Introducing the First Truly Customizable Physical Asset Tracking Device: Twilio Programmable Asset Tracker

Shippers, haulers, and owners of valuable assets use Internet-connected asset tracking technology to improve operational efficiency, optimize the supply chain, and reduce losses, damage, or theft. On top of that, their customers benefit from a better experience, as the location and condition of goods can now be followed conveniently around the world.

Current asset tracking solutions miss the mark

The cost of the technology behind these devices has been declining, but today’s solutions all lack a critical capability. At the surface the various available devices on the market seem similar: they all contain a battery, connectivity (a cellular modem and perhaps a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy radio), some sensors such as accelerometers, and an embedded processor. The differentiation lies in the software, and that’s where things quickly fall short.

Most software for asset tracking devices is generic by design, and thus never serves a use case precisely. For example, the tracking application produces data in frustrating data formats specific to each device; alerts whenever a temperature range is exceeded, while you only care about that for outbound shipping, not for returns; reports its location every hour, while your use case requires it every 5 minutes, but only when moving. All of this leaves potential efficiency gains unutilized.

In addition to missing functionality and performance, these commodity trackers also:

• Cannot be customized over time – perhaps your business requirements need you to purchase an asset tracker that behaves in a specific manner today, but in a year's time, this requirement might change – forcing you to buy another asset tracker that fits your new requirements.
• Do not guarantee or offer IP ownership – there is no conceptual way to own the specific way you configured an existing tracker, which means working with the device manufacturer to improve your usage case improves it for your competitors with the same usage case
• Lack data transparency – off-the-shelf trackers often do not provide full transparency into how data flows from the asset tracker, through different cloud applications in risky locations, and vice-versa

While a do-it-yourself approach can be and has been tried, most companies that are either asset owners or software providers don’t want to spend resources building the expertise in hardware design and firmware development, as acquiring that is either costly or time-consuming, breaking the business case.

Twilio solves asset tracking with highest customizability

To solve this problem, Twilio is introducing the first truly customizable asset tracker as an IoT solution toolkit: Twilio Programmable Asset Tracker – A high performance asset tracking device and application that is complete and fully functional out of the box for a fast time-to-market, while offering the highest possible degree of customizability of firmware and cloud integration.

The hardware has been designed in collaboration with a leading ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) and is thus available from a single unit to mass production volumes, with customizations being an option. It supports the prominent asset tracking use cases around tracking vehicles/trailers, perishable goods, containers/pallets, livestock, or industrial equipment.

With this offering, Twilio serves asset owners in fields as diverse as Construction, Manufacturing, Utilities, Supply Chain, Automotive, Transportation & Logistics, Healthcare, or Food Production – as well as technology providers building asset tracking solutions for these or other industries. Twilio Programmable Asset Tracker gives both types of organizations a toolkit that works out of the box with a very fast time to market, and a framework for customizing the firmware without needing deep hardware or firmware expertise: any Web developer familiar with scripting languages can do the work. Programmable Asset Tracker is built on top of Twilio’s two trusted IoT platforms: Twilio Electric Imp and Twilio Super SIM, which have been managing millions of connected devices for years. Together, the solution toolkit and Twilio’s services:

• provide highly reliable global cellular connectivity on 400+ networks around the world,
• offer global scalability to support your business growth needs,
• allow over-the-air updates of the firmware itself to fit your use case(s) and improve or adjust functionality over time,
• manage edge-to-cloud security for the lifetime of your deployment,
• handle all communications and low level drivers, so you don’t have to,
• ensure IP ownership for any firmware customizations you might make

For Web-based tracker management in the cloud, customers can choose to leverage the API that is included with the tracker application to integrate Programmable Asset Tracker into existing Tracking Portals. This provides customers with the freedom to dictate exactly which pieces of data get reported by the device, which cloud destinations receive this data, and the reporting interval in which these interactions occur. Customers can also choose to leverage forthcoming pre-built integrations with third party platforms to accelerate development.

