Topic: News
Ground Control Recognized as Top 10 Oil & Gas Solution Provider
We’re delighted to announce that Ground Control has been recognised as one of the Top 10 Oil & Gas Solution Providers in 2022.
We have always taken pride in being a partner that truly understands both ends of data communications. Taking ownership of the overall solution and working with our customers to identify not just required volume and frequency of data transmission, but what device compatibility is required and how the data is to be used; to achieve operational goals. We have been creating and delivering advanced connectivity solutions to the Oil & Gas industry for over 20 years.
Solutions for the Oil & Gas sector
We deliver remote connectivity solutions to power Oil & Gas IIoT applications and support global, off-grid operations. Simply put, our solutions help to deliver more reliable data, better safety, cost management and enhanced security.
Popular use cases include remote monitoring and control, pipeline management, asset tracking and lone worker enablement and safety; and facilitating each, is robust, advanced connectivity.
The real value of connectivity
From asset management through to remote performance monitoring and maintenance, the IIoT ecosystem is delivering efficiencies and productivity to meet the demands of an ever-evolving energy landscape.
McKinsey & Company project that advanced connectivity to optimise drilling and production throughput and improve maintenance and field operations, could add $250 billion to the industry’s upstream operations by 2030.
This focus on connectivity, as opposed to IIoT more generally, is key. Despite the myriad of measurable benefits IIoT offers, everything will fall at the first hurdle if connectivity isn’t addressed as a priority. Data enables smarter and faster decisions, but data gaps and interruptions can lead to poor, costly business decisions. To truly harness the value of digitalisation in the field, operators must maintain near real-time, reliable data delivery from all assets within the Oil & Gas supply chain, at all times.
Given the often hostile and remote nature of the environments in which Oil & Gas plants are situated, terrestrial connectivity is not always available, nor reliable. This is where Ground Control really adds value. Using cellular and satellite networks, we specialise in connecting hard-to-reach people, machines and things.
Introducing Iridium Certus® 100
Ideal for IoT and M2M applications, the Iridium Certus® 100 service is facilitated by Iridium’s constellation of 66 LEO satellites. Providing pole-to-pole coverage, with the benefit of lower latency.
Offering IP data speeds of up to 88 Kbps, antennas can be small and lightweight, and do not have to be pointed to pick up Iridium satellites. This enables faultless connectivity to be achieved – even in mountainous or wooded areas.
The Certus-Enabled RockREMOTE
Designed for Industrial IoT, the RockREMOTE leverages the Iridium Certus network and LTE cellular connectivity, end-to-end networking and the powerful Cloudloop platform, to solve remote M2M / IoT connectivity challenges for Oil & Gas. It can be tailored to address a variety of fixed and mobile communications challenges within the Oil & Gas sector.
With serial, Ethernet, and GPIO connectivity to any IoT / M2M devices, it’s ideal for legacy installations; but equally has powerful integrated processing, storage and security features that pave the way for edge computing.
RockREMOTE is a particularly interesting solution for Oil & Gas as its exception reporting capabilities open up a whole new world for optimisation, while significantly reducing costs. By setting parameters to send data only if values change, clients are in a much stronger position to manage their data footprint and thus connectivity costs.
The RockREMOTE is a great solution for:
- Monitoring the performance of pressure pumps in the hydraulic fracturing process
- Capturing the data from flowback well tests
- Capturing production data
Also popular with the Oil & Gas sector
RockSTAR
Promoting better lone worker safety, the RockSTAR is a Two-Way Messenger global communication device and tracking system. Working far beyond the reach of Wi-Fi and GSM networks, companies can deliver peace of mind, with location updates, up to every 15 seconds.
RockFLEET
With the RockFLEET organisations know where their vehicles are, at all times and can visualise asset location on an easy-to-use web-based viewer. Additionally devices can be used to measure payload, optimise delivery routes and even capture early warnings of required maintenance.
Hughes 9502
BGAN M2M-capable terminals like the Hughes 9502, are low cost – typically with billable unit costs of 1 to 2 cents per kilobyte, and low power (.01 to 4 watts). Offered in one-piece or two-piece form factors, there is also a variant compliant for operation in Hazardous environments.
Discover the value add of better connectivity
Going digital in the Oil & Gas sector is getting easier. But many companies still fall at the first hurdle – connectivity. We have supported our Oil & Gas customers’ digital projects, IIoT applications and connectivity requirements for 20 years. So, truly – we’ve got you covered.
