Remora GPS pros and cons – a feature overview

Being an owner of a super motile fleet, you want to operate it at optimum levels as you juggle between responsibilities. Apart from your daily operations, it would help if you also keep your business in compliance with regulations and policies laid down by your regional and national authorities. There is always a need to run operations in tandem with several variables. With a properly laid out organogram and a consistent structure, your business will be able to grow and expand by leaps and bounds. The system gives every stakeholder their set of roles and responsibilities that help walk the tight rope and perhaps keep you, the business owner, out of your depth. Having a fleet management best practices guideline helps keep the operations smooth and effective.

Remora GPS is a low-profile, rugged 4G GPS tracking device that has been designed for container tracking several items. These include trailers, skip bins, pallets, among other assets where super-long battery life is required without sacrificing the frequency of updates and performance.

The Remora2 can also be used while roaming past cellular networks across the globe. This feature gives its user global coverage for their asset movements. And the SIM card data costs remain at the lowest. The communications with the device are two-way, allowing the Remora device to behave and change its update frequency Over-The-Air. It also has an in-built “Recovery Mode”. As Remora GPS utilizes the latest tracking tech, it can efficiently operate in ultra-low power modes. This capability provides an incredible battery life of up to 10 years (Once a day updates). When you change the frequency of updates to an hourly basis, the battery life comes down to 5 years, not a bad proposition. You do not have to change batteries, and the device does not need external power for sending out tracking updates.

Additionally, the option to use extended temperature range batteries allows the Remora device to be in use through extreme climates that other tracking devices sometimes find hard to operate in.

We discuss the Pros and Cons in our Remora feature Review:

Low-profile IP67 rugged housing – Remora device has a small footprint. The IP67 rated housing makes it capable of handling bumps, knocks, and even harsh weather like the bright sun and even winters. Its casing is made from sturdy ABS/Polycarbonate plastic. As it has small footprint, it can be easily attached to corrugated surfaces like that of containers. It can also be concealed on a trailer’s underside.

Now the side effect of being too small is that it can go out of sight of operators, and they may accidentally bruise it with other equipment. This can even break the device arising out of mishandling. The external housing has screws that make it easy to assemble and can be mounted using its 2 tabs. Dimensions: 225mm x 70mm x 30mm and weight is about 500 grams with batteries

Batteries – Remora runs on the standard “C-Cell” size batteries that provide a decent battery size as well as battery power capacity. Low-cost alkaline batteries can also be used on the device. User also has the option to install the extended life LTC i.e. Lithium-Thionyl-Chloride batteries. They last for years.

Having a diverse battery option is one thing, however, this also leads to confusion at the user level. With so many batteries available on the store shelves, users can quickly get confused and buy batteries that are not recommended and may lead to improper device functioning.

Operating Temperature ranges – Remora has a relatively wide range of operations. Its protective ABS casing allows it to operate in extreme temperatures. It can work at a temperature as low as –40°C and handle a temperature up to +85°C. It is also recommended that for extremely low temperatures, the Remora must be fitted with LTC batteries.

High Sensitivity GPS – The GPS module on remora is an efficient piece of technology. It is a UBLOX MAX8 GPS module that supports concurrent GPS and GLONASS. It also has a 72 channel high sensitivity receiver. With its optimal hot-start feature, it can produce industry-leading performance. AssistNow Offline feature helps attain data for extremely fast time-to-first-fix and performance in urban densely populated environments.

Remora actually uses both the GPS and GLONASS positioning systems simultaneously. This si super beneficial for tracking as it gets the best of both worlds performance. The device can handle signals from twice the number of satellites to get a position fix. Hence it is fast and accurate.

Cellular connectivity – Remora features 2G or 3G (NextG) with Roaming capabilities. Hence it can be used worldwide where different regions follow different wave radio frequencies to connect cells. A Remora device can literally roam across networks. The 2G modem is a Quad Band GSM/GPRS Class 10 with 4 frequencies. The 3G Modem can access networks across Europe and asia Pacific as well as Latin America. 3G modem also works across North America with the NA 850 / 1900 frequencies.

Accelerometer – Remora features a 3 axis accelerometer that allows the devices ‘sleep’ in an ultra-low power state yet still wakeup when movement occurs. Basically, the device accelerometers go to ‘sleep’ when the device is static. It wakes up as soon as a movement or a shock is sensed. The accelerometer can also detect extreme G-Force events like an accident or abuse of the asset. When the truck driver takes a tight turn, the accelerometer detects the event and sends out a report.

The accelerometer is good to have featured in any GPS tracker. However, depending on sensitivity settings, it can sometimes record several non-invasive events that only use up extra amount of data as it adds up to a bigger report.

On-board Memory – Remora has a flash memory capacity to store over 50,000 event records. Now depending on its data reporting frequency, it will send data to the server immediately or intermittently. If the device is out of range, there is ample amounts of space available to record data and send it out once connectivity is available again. The flash memory can also be used for storing parameters, GPS aiding data, geofences, etc.

Text Messaging capability – In case data is not available, Remora is equipped with a SIM. This enables the device to send out text messages to setup the APN, server, and other details. The device can also be configured to roam across multiple networks.

On the contrary the device does not know when to send or receive text messages. This can lead to excess monthly SIM card charges for sending or receiving text messages.

AssistNow Offline feature – The unique feature of Remora is that it can go where all other devices fail. The onboard tech lets the GPS predict which satellites are in orbit above it and dramatically reduce the GPS’s time-to-first-fix. This also allows for an accurate GPS performance, especially in densely populated urban areas as well as forests.

Geofencing – Remora can track and report geofence breaches. The geofences can be updated into the device on the go by using Over-The-Air update capabilities. The geofencing feature can easily detect and report arrival and departure alerts, “No-go” and “Keep-out” areas too.