usually within a building or other contained area. Wireless RTLS tags are ...

(RTLS) systems, with an off the shelf cellular device. Currently, A-GPS enabled handsets are still highly dependent on the LBS carrier system, so handset device choice and application requirements are still not apparent. Enterprise system integrators need the skills and knowledge to correctly choose the pieces that will fit the application and geography.

Operational requirements

Regardless of the tracking technology, for the most part the end-users just want to locate themselves or wish to find points of interest. The reality is that there is no "one size fits all" solution with locating technology for all conditions and applications. Application of tracking is a substantial basis for

vehicle tracking A vehicle tracking system combines the use of automatic vehicle location in individual vehicles with software that collects these fleet data for a comprehensive picture of vehicle locations. Modern vehicle tracking systems commonly use GPS or G ...

in fleet management,

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of value from the things that a group or entity is responsible for, over their whole life cycles. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as buildings ...

, individual navigation, social networking, or mobile resource management and more. Company, group or individual interests can benefit from more than one of the offered technologies depending on the context.

GPS tracking

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

has global coverage but can be hindered by line-of-sight issues caused by buildings and urban canyons. RFID is excellent and reliable indoors or in situations where close proximity to tag readers is feasible, but has limited range and still requires costly readers. RFID stands for

Radio Frequency Identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

. This technology uses electromagnetic waves to receive the signal from the targeting object to then save the location on a reader that can be looked at through specialized software.

Real-time locating systems (RTLS)

RTLS are enabled by

Wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and bus ...

systems (according to

IEEE 802.11 IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commun ...

) or other

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

systems (according to

IEEE 802.15 IEEE 802.15 is a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE 802 standards committee which specifies wireless personal area network (WPAN) standards. There are 10 major areas of development, not all of which ar ...

) with

multilateration Trilateration is the use of distances (or "ranges") for determining the unknown position coordinates of a point of interest, often around Earth (geopositioning). When more than three distances are involved, it may be called multilateration, for emph ...

. Such equipment is suitable for certain confined areas, such as campuses and office buildings. RTLS requires system-level deployments and server functions to be effective.

In virtual space

virtual space Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

technology, a tracking system is generally a system capable of rendering virtual space to a human observer while tracking the observer's

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

. For instance, in dynamic virtual auditory space simulations, a head tracker provides information to a central processor in real time and this enables the processor to select what functions are necessary to give feedback to the user in relation to where they are positioned. Additionally, there is vision-based trajectory tracking, that uses a color and depth camera known as a

KINECT Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...

sensor to track 3D position and movement. This technology can be used in traffic control, human-computer interface, video compression and robotics.