Interested to see what value better connectivity could deliver for your operations? Contact us today to book a no obligation discovery call.
Merger of satellite connectivity providers creates a new market leader
Atascadero, CA-based Ground Control has merged with two UK based companies, Wireless Innovation and Rock Seven, to provide satellite and cellular connectivity services for M2M and IoT applications around the world. With the combined product range including the best-in-breed RockAIR, RockSTAR and RockFLEET devices, Ground Control offers their customers unrivalled choice and deep industry knowledge.
The merger has been anticipated since Wireless Innovation Ltd acquired Rock Seven in 2018, and Ground Control in 2019, to form a global brand with core expertise in Asset Tracking, IoT & M2M connectivity, managed secure networks including TSAT, Viasat, and Iridium, and global voice and data.
Alastair MacLeod, Ground Control’s CEO, commented: “I’m delighted to lead our rapidly developing organisation at such a pivotal time of growth and opportunity. Ground Control encompasses a wide range of satellite and cellular data solutions from Wireless Innovation and Rock Seven. Through continued innovation and backed by the strength of a single, globally recognised brand, it’s our mission to provide businesses with complete connectivity and control.”
He continued, “Our technology and expertise help deliver important and valuable data sets from anywhere, manage systems where others cannot, and create communications links from the field. From governments, multinationals, and utility providers, to start-ups and entrepreneurs, we develop and deliver the kit that gets our customers’ data back, no matter how remote”.
Established in 2000, Ground Control was a start-up in the city of Atascadero, California. Acquired by Wireless Innovation in 2019, Ground Control continued to be a household name in North America. Now, the group’s new, singular brand encapsulates the company’s technological specialisms and expertise – appealing to utilities, renewables, maritime and agriculture customers in multiple markets – putting the business on a trajectory of becoming the market leading M2M and IoT end-to-end solutions provider.
Along with the company’s new and unique identity, a fully e-commerce enabled website with customer portal arrives August 2021.
About Ground Control
Ground Control was launched when a triumvirate of leading brands united to create a best-of-breed technology and service provider in satellite and IoT. Its mission is nothing less than to provide customers with complete connectivity and control.
Ground Control specialises in retrieving data from remote and harsh environments including freight at sea, areas of natural disasters and from remote climates. Network agnosticism and end-to-end consultancy, design, build and implementation capabilities mean Ground Control can create bespoke client solutions that solve real world problems. Ground Control is proud to partner with leading satellite service providers including Iridium and Inmarsat.
Based in Gloucester and Southampton, UK, and California and Nevada, USA; Ground Control is an expanding, multimillion-dollar company specialising in BGAN, TSAT, VSAT, ToughSAT and Rock products and is a proud Queens Award for Enterprise Winner.
Get in touch
Navigate to IoT success with Ground Control’s expertise and global support.
As a trusted partner for IoT projects worldwide, we have helped businesses across diverse industries achieve their goals. Complete the form below to start your journey with us.
Welcome To The New Ground Control Website
Welcome Ground Control customers! As you can see, we have a new logo and we’ve made a lot of changes to our website; in this blog post we’ll explain why, and hopefully, get you as excited about our journey as we are.
In 2019, Ground Control was acquired by Wireless Innovation, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications leader; just prior to this, in 2018, Wireless Innovation had purchased Rock Seven, whose RockAIR, RockSTAR and RockFLEET products might well be familiar to Ground Control customers.
With best-in-class products and a huge amount of combined industry expertise, we knew that if we brought these together under one roof, we would be in a position to offer our global customers unrivalled technology, satellite and IoT services.
We also wanted to reconnect with our mission and purpose; nothing less than to provide customers with complete connectivity and control.
That’s when the new Ground Control logo was born – and with it, a re-statement of our values.
Our new site has all of the Ground Control products you’re familiar with; you can search by the product code or name using the search feature at the top right of the site, or access them through the Products navigation dropdown. You’ll also find Rock Seven and Wireless Innovation products too.
If you’re not sure of the best combination of products and services for your needs, get in touch! We have offices in both the USA and UK, so there’ll usually be someone available to speak to, whatever the hour.
Please let us know what you think of the new site and branding; we continue to work hard to enhance our customers’ experience, and your feedback is incredibly valuable.
And thank you for being a Ground Control customer!