Companies like GPX, Newt Mobility, NXTGN, Thinglabs, Kahi.io, and Bio Riot Technologies have already chosen to work with Twilio Programmable Asset Tracker.

“Today’s asset tracking customers expect a solution which is tailored to their use case and can responsively adapt to changing business requirements” says Gabriel Weeks, President, GPX Intelligence. “Twilio’s Programmable Asset Tracking solution toolkit gives us just that: it lets us add value by delivering a unique solution to each of our customers without requiring deep expertise in embedded systems, resulting in a better and more reliable tracking experience.”

Asset tracking example in the field

Take imaginative company ACME Logistics, who provide transportation services for different types of customers with a wide range of goods that each have different tracking and monitoring requirements. Rather than purchasing different tracker hardware and software for each use case, ACME can standardize on Programmable Asset Tracker and transform the trackers for each of their shipments (that each have their own requirements). Furthermore, they can improve functionality over time, providing unprecedented flexibility to evolve as their business and customer needs change.

ACME can accomplish all of this through the hardware and software extensibility of the Programmable Asset Tracker and convenient over-the-air firmware updates to units almost anywhere in the world, without having to touch the devices.

Tracking perishable goods

To start, ACME transports perishable food items, which need to be delivered fast and always be within the allowed temperature range to ensure healthy foods and to minimize spoilage. Through the use of the Twilio Web UIs and APIs, ACME can update a subset of the fleet of 10,000 Programmable Asset Trackers in their possession to perform well for this scenario. This includes:

• Fast and reliable positioning with the tracker’s built-in multi-source positioning technologies (GNSS, Wifi, Cellular) that make use of GNSS Assist data, which further shortens the time needed to achieve a position fix
• Reliable and configurable sensor alerts that leverage sophisticated functionality to automatically handle poor and intermittent connectivity, which ensures alerts and events are not lost and reliably delivered as soon as possible. ACME chooses to tailor the temperature alert condition to send an actionable event to a receiving system of their choice when a threshold is reached.

Monitoring large and expensive consumer electronics shipment

Next, ACME Logistics is contracted to haul TVs and other large, easily damaged consumer electronics. This type of shipment needs to be tracked for geolocation to ensure up-to-date delivery information for the end customer, but also monitored for high temperature and rough handling to avoid damage to the goods. ACME needs all of their 10,000 units for this job, so they use the Twilio Web UIs or APIs to conveniently change the behavior of their entire tracker fleet to perform well for this task, which includes:

• Detecting theft from their warehouse in the first phase of the shipment, by putting the tracker in different modes: first, monitoring its location within a geofence and only sporadically reporting location to the cloud; then, once a tracked device leaves the warehouse geofence unexpectedly, switch to frequent position reports to allow for theft tracking and recovery
• Configurable shock detection through a high-performance 3-axis acceleration sensor with a motion detection algorithm which can not only detect shock, but also allows to differentiate between pallets being moved (intended) vs. dropped (unintended behavior)

How to get started

Programmable Asset Tracker is currently in Beta, and we invite asset owners and asset tracking solution providers to join our Beta Program for access to pricing & documentation, and to order trackers for evaluation. Once you fill out the form, our team will be in touch with you to discuss your use case and needs, answer any questions you might have, and trigger the shipment of your trial trackers.

Curious to learn more, and see a live demonstration? Please register now for our launch webinar on 7th December, 2022 @ 9am PT | 12pm ET | 5pm GMT.

For product specifications and more background on the asset tracker, visit our landing page.

For general questions or to speak to someone from our team, please contact us through twilio.com/iot/help

This is the first in a series of blog posts about asset tracking. Stay tuned for topics such as indoor locationing, tricks for getting longer battery life, how to calculate the average power consumption of your asset tracker, extending the functionality of your tracker via BLE sensors, how to manufacture to ensure security, and more!