SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ASSET TRACKING USING HYBRID WAN/PAN WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

A system for tracking mobile assets is described. The system includes a plurality of mobile asset tracking devices, where each of the tracking devices has a short range radio transmitter used to transmit identifying information to other nearby tracking devices. A subset of the plurality of mobile asset tracking devices also include location determination modules and wide area network communications transmitters, this subset of mobile asset tracking devices is operable to collect the identifying information of the nearby tracking devices without the wide area network communication transmitter and to transmit the location and identifying information of the nearby tracking devices to a monitoring center to track the plurality of mobile asset tracking devices.