Introducing Ground Control to Wireless Innovation Customers
Welcome Wireless Innovation customers! Hopefully you’ll have seen our emails and social media posts about this change, but if not, don’t worry, you’re in the right place. In this blog post we’ll explain why we have a new name and website, and hopefully, get you as excited about our journey as we are.
In 2018, Wireless Innovation purchased Rock Seven, whose RockAIR, RockSTAR and RockFLEET products might well be familiar to our customers. We followed that up by purchasing Ground Control in 2019, whose Toughsat mobile satellite system is world-renowned, as is the auto-pointing, portable, satellite internet hotspot fondly known as “The Football”.
With best-in-class products and a huge amount of combined industry expertise, we knew that if we brought these together under one roof, we would be in a position to offer our global customers unrivalled technology, satellite and IoT services.
We also wanted to reconnect with our mission and purpose; nothing less than to provide customers with complete connectivity and control. Of our three brands, we felt Ground Control best reflected this ambition, and so Wireless Innovation Ltd is now trading as Ground Control.
Our new site has all of the Wireless Innovation products you’re familiar with; you can search by the product code or name using the search feature at the top right of the site, or access them through the Products navigation dropdown. You’ll also find Rock Seven and Ground Control products too.
If you’re not sure of the best combination of products and services for your needs, get in touch! We have offices in both the USA and UK, so there’ll usually be someone available to speak to, whatever the hour.
Please let us know what you think of the new site and branding; we continue to work hard to enhance our customers’ experience, and your feedback is incredibly valuable in this respect.
And thank you for being a Wireless Innovation / Ground Control customer!
Get in touch
We’d love to hear from you. Call us or complete the Contact Us form and one of our team will be in touch. We promise to provide objective, expert advice on the best solution for your remote or emergency connectivity requirements, wherever you are in the world.
UK: +44 (0) 1452 751940
USA: 800 773 7168
Introducing Ground Control to Rock Seven Customers
Welcome Rock Seven customers! Hopefully you’ll have seen our emails and social media posts about this change, but if not, don’t worry, you’re in the right place. In this blog post we’ll explain why we have a new name and website, and hopefully, get you as excited about our journey as we are.
In 2018, leading M2M communications provider Wireless Innovation purchased Rock Seven, and followed that up by purchasing Ground Control in 2019, whose Toughsat mobile satellite system is world-renowned, as is the auto-pointing, portable, satellite internet hotspot fondly known as “The Football”.
With best-in-class products and a huge amount of combined industry expertise, we knew that if we brought these together under one roof, we would be in a position to offer our global customers unrivalled technology, satellite and IoT services.
We also wanted to reconnect with our mission and purpose; nothing less than to provide customers with complete connectivity and control. Of our three brands, we felt Ground Control best reflected this ambition, and so Rock Seven Mobile Services Ltd is now trading as Ground Control.
Finally, we took the opportunity to explore and better express our values.
You can read more about what these mean in our About Us section.
Our new site has all of the Rock Seven products you’re familiar with; you can search by the product code or name using the search feature at the top right of the site, or access them through the Products navigation dropdown. You’ll also find Wireless Innovation and Ground Control products too.
If you’re not sure of the best combination of products and services for your needs, get in touch! We have offices in both the USA and UK, so there’ll usually be someone available to speak to, whatever the hour.
The legal entity is still Rock Seven Mobile Services Ltd, so the company number, VAT number, bank details etc. all still remain the same; invoices and contracts will be rebranded Rock Seven Mobile Services Ltd t/a Ground Control but all terms and conditions remain the same. Our previous telephone numbers and email addresses also still work, but you’ll predominantly hear from us using the Ground Control name going forwards.
Please let us know what you think of the new site and branding; we continue to work hard to enhance our customers’ experience, and your feedback is incredibly valuable in this respect.
And thank you for being a Rock Seven / Ground Control customer!
Get in touch
We’d love to hear from you. Call us or complete the Contact Us form and one of our team will be in touch. We promise to provide objective, expert advice on the best solution for your remote or emergency connectivity requirements, wherever you are in the world.
UK: +44 (0) 1452 751940
USA: +01 800 773 7168
2021 – The Year Your iPhone Calls go Extra-terrestrial?
In a recent address to investors, TFI International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that the next iPhone will utilize satellite communication, enabling calls and messages when users are out of 4G/5G coverage. This promptly resulted in shares in Globalstar (Kuo’s named satellite services provider) closing up at 64% at the end of August (CNBC).
