In a RavTrack system you will need antennas for vehicles, as well as base stations, and possibly repeaters if your particular system uses any repeaters.   Here will will discuss common antennas for all three uses.

The Raveon “GX” series of tracking transponders used in a RavTrack system can be configured to operate as a vehicle unit, a base station, or a repeater, all by software configuration.  Each GX transponder will have 2 antenna connections.  One is for a GPS antenna, and the other for a UHF antenna.

Here is a picture of the GX transponder in the standard enclosure.  Note that the GPS antenna connector is an SMA female, while the UHF connector is a BNC female.  They are at opposite ends of the transponder.

Note that if your transponder is the weatherproof version  the UHF connector is TNC female.  Transponders installed in vehicles for tracking purposes will require both a GPS antenna and a UHF antenna. We have a few antennas that are combination GPS and UHF antennas.  When these are offered the antenna cable(s) will terminate in 2 separate connections.

The GPS antenna receives the GPS satellite transmissions by which the transponder will determine its precise GPS location.  Note that the location is actually that of the antenna itself, which may be important to remember especially when dealing with large vehicles or other objects.

Once the location is determined the UHF antenna is required to allow transmission of the vehicle location.  The UHF antenna should be a “mobile” antenna chosen to match the proper transmission frequency of your system, as well as selected to best suit the type of vehicle.  The UHF antenna is almost always larger than the GPS antenna so size and styling can be important criteria.

Anther important criterion is the manner in which the antennas mount to the vehicle.    It is best to have the antennas as high up on the vehicles as practical, and generally speaking larger (UHF) antennas are typically better performers.  However an overly large antenna may not just be unsightly but prone to damage as well.  Some vehicles will be equipped with an “antenna bar” in order to mount the antennas.  As multiple antennas may posssibly compete with one another, it is best if a skilled RF technician is consulted or contracted to perform the installation.

Antenna mounts come in a variety of approaches of which the 3 most common are magnetic mount, through-hole mount, and flange mount.  The magnetic mount is most suitable for temporary installations, although the magnets are quite strong and the antennas may stay put even under challenging circumstances.  The through-hole mount is the sturdiest and most permanent, but requires a hole be drilled through the vehicle surface (or antenna bar).  The flange mount approach is typically used to grip the vehicle trunk lid, if this is available.  All of these mounts are available in “NMO” style where the UHF antenna physically threads on to the mount itself.  Here are some quick photos:

NMO style magnetic mount

Antenna threading onto NMO flange  mount.

Thorough-hole mount.

For more information on NMO mounts see the post “The versatile NMO antenna mount” in this section at:

http://ravtrack.com/GPStracking/2009/the-versatile-nmo-antenna-mount/

Oftten the GPS and/or UHF antenna will have a magnetic mount base or through-hole mount base incorporated as the antenna base.  Here is a photo of a combo GPS/UHF antenna with a through-hole base:

In some vehicle deployments the UHF antenna will not only broadcast location but will also receive transponder broadcasts from other fleet members.  This ability is fairly unigue to Ravtrack.

Once a location broadcast hits the air it is ready to be received by other fleet members but also by a base station or possibly a repeater.  Sometimes the base station is mounted on a mobile command vehicle, and special antenna considerations are in order.   However, typically the base station antenna is on top of a building, or an antenna tower.  Usually an omni-directional (all direction) antenna is used, as the vehicles can be broadcasting from many different locations.

The most common omni-directional base station antenna is made with a fiberglass sheath.  Here is a picture:

This sort of antenna typically mounts onto a pole or mast the customer provides.  Check to see if the actual mounting hardware is included with the antenna.

This antenna is also very effective for repeaters.  Sometimes, if a repeater is used the base station will use a directional antenna pointed at the repeater antenna.  Here is a picture of a Yagi style directional antenna used for this purpose:

Antennas can act as lightning attractors, so you may want to investigate lightning arrestors for some installations.

Here are some general rules if thumb when dealing with antenna installations::

Survey your area for best antenna locations

Use the largest antenna you can tolerate and afford

Make certain the antenna will work in your frequency

Determine your mounting and support early

Mount the antenna as high as practical

Try to keep the antenna cable short, and use good grade cabling

Take precautions against lightning and surge

Don’t forget signal cable and power for your transponders

Hire a skilled RF technician if at all possible

A popular type of antenna mount is called an “NMO” which stand for new Motorola.  NMO mounts come in a variety of types and are frequently used especially when installing mobile antennas.  Whether you are installing an antenna on a vehicle or a fixed structure the NMO mount may be a good solution.

The idea of the NMO mount is simple.  NMO mounts are devised to have a standard threaded connector where you screw on the antenna of choice to the mount of choice.  The NMO mount itself connects to the antenna and provides the antenna cable as well.  There are a large number of antennas that are built to screw on to the NMO mount. Simply look for an antenna with an NMO base.  Here is a simple picture of a mobile antenna with an NMO base combining to an NMO mount:

  Here an antenna with an NMO base will thread on to the NMO mount.  Note the antenna cable comes from the mount itself.

The NMO mount in the above example is a “trunk lid” mount.  The flange to the left hooks under the lid of a vehicle trunk.

