Telematics equipment is essential to efficient fleet operations, but a truck’s environment introduces countless dangers that threaten to break these connected devices.
“The heavy truck represents one of the most demanding environments for technology deployment in the transportation sector,” Prateek Bansal, senior director of product management at Motive, told FleetOwner. “These vehicles essentially operate as mobile industrial sites, subjecting the onboard technology to multiple threats.”
Long-haul trucks can operate for more than 10 hours daily, subjecting electronics to constant wear in various extreme environments. The threats include constant vibration, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet rays, and foreign particles.
While consumer-grade electronic devices can work for a time, they are not engineered to endure commercial trucks’ environments for extended periods. For essential devices, such as gateways and dashcams, reliability is not optional. To build fleet solutions that are reliable and long-lasting, technology providers need to tackle these challenges in their designs.
Designing around threats
Vibrations occur constantly whenever the truck is in motion and can damage electronic components or their wiring connections, Bansal said. The nation’s extreme temperatures—from subzero to triple-digit temperatures within a couple of days on the road—can make components brittle, slow, and more prone to malfunction. Sunlight can degrade camera lenses. Dust and water ingress further corrodes and damages components.
To mitigate these threats, Bansal said Motive approaches ruggedized design by carefully choosing reliable components, putting its products through rigorous testing, and designing resilient housing and mounting.
The company carefully picks its component vendors to ensure they can absorb regular impacts and maintain long, reliable performance; Motive tests its devices under simulated trucking environments for resistance to vibrations, heat, dust, and other challenges; and its device housing/mounting uses durable materials and vibration damping technology to protect electronics.
Ingress protection
Water damages electronics by introducing corrosion and short circuits. Dust—or solid particles generally—damages electronics by retaining moisture, causing overheating, and shorting circuits. Unfortunately, dust is common in the truck cab, and both dust and water frequently cover other truck surfaces.
An electronic device’s enclosure is the first and best line of defense against water and dust intrusion. The standards defining this defense are the ingress protection rating determined by the International Electrotechnical Commission and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s eponymous NEMA enclosure types.
Under IEC’s IP code, the first digit represents solid particle protection, with 0 meaning no protection and 6 offering complete protection. The second digit represents liquid protection, with 0 meaning no protection and 9 offering total protection. Additional letters add special protection meanings, such as K, which means high-pressure ingress resistance. Not every telematics provider discloses their devices’ ingress protection ratings.
Motive’s interior dashcam has a rating of IP52, while its exterior Omnicam has a rating of IP69K—one of the highest possible scores. The Trimble gateway (recently acquired by Platform Science) has a protection value of IP67.
Mounting to reduce vibrations
Mounting is an important consideration for anything in the truck. Even drivers suffer significant health problems due to heavy vehicle vibrations, and a well-designed seat can mitigate the issue.
The same applies to hardware. The fixtures that mount a gateway or dashcam—and the housings for device components—provide the perfect opportunity to reduce vibrations. This is particularly true for dashcams, where vibrations can interfere with picture quality. The mounting mechanism must also be adaptable to accommodate the wide range of models, operations, and objectives of carriers.
“Heavy-duty vehicles represent the majority of our deployments, yet there is certainly not a single windscreen and cabin design,” Ben Calderon, EVP and chief technology officer of hardware and operations at Samsara, told FleetOwner. “These cameras have to be adaptable to many mounting situations and have the ability to detect activities inside and out.”
Samsara’s gateways can use a mounting bracket that is affixed to the vehicle with screws or zip ties. Its dashcam mounts use an adhesive to stick to any part of the windshield. Additional zip ties or cable clips can also help to secure the devices’ cables.
Similarly, the Isaac Instruments ELD tablet is built for ruggedness. The company also uses custom-designed docking stations as mounts to keep the device firmly in place.
One carrier, Peters Brothers Trucking, encountered several issues with consumer-grade ELDs. When the carrier began to use an ELD designed for the truck, it quickly saw the benefits of the rugged design.
“The shop was constantly taking dashes apart to change hardware out,” Ann Reifsnyder, safety director of Peters Brothers Trucking, said in an Isaac webinar. “My shop only installs an Isaac when I get a new unit. They don’t have to touch it any other time. It’s basically set and forget.”
Resilience in action
When designed for ruggedness, telematics equipment can endure all kinds of extreme conditions.
Phoenix Global provides services for metal and mining operations worldwide, operating hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment off-road. The company’s services place their vehicles in extremely harsh conditions.
“Most of our on-site equipment, especially loaders, pot carriers, and those types of things, are next to molten metal. That’s 1,700 degrees plus,” Jeff Suellentrop, chief information and technology officer for Phoenix Global, told FleetOwner. “And it’s a very unique, very dusty, very dirty environment.”
On multiple occasions, working next to molten metal led to the melting of taillights and backup cameras.
“Not too many customers, I doubt, ask Motive what the melting point of their hardware is,” Suellentrop said.
The company is pursuing an aggressive digital transformation, primarily to enhance its operational safety and efficiency. About a year ago, Phoenix Global underwent a full RFQ process, evaluating different suppliers to implement new, rugged devices in its equipment.
The company piloted with Motive and decided to further its partnership. Motive’s component choice, housing, and rigorous testing ensured its devices could withstand the challenge.
Phoenix Global deployed hundreds of pieces of Motive equipment to almost all of its U.S. sites in addition to using several of Motive’s digital solutions.
Phoenix Global installed Motive dashcams, Omnicams, gateways, and asset trackers on its equipment—and the company was satisfied with the performance of the devices.
“It’s been fantastic,” Suellentrop said. “We’ve definitely put it to the test.”
Motive helped coordinate the installation and maintenance of the hardware across all of Phoenix’s different equipment models and brands, including ideal mounting locations and additional covers to protect from dirt and debris.
“We’ve yet to melt a piece of equipment down—and, believe me, we’ve tried,” Suellentrop said.