It’s quite extraordinary when you think about it; at Ground Control, we pride ourselves on our ability to retrieve data from anywhere on Earth, no matter how remote, but enabling all iPhone users with the ability to use extra-terrestrial networks to phone home is a dramatic step forwards in the ubiquity of satellite connectivity.
So, are we mere mortals really going to be able to make calls and send messages from literally anywhere on Earth? Devices like the RockSTAR have made this possible for adventurers and explorers, as well as remote field workers, for many years, and their robust battery life will continue to lend themselves to many applications. But for the average person, will anything truly remote exist?
People who romanticize about being ‘off grid’ won’t be; there’ll be no excuse not to keep your family, co-workers and friends regularly informed about your location and wellbeing, and for some people, that’s not as appealing as it might be!
Where does this development lead?
With the speculation that Apple’s latest iPhone model will have satcom connectivity “as standard”, could there be a space race of a new era? Musk’s satellites, Iridium’s low earth orbit satellites and Inmarsat’s geo-stationary network could be utilized in a way previously reserved for the securest and most confidential business, government and military comms.
The GSMA real-time intelligence data estimates there are 5.28 billion people in the world that have a mobile device. For context, this means that 66.92% of the world’s population has a mobile device. That’s a lot. And a large incentive for Android to follow suit.
Currently billed as being available only for emergency comms where 4G/5G coverage can’t quite reach, it’s potentially only a matter of time before we’re all casually phoning home from space.
Get in touch
We’ve implemented satellite IoT infrastructure for decades, and there’s very rarely been an obstruction issue we couldn’t overcome with a bit of knowledge and ingenuity.
We’d be happy to talk to you about your project and offer impartial advice on the best antenna and satellite service for your particular requirements. Call or email us, or complete the form.
Wireless Innovation Makes Strategic Leadership Appointment
Ground Control, the trading name for Ground Control Systems, Inc, Rock Seven Mobile Services Ltd, and Wireless Innovation Ltd, is pleased to announce a new strategic appointment to its leadership team, with Alastair MacLeod joining as chief executive officer.
Alastair joins us following his CEO role at Swiss big data start-up Teralytics, a world leader in population-scale human mobility analytics. He joined at the beginning of full-scale commercialisation and was responsible for delivering significantly enhanced financial performance and preparing the business for global scaling.
As a sales-driven technology business leader, Alastair has an abundance of experience in data services, telecommunications and platform software, which he gained from a variety of corporate and private equity-backed technology companies. He’s worked both in the UK and globally in a number of industries, across a wide range of business sizes and ownership structures.
Prior to Teralytics, Alastair held positions as the CEO of EurotaxGlass’s (now Autovista), as regional managing director at Solera, and as the UK vice president of business services with Orange. He’s also well practiced in advising top investors, boards, and management teams on turnaround, growth, and performance acceleration of technology companies.
Alastair is also a regular speaker at global technology and telecommunications events such as the Mobile World Congress in 2018 in Spain and NOAH Berlin in 2019.
Alastair graduated from the University of York and the London Business School. He is passionate about sailing and motorbikes and in his spare time will be seen on the boat or bike, or spending time with his wife, son and daughter in their home located just outside of London.
On joining Ground Control, Alastair said: “I’m excited and proud to join the group. My new colleagues are spectacular when it comes to connecting machines to machines in remote locations, with high availability and sophisticated security requirements, and where minimal connectivity alternatives or even power sources exist. The market growth is exciting and I look forward to building on the great foundations put in place by my predecessors and working with my new global team to create a category leader in our market.”
Ground Control is in rapid growth and we’re always on the lookout for experienced individuals with the vision and drive to join us in this exciting time. Contact us now with your CV and covering letter to let us know why you’d be a great fit.
What is Iridium NEXT?
In 2019, Iridium celebrated the final launch of its upgraded satellites to replace all Block 1 units in orbit. This marked the completion of the new Iridium NEXT constellation.
A decade in the Making
The Iridium NEXT constellation took almost ten years of deliberations and development and cost around $3bn for the total upgrade.
In regard to launching the satellites, Iridium said: “When launching satellites, success or failure is at first measured in a roughly 9-minute window. Then for Iridium, add another 40 minutes to an hour for deployment and successful communication with the new satellites.” They questioned if they had tested enough – would the satellites wake up and “call home”.
The great news is that they did. And the rest is history.
