A remote sensor platform for asset tracking monitors the context of the local environment to conserve power. Primary sensors (2) monitor local environment stimuli such as temperature (4), pressure or illumination (8). A low-power processor (16) uses the primary sensors (2) to monitor the environment and thereby determine whether to activate a secondary high power sensor (10), such as a GPS unit (12) or humidity or gas sensor (14). The low power processor may be triggered by the primary sensors (2) and may use configurable rules (22) for decision making. It may log exceptions (24) and sensor data for further decision making. A high-power processor (28) sends sensor data via a reporting means (34) to a server (40) using secondary configurable rules (3) conditionally on the primary (2) and secondary (10) sensor inputs. The server (40) can update the rules (22,30).
