Telemetry - what is it and what does it give a fleet owner?

You are sitting in the office. An excavator is working several dozen kilometers away, a delivery van is on its way to a customer, and a truck is parked in a lot.

You want to know whether the excavator's engine is running, how much fuel is left in the truck and whether the delivery van has arrived. You do not have to go to each of these vehicles or call the drivers. You can check the information you need on a screen.

This is exactly what telemetry is for: it lets you remotely measure and read what is happening with a vehicle, machine or other device.

If you know GPS monitoring, you already know one of its uses. However, the position on the map is only one of the pieces of information you can get this way.

GPS monitoring answers the question "where?". Telemetry lets you ask more

The best-known GPS monitoring feature is vehicle location. You open the map and see where the car is.

Telemetry expands this picture with further information. Depending on the vehicle equipment and installed sensors, you can find out, among other things:

• whether the engine is actually running;
• how much fuel is in the tank;
• whether refueling or a suspicious loss has occurred;
• whether the cargo area doors are open;
• what the temperature is in the refrigerated body.

Imagine two excavators standing next to each other. On the map they look similar: both are on the same construction site and do not change position.

One has its engine switched off. The other has been idling for an hour and consuming fuel.

Location alone will not show this difference. A properly selected measurement will.

How does information from a machine reach your office?

The whole process can be described in four steps.

A GPS receiver determines position based on satellite signals. A fuel probe measures the fuel level in the tank. The right sensor helps detect engine operation, and a door sensor reports that the doors have been opened.

Some data can also be read from the vehicle's factory electronics.

Every piece of information needs a source. Installing a GPS tracker alone will not make the system know all the vehicle's parameters.

A telemetry device, often called a GPS tracker, is installed in the vehicle. It receives data from connected sensors and available vehicle systems.

It can therefore collect information about position, fuel level and engine status in one place. The scope depends on the installation in a specific car or machine.

The device sends information over the cellular network, for example LTE, to the system, which stores and processes it.

It is worth separating two things here: satellites help determine position, while in a typical fleet installation it is the cellular network that sends data to the server.

That is why a device may know its location, but if there is no network coverage, it will not send it to the office in real time.

Data appears in the application as a position on the map, vehicle status, event history or a report.

The system can also draw your attention to a specific situation on its own. Instead of constantly watching the fuel chart, you receive a warning that a suspicious change has appeared in the tank.

This is the stage where measurement becomes information useful in everyday work.

Can you also send a command to the vehicle?

Yes, if the vehicle and the installed system support such a function.

Sending information from the car to the system is one direction of communication. The other can be sending a command, for example to lock the central locking system.

That is remote control. It can work in the same solution as telemetry, although remote measurement itself does not require control capability.

Not every function is available in every car. The right connections, compatibility with the vehicle installation and user permissions are needed. Functions related to the engine require particular caution: blocking restart must be distinguished from stopping the engine while driving.

For the user, everything can be visible in one application: they check the vehicle status and, within the available scope, send it a command.

What matters most is whether the measurement tells the truth

A nice map and a clear report make the system easier to use. However, their value depends on the data that feeds them.

If the system detects engine operation only by the ignition being switched on, it may show operation even when the engine is off. If a temporary drop in the probe reading is caused by the machine tilting, it should not automatically mean fuel theft.

That is why telemetry starts at the vehicle: with selecting the sensor, proper installation, calibration where needed and checking how the installation behaves.

This is especially important in older machines. They may still do their job well, but not provide ready-made electronic data. Then you need to know how to obtain the required parameters using additional sensors.

At Multiflota, our installers and in-house design department handle this. We develop telemetry devices and sensors, drawing on 30 years of the team's experience. This allows us to match the measurement method to specific equipment and its operating conditions.

From a reading to information about what needs your attention

The reading "fuel level dropped" is only the beginning.

The owner wants to know whether the fuel was used during work, whether the reading changed because the machine tilted, or whether there may have been a loss that needs checking.

That is why at Multiflota we develop telemetry around event analysis. The system collects measurements and checks how they develop, so it can give the user information useful for making a decision.

When there is a suspicious change in fuel level, it can first warn that the machine is worth checking. After further analysis, it provides the verification result and the estimated size of the loss.

You do not have to watch maps and charts all day. The system works in the background, and you manage the fleet when your attention is needed.

You can also simply ask about the data

Telemetry information does not have to be available only in tables and reports.

Multiflota enables connection with ChatGPT or Claude through a connector. After configuring and authorizing the connection, you can ask:

• "What's going on in my fleet?"
• "How many machines have their engines running now?"
• "Where is the delivery van?"
• "Which devices do we not have current data from?"

The assistant uses information made available by the system. It does not replace sensors or measurement. It makes it easier to get to the answer without having to look for the right report yourself.

What does telemetry give you in everyday work?

It lets you know more about equipment outside your line of sight. Check where it is, what is happening to it and whether it needs attention.

For a company owner, this can mean noticing fuel loss earlier. For a construction site manager - information about actual engine operation. For a dispatcher - the ability to check which vehicle has arrived.

In every case, what matters is combining reliable measurement with information you can use.

Let's talk about your fleet. We will start with what you want to know about your vehicles and machines, then choose how to collect that information.