Another popular type of NMO mount is the magnetic mount.  When affixed to many metallic surfaces the mount stays put quite well.  Here is a picture:

A third popular type  of mount is the through-hole mount.  This  requires a small (typically 3/8″ to 3/4″ ) hole be drilled through the surface hosting the mount, and is the best choice for an extremely rugged installation.  The “NMO” part of the mount protrudes above the mounting surface, becoming accessible to the antenna itself.  Here is a picture of a through-hole NMO mount:

The following external post provides a good look at a through-hole NMO mount assembly and brief description of the approach

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/radio-equipment-installation-forum/97536-install-nmo-antenna.html

The installation of a through-hole NMO mount and antenna is covered by this external video.  The video was shot by a fellow holding the camera in one hand while trying to perform the installation, so it is a bit shaky, but all-in-all he does an excellent job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs-0EF7mP8k

Raveon can provide several NMO mounts and antenna types.  We invite your further questions.

There are many ways to customize the map you use with your RavTrack PC vehicle tracking program.   RavTrack PC uses any bitmap image, scanned map,  jpeg photo, or geotiff file as the base-map to display vehicle location.  Simply load your image/map into the calibration tool (mapmanger), and then calibrate 3 points with known latitude and longitude and the map is ready to use.  Note: .geotiff files are already have their calibration embedded into them so they do not need to be calibrated for use with RavTrack PC.

Your customization options are:

1. Add custom icons to the map file
2. Importing Points of Interest (POIs) and identifying them on the map.
3. Import and overlaying ESRI shape files.
4. Manually place Points of Interest (POIs) on the map and label them.
5. Draw colored line, poly-shapes, ovals, circles, rectangles, and squares on the map.

Once the map is calibrated, you can import custom icons right into the emap file.

1. Adding Custom Icons on the map

All icons in RavTrack PC are actually small .jpg of .bmp files which are loaded into the .maplib file and given a name.  By naming the icon, you are able to assign it to tracked vehicles/objects or simply place it on the map as a POI.  As a POI, you are able to create alert rules to notify the operator when vehicle get too close or too far away from the POI.

To import a custom icon made as a  .jpg of .bmp file, first open the map file you would like the icons to be associated with.  Note, RavTrack PC comes with a rich set of default icons stored in the standardicons.maplib file, but you may load your own custom icons into any .maplib map file or load them into the standardicons.maplib file and have them available to all maps.

To open and edit the .maplib file, select Tools > Map Creation Tool from the RavTrack PC main screen.  This will open the GpsToolsStudio from Franson, which is the tool used to calibrate maps and load icons.  Load the .maplib file you wish to insert you custom icons into, and the choose Icons > New Icon to import the icon craphic into the map.  Don’t forget to save your .maplib file once the icon is imported and named.

2. Importing Points of Interest (POIs) and identifying them on the map.

RavTrack PC is an exceptional vehicle tracking software program.   It excels at locating tracked vehicles, alerting the operator of special conditions, and presenting a complex AVL system in a very user-friendly manor.  But, it is not as powerful as some other program are in the area of GIS, route planning, and map manipulation.  The good news is, that most progams can export in various standard file formats, and RavTrack can import data in a number of different format.  This allows you to do complex mapping and planning using any number of mapping tools, and then import your waypoints and tracks into RavTrack PC.

A common task is to plan an event such as a road-rally, marathon, or race.  Ozi Explorer and Global Mapper are just a couple very powerful programs that a user can create routes and place waypoints on their maps.  Once your plan is complete, save the waypoints in either an Ozi .wpt waypoint file, or in Garmin’s .gpx file format.  From RavTrack PC, select File > Import Tracks, Plots, Waypoints from the main screen.  When using the .gps file format, you must choose the “Import as POI” option to put the waypoints onto the map’s POI layer.

3. Import and overlaying ESRI shape files.

RavTrack PC can import some ESRI shape files and overlay them on the map image.  Certain large files do not import but most ESRI shape files less than a few MB seem to load and display properly.  From RavTrack PC, select File > ESRI FIles… from the main screen.  Select your ESRI shape file to import it onto the map.

The default settings for the ESRI shape import files is configured with the File > Program Properties > ESRI Data.

4. Manually place Points of Interest (POIs) on the map and label them.

You may place any icon at any location on the map as a Point of Interest.  To do so, select File > Drawing Tools.  This will bring up the drawing toolkit.

Select “Point of Interest” as the type of object to draw.  Then select the name of the icon you wish to place on the map.  Once selected, click on the location on the map that you would like the POI placed.  Once you click on the map, a box will pop-up so you can assign the POI a name such as “Joes House”.  Once you have placed all the POIs on the map, they may then be used in the Alert Rules you create.

You may also turn the POI layer of the map on or off.  On the top of the main RavTrack PC main screen is a drop-down box, where you can select which layers are visible on the map.

View DropDown

5. Draw colored line, poly-shapes, ovals, circles, rectangles, and squares on the map.

Using the Drawing Toolkit, you may place graphics on your map at any location.  To do so, select File > Drawing Tools.  This will bring up the drawing toolkit.  Select the Map Graphics layer, select your shape and the color of the shape, and then draw it on the map.  When drawing polygons, press the enter key when done drawing.