Vehicle tracking and fleet management company Ctrack has formed a partnership with Vixnet, South Africa’s only wide area Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) Technology provider, to provide state-of-the-art anti-jamming technology for customers.
Signal jamming has become an increasingly popular form of preventing a telematics unit from broadcasting its position to the service provider when a vehicle is being hijacked by criminals.
According to Clinton Lemmer, head of Security Business Development at VixNet and Hein Jordt, managing director of Ctrack, the result of this agreement will offer Ctrack customers one of the most advanced and proactive jamming detection services available in South Africa.
“Our agreement with VixNet provides the platform to supply our customers with an enhanced jamming mitigation solution,” says Jordt. “This is the ideal solution for our fleet customers in particular that are working with high-risk loads as it provides detection of any jamming devices in the vicinity, which means that armed response or reaction services can be notified before an incident takes place,” he adds.
According to Lemmer, the agreement with Ctrack is to provide them with all the back-end technology while they focus on the marketing, installation and monitoring of their own customer base. “VixNet will be working closely with Ctrack to offer its customers state-of-the-art anti-jamming technology with the advantage of our proprietary, secure, bi-directional data communications network,” he says.
Both Lemmer and Jordt acknowledge that many customers have become disillusioned with other so-called anti-jamming services providers that are unable to deliver on their product promises. However, they believe that when it comes to VixNet’s DSSS technology, it’s easy to win the sceptics over when they have the opportunity to witness the effectiveness of the system being demonstrated in a real life scenario using real jammers.
The VixNet bi-directional data communications network guarantees signal delivery using its own in-house designed radio transceivers. The network uses DSSS technology, which does not rely on any other format, such as GSM, to communicate.
DSSS cannot be jammed and has four signal acknowledgement stages to ensure that all signals are delivered to respective recipients. Furthermore it is designed to transmit out of difficult RF noisy areas and can penetrate through concrete, making it ideal for city, retail and financial institution environments.
Ctrack currently boasts a stolen vehicle tracking and recovery rate of over 90%, making it a valuable risk mitigation partner to individual consumers and companies wanting to manage assets and personal risk. The company specialises in the research, design, development, manufacturing, sales and support of technologically advanced GPS/GSM fleet management and vehicle tracking with range of products based on the latest location methods.
This new jamming detection solution will include many of Ctrack’s other product advantages including direct contact to vehicle drivers, notification of the driver entering a high-risk area and notifying the company immediately of any incident that may have taken place.
