What is the communication protocol of GPS tracker?

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If you have experienced transferring your trackers from one platform to another, or if you are using tracker in the third party’s platform or your own developed platform, you will inquiry the communication protocol of the GPS tracker from your supplier, while some of them will disclose it, some may not. Anyway, we need to understand what the communication protocol is and know how important it is.

 

Generally speaking, communication protocol of the GPS tracker is the data transmission rules which created by the device developer, from which you can understand data details that device would upload to a specific server. Think of, take example, it’s a language of a tracker, like a language of a country, if you understand it, you will know what it says.

 

 

 

if you are still confused after reading the above explanations, let me take an concrete example for you below.

As an end user, when you open platform and login with your username and password, you will definitely see a vehicle icon display in map or moving in real-time, and all the information like coordinates, address, mileage, speed, time, ignition status or fuel volume are showing regularly in their place. This scene is happened when engineers have decoded the original data from tracker and programmed to be the visiuable interfaces. The original data that the tracker sent to a specific server is actually a kind of hexadecimal string, more like a code combined numbers and letters. Even an engineer who didn’t read the communication protocol can’t understand the meaning.

let me quote a data example from our trackers as following:

24 24 80 00 25 37 E3 00 A0 13 01 18 07 28 35 02 41 71 15 05 43 86 88 00 00 00 00 C0 47 00 07 A8 19 28 01 16 A0 1D 00 FF E2 0D

 

Do you feel that engineer is a magician when you first time see this data string. but when you read the protocol, you will feel that you own the same power. let me quote the phrase from the communication protocol to explain the above listed data string:

Data Format:

24 24 80 00 23  （29Byte） 0D
Header Main order Packet length Device ID Position Data Calibration Packet end

Position Data:

Time Latitude Longitude Speed Direction Angle GPS Status Input Ignition A/D Data

(Fuel)

 Mileage Temp

Explanation in details:

Header: 24 24

Main order: 80

Length: 00 25

Device ID: 37 E3 00 A0

Date: 13 01 18

Time: 07 28 35

Latitude: 02 41 71 15

Longitude: 05 43 86 88

Speed: 00 00

Angle: 00 00

GPS status: C0

Detection setting status: 47

Ignition status: 00

Fuel Resistance: 07 A8

Voltage: 19 28

Mileage(meter): 01 16 A0 1D

Temperature: 00 FF

Calibration: E2

Footer: 0D

 

Different suppliers have their private communication protocol for their trackers which is the same as different countries have their different languages. Because at the beginning of developing this products, they would think differently in their company. As the development of this industry, some of the supplier’s tracker is popular in the market, other suppliers then start to copy which cause the one of the protocol type prevailed. Recently due the regulations of government, most of the suppliers are following the protocol named JT808 which defined by government and it finally unified the forms.

 

When we decide to purchase tracker from  suppliers, we have to know if they can disclose communication protocol no matter they are using their private protocol or government public protocol in case there is some unhappy service in future. You never know what experience will happen when you are using the platform provided by supplier.