Thales Alenia built the 66 satellites intended for the operation and Iridium commissioned them with 15 additional units for its contingency plan. Two years later, the satellites are up and fully functional with all original operation Block 1 satellites deorbited and the ‘slot swap’ completed.
What does Iridium NEXT do differently?
The Block 1 Iridium satellites brought global connectivity to all SBD device users. The NEXT satellites also provide truly global pole-to-pole coverage but at a higher bandwidth and with an even more reliable, high-quality service. A number of additional capabilities have been facilitated as a result of the new generation of satellites – namely Iridium Certus.
Iridium Certus is the world’s only truly global broadband service, and has only been made possible as a result of the new constellation. It provides faster speeds over satellite anywhere in the world and supports the Iridium Certus Platform. Rock Seven (now trading as Ground Control) attended a demonstration day hosted by British search and rescue charity SARAID, in which our RockSTARs were used to help showcase the Iridium Certus platform in the field. The day was a great success.
How does Iridium NEXT effect Ground Control Customers?
Customers who purchase any Ground Control or Iridium product through us will still get all the benefits as the existing Rock Seven, now trading as Ground Control, products. This includes access to our ‘The Core’ management system, which allows you to see current and historic position tracking data on a map interface for your fleet, send configuration commands over-the-air, and receive data into your own systems via our suite of APIs. You can also manage your airtime online through the portal.
The difference with Iridium NEXT is that customers now enjoy the same service but with higher bandwidth, so you’re getting more bang for your buck.
A Ground Control (formerly Rock Seven) representative said: “We’ve fully supported Iridium with the Iridium NEXT campaign. We’ve been with them every step of the way, checking in and seeing the amazing progress they’ve made right up to the launch of the final rocket last year. The capabilities enabled by the refurbished satellites brings great benefits for our customers, enabling an even better service and value for money than ever before.”
Welcoming New Reseller, Adafruit
Ground Control is delighted to announce that the world famous IoT specialist Adafruit has become a US reseller of a RockBLOCK bundle. The bundle, which consists of the RockBLOCK 9603 unit with FTDI cable, is now available through the Adafruit website.
Adafruit
Founded in 2005 by MIT hacker and engineer, Limor ‘Ladyada’ Fried, the 100% female-owned Adafruit is an open-source hardware designer, manufacturer, reseller, and online store for tools, equipment, and electronics. They also record and distribute weekly show-and-tell programs for product launches, as well as their long-running Ask an Engineer videos.
With a wealth of brains and passion behind them, Adafruit has become #11 in the top 20 USA manufacturing companies. It’s also noted as one of the fastest-growing private companies in NYC by Inc. 5000, with over 100 employees and a 50,000+ sq ft. factory.
Alongside over 5,000 products, the RockBLOCK 9603 is now taking pride of place on the Adafruit shelves.
RockBLOCK 9603
The RockBLOCK 9603 is the compact little sibling of our RockBLOCK 9602 Mk2. With a clear view of the sky, the board allows users to transmit their project data from machine to machine, anywhere in the world. The RockBLOCK has been used for countless projects, from small-scale experiments to university geological research, like Slide Sentinel, through to offshore telemetry for issues such as renewable energy (see our work with Ocean Scientific International Ltd).
The RockBLOCK is now available from the Adafruit website. Adafruit Industries Founder and CEO, Limor Fried, introduced their latest product offerings herself, including the RockBLOCK, on Adafruit’s YouTube channel. Subscribers showed their excitement at the RockBLOCK with comments including:
“Omg the satellite texting blows my mind right now :)” ~ PewDiepie
“The satellite modem is very interesting, I need to investigate this further” ~ Christopher Guy
And simply “Very interesting” ~ David Adams.
In the video, Fried said: “You can send messages anywhere in the world, which is amazing. The price per message is not that expensive as long as you’re putting your data together in the right way. I love it, it’s really small. A great way for any developer, scientist, student, or engineer to start using satellite communication.”
To help customers get started with the RockBLOCK bundle, Adafruit also kindly put together a RockBLOCK 9603 with USB Cable – Iridium Satellite Modem Bundle + Accessory Cable.
Ground Control Solutions Architect, Elonda Wallace, said: “Adafruit are a big player in the IoT reseller market. As part of Ground Control’s new sales and marketing strategy, we’re looking to expand our reseller presence across the world so Adafruit was an obvious choice. We’re delighted that they are now selling RockBLOCKS.”
