Continuous long term (vehicle) GPS tracking

18 May 2011

Note: This information is provided as a reference and does not imply that Juniper Systems will provide full support for the use of any specific third-party device or software with a Juniper Systems product.

Though this is not a standard or recommended application, it may be possible to use our rugged handheld computer products to perform continuous long term GPS tracking such as on a vehicle (like while mounted to the handle bar of an ATV (four-wheeler)) or strapped onto a hiking backpack.

Any integrated or external GPS receiver could be used, such as one of those listed at the following web page.

Common GNSS, GPS, & GLONASS receivers

In such a setup, it would be recommended to use Unattended instead of Suspend mode on the Mesa or Archer 2 by editing the following Windows registry key.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Power] "DeepSuspend"=dword:1 ; 0 = use unattended mode as low power state, 1 = Very low power suspend (default)

Otherwise, you could disable auto-suspend timers ("Turn off device if not used for" power setting(s) such as under Start > Settings > System > Power > Advanced), dim the display and/or keypad backlight brightness as far as reasonably possible (such as under Start > Settings > Backlight), and disable the touchscreen (such as from the Power Button menu which appears after pressing and holding the Power button for a couple of seconds).

 

Mesa Rugged Notepad

The GPS Compass gadget on the home screen of the Mesa Rugged Notepad provides a GPS Breadcrumb option which can be enabled to automatically record up to 3600 points in the \My Device\GPSTrack.gpx file before needing to be renamed. Though this has not been thoroughly tested, if the default automatic point recording time interval options (up to every 30 seconds) does not provide the length of time needed, it may be possible to edit the following Windows registry key using a registry editor to increase the time interval.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JuniperSys\JSHome\Gadgets\GPSCompass]"BreadCrumbRate"=dword:600 (600 being 10 minutes shown in seconds)

 

Archer Field PC with Hemisphere XF101

It may be possible to use the NMEA ASCII text file output that is built in to the Hemisphere GPS PocketMAX software. This configuration utility app is available from the following website.

http://www.hemispheregps.com/Support/PrecisionProductSupport/Receivers/Software/tabid/558/Default.aspx

 

All GPS enabled products

GPS track log (or breadcrumb trail) may be a feature provided in some of our standard GPS/GIS software applications, such as ESRI ArcPad, as listed at the following web page.

https://www.junipersys.com/support/article/1818

Otherwise, third party software for Microsoft Windows Mobile that may provide specific GPS tracking functionality include those described at the following web pages.

Alternatively, hardware products that were specifically designed for such an application are listed below.