Iridium Network Enhancements
On March 28th 2019, Iridium announced that their new southern hemisphere ground station was brought online in the south of Chile. This new site is a significant breakthrough and improvement for the network, as it marks the first southern hemisphere station to be introduced. This location strengthens Iridium’s already renowned space and ground network by increasing their ability to maintain and manage traffic, capacity and availability rates.
This particular site was built in partnership with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) of Norway, who have long been a close partner with Iridium, working closely to improve and support celestial-to-terrestrial connectivity.
Thanks to Iridium’s status as the only satellite provider who can boast having a low-earth orbit commercial network to use intersatellite cross-links, satellite traffic can now be transferred in real-time via the most practical and efficient route, further enhanced by the new Punta Arenas site. These cross-links enable all data to be moved from satellite to satellite and finally down to various ground gateways automatically, with minimal delay. This ensures that Iridium remains the worlds first, and only, truly global network that allows users to communicate from any location including the north and south poles, and everywhere in between.
Though technically, Iridium can maintain all traffic simultaneously through a single gateway, they have always maintained multiple ground stations located throughout the northern hemisphere. With this new station in Chile, they have now increased visibility to their satellites as they pass through their southern hemispheric orbits, as well as further geographic diversity to further improve overall network resilience.
This site joins the existing stations in Alaska, Svalbard, and Arizona. Thanks to Iridium’s web-like coverage of the globe, achieved through 11 satellites for each of the six orbital planes, this architectural design ensures all corners of the globe have satellites in view at all times, minimising the need for local infrastructure or ground stations. Having multiple stations ensures that, should a station fail, there are four others to pick up the traffic to guarantee its timely and successful delivery.
If you’d like to read more about Iridium’s new station, as well as their revolutionary new upgrade, Iridium NEXT, and what this means for existing users, then visit their website here.
Get in touch
Ground Control is a Tier 1 Iridium Reseller. We have been working with Iridium for over 10 years, and also design and build hardware like the RockBLOCK that uses Iridium SBD to communicate. In short, you’re in safe hands.
Please get in touch for more information or to set up an account – we are here to help and assist. For large deployments, we are often able to create custom tariffs and pricing schemes, so don’t hesitate to ask.
RockAIR Dual Mode Tracking
Using a locally sourced cellular SIM card, or global cellular SIM provided by us, that’s loaded with cellular data, you now have the option of sending tracking reports once every 15 seconds, whenever you’re operating in cell range. The best part? There’re no additional charges for these faster reports.
Traditionally, when you purchase a bundle of credits from us to operate your tracking device, every single position report will use one credit. Now, with the option of cellular tracking, these messages won’t diminish your credit pool – instead, these cellular positions are free. You can even have your RockAIR send these cellular position reports faster than satellite ones to make sure you don’t burn through your credits too quickly.
Beyond the obvious cost savings, this is also a very useful safety feature. With the incredible cellular coverage the world’s now experiencing, search areas for aircraft using cellular tracking will now drastically decrease. By using the power of dual sat/cell tracking, you get complete peace of mind regardless of the location you’re flying in.
For example, if you’re flying at 100 knots using a satellite-only device to transmit at a typical two-minute interval, your potential search area is roughly 116 sqkm (72sqm) if something were to happen. However, if you were using a dual mode device, such as a RockAIR, and you were reporting within cellular range at 15 seconds, the potential search area is significantly reduced to a very small 1.9sqkm (1.18sqm).
The RockAIR intuitively changes between satellite and cellular modes as well. If the unit is struggling to retrieve a cellular signal from its GSM antenna, then it will stop trying to send via cell and will switch to satellite tracking – seamlessly. There’ll be no downtime during this switch.
Dual mode tracking is incredibly easy to set up as well:
1. Open up RockCONNECT on your smartphone or tablet.
2. Select the RockAIR you’d like to connect with, assuming it’s turned on.
3. Select ‘Configure’ then type in ‘1234’ if prompted for a pin.
4. Select ‘Tracking > Satellite Context’ and change the ‘Transmit Frequency’ to your preferred satellite tracking rate.
5. Select ‘Tracking > Cellular Context’ and change the ‘Transmit Frequency’ to your preferred cellular tracking rate.
And that’s it. You’re ready to send tracking reports on either cellular or satellite.
RockSTAR Alerts
Navigating to the ‘Alerts’ section within the main menu of your RockSTAR, you’ll be greeted by six alert types and an alert cancel. Here’s what each one means:
1. Timer Alert
The idea behind the timer alert is a one-time alert after a set time limit has expired. Set the timer for a time interval of your choosing. Once that time has expired, a ‘timer alert’ is sent from the RockSTAR to the server/first responders. They’re now aware that the timer has expired without human interaction turning it off. This is a one-time alert. The timer doesn’t reset afterwards.
Possible Use Case:
You’re in a remote location and are expected to be doing a job for 30 minutes. Set the timer for 60 mins and if it goes off then your responders know that you have taken twice the amount of time expected and they should do their level best to make contact.
2. Dead Man’s Switch
This is similar to the timer alert, except this is a recurring alert. Once the timer has been set, you’ll have 20 seconds before that time frame reaches its limit to push the ‘ok’ button to cancel the alert from being sent. You’re notified of this 20-second window by loud, consistent beeping from the unit. Once the timer cycle has completed, or you’ve pressed the ‘ok’ button during the beeping sequence, it refreshes and starts again.
Possible Use Case:
If you’re in an unsafe territory or doing a dangerous task, the dead man’s switch is a brilliant idea to ensure that you are constantly checking in with your team to assure them you’re ok and unharmed. As RockSTARs have set frequencies to send position reports, the dead man’s switch guarantees the unit hasn’t been left lying around giving off the impression that you’re safe, when you actually need assistance.
3. Temperature Alert
This is triggered when the values you have set are exceeded. You can set the high and low temperatures to values you think reflect the environment you’re operating in. These values relate to the RockSTAR board and circuitry, so the exterior might be incredibly hot or cold, but it’s the interior components that are being monitored. Once these temperatures are exceeded, an alert is sent so you can regulate the temperature.
Possible Use Case:
If you’re fighting fires or doing research in a cold environment, this alert is perfect to ensure you don’t damage your device.
4. Power Alert
If you’ve connected your RockSTAR to an external power source, then once the external power is removed, the unit detects ‘power loss’ and will send a message accordingly. If you have set your unit to ‘power mode’, so it only turns on with external power, and you remove the power source, then it will stay awake long enough to send a ‘power loss alert’ to the server. This way, each time the unit is turned off, someone is alerted.
Possible Use Case:
If you’re driving long distances in remote areas and require tracking without having to worry about battery life, then power loss alerts are a great way to inform you if your tracking has stopped, without having to wait for the scheduled report to be missing from the mapping.
5. Geofence Alert
There are two options for Geofence Alert – user and polygon. We’ll talk about user here. To learn about polygons, contact our support team and they’ll explain further.
A geofence draws an imaginary circle around a center point, and if that circle is left, an alert is sent notifying you of that breach. By pressing ‘centre point’ in this menu, you’re allowing the RockSTAR to record your GPS location. It then draws a circle based on the distance you’ve chosen. You then select how often you want the unit to check to see if you’re still in that circle. As soon as you leave it, an alert is sent.
Possible Use Case:
If you’re assigned an area for a specific reason – research, pest control, etc. – then geofences are a great way to ensure you keep to your assigned area and don’t encroach on prohibited or protected land.
6. Collision Alert
Inside each RockSTAR is an accelerometer. If you set the threshold of the unit to an appropriate G-force value and the duration that the unit sustains that G-force is exceeded, the accelerometer measures this and will send an alert notifying of this exceedance.
Possible Use Case:
Any situation that the unit is installed in a vehicle, this alert is a great tool to determine if the vehicle has sustained a server impact. By altering the threshold and duration, you can ensure that the unit only triggers when a crash occurs, as opposed to hitting uneven ground at speed.
Send Alert Cancel
Any time that an alert has been sent that you couldn’t stop in time, sending a cancel message will allow the responders to know not to misinterpret the alert that was just received.
If you’d like to know anything further about these alerts, or geofence polygons, don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team and we’ll do our best to assist.
Get in touch
We take pride in designing and building the RockSTAR ourselves. Over the years we’ve enhanced and added features based on feedback and specific customer requests, to ensure our device meets your needs.
Simply complete the form to find out whether the RockSTAR is the right fit for your organization. With our 20 years of expertise, we’ll guide you in making the optimal choices for your critical communication requirements. If you prefer to speak to someone directly, call us on +44 (0) 1452 751940 (Europe, Asia, Africa) or +1.805.783.4600 (North and South America).