Below you will find a list of commonly used words within the fleet industry and in the MiX Telematics software.
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Activity Timeline
The Activity Timeline displays trip and event information for a driver or vehicle graphically in the form of a timeline. The timeline can display up to 24 hours (a full day) of information and can be zoomed in to display various time periods down to 1 hour.
Active Event
An Active Event is an event configured to send a message to the office when it is detected. The fleet manager can decide which events are important enough to justify sending real-time messages.
Active Tracking
Active Tracking occurs when you track your vehicles in real-time on the internet using this software. You can start or stop tracking a vehicle by sending an instruction from the office, or the vehicle can initiate tracking automatically as soon as an event is detected. You can also be alerted in real-time when a driving violation occurs.
Asset
To accommodate all our customers, for the purpose of the software, an asset is defined as any item into which an on-board computer can be installed, including vehicles (such as a car, truck, boat, etc.) but can also be a trailer, generator or any item of value that needs to be tracked and or monitored.
Analogue or Digital Inputs
The onboard computers have analogue or digital inputs, which can be used to monitor any device on a vehicle that generates a change in voltage e.g. headlights, refrigerator units, emergency lights, doors, PTO, Trailer coupling etc.
Arming Delay
Arming Delay is the length of time that the vehicle must be inactive before a trip ends and the unit re-arms. See this article for more detail and an example.
Auxiliary Frequency Input
The onboard computers have auxiliary frequency inputs, which can be configured to monitor any device that generates a change in frequency, such as temperature sensor, liquid flow measurement or pulse counter (e.g. electronic fuel consumption measurement (EDM)).
AVL (Active vehicle location)
transmission of an active vehicle position pinpointing a geographic location.
CNIL
The CNIL, Commission Nationale Informatique & Libertés, is the French Data Protection Agency. Created in 1978, the CNIL is an independent administrative body that operates in accordance with the data protection legislation of 6 January 1978 as amended on 6 August 2004. The CNIL is responsible for ensuring that information technology remains at the service of citizens.
Comparison operators
Comparison operators are used to describe relationships between values. The Fleet Manager software uses the following operators.
Operator Description:
- = Equals. True when the values on either side are equal.
- <= Less than or equal to. True when the value on the left is either less than or equal to the value on the right.
- < Less than. True when the value on the left is less than the value on the right
- >= Greater than or equal to. True when the value on the left is either greater than or equal to the value on the right.
- > Greater than. True when the value on the left is greater than the value on the right
See Add a new Event
Configuration Group
Configuration groups are used to define default vehicle or driver properties that are used when adding new vehicles or drivers to the system.
For example, if you always wish to configure light delivery vehicles a certain way, you can create a configuration group and assign it to new light delivery vehicles rather than manually configuring each new vehicle.
Decimal Hours
Decimal hours reflect periods of time as decimal fractions of hours rather than as hours, minutes and seconds. For example, 1 hour 30 minutes is 1.5 decimal hours.
Device Driver
On-board computers are fully programmable. The programs for the vehicle unit take the form of device driver files that are uploaded to the vehicle unit by means of the green vehicle code-plug or other communications methods.
Distance Unit
Distance units refer to miles if you are using the Imperial or US measurement units, or kilometers if you are using metric measurement units.
Download
A download is a process of retrieving information from the onboard computer using the green vehicle code-plug or other communication methods and storing the information in the database.
Download Module
The download module is a peripheral that plugs into your computer's USB port. It has a socket into which code plugs are inserted and allows information to be read from or written to the code plug.
Driver
Any person who has been granted access to drive one of your vehicles.
Driver ID
The driver is identified by the act of inserting the driver code-plug into the code-plug socket in the vehicle. This is done by a number used to uniquely identify the driver to the system. When creating a driver you choose this number which may be in the range -32,768 to 32,768.
Driving time
This shows the time spent driving, indicated in hours and minutes. The driving time is also shown as a percentage of trip duration. See this article for more detail on how it is calculated.
Driving violations
All on-board computers record the standard driving violations - over-speeding, over-revving, green band driving, harsh braking and excessive idling, harsh acceleration as well as user-defined events such as headlights on, cargo door opening in no-go zone etc.
DTC
DTC (or diagnostic trouble code) is a type of fault code that a vehicle uses to communicate and alert a person to a specific problem with an aspect of the vehicle, also typically indicated by a light on the dashboard.
DVIR
Driver Vehicle Inspection report is an official record that a driver completes daily to confirm they have completed the required inspections to operate any commercial vehicle as specified by law.
Engine Hours
Engine hours is the elapsed time in decimal hours that a vehicle's ignition was on and/or that the vehicle was generating a signal on the RPM line.
Events
Events define what is to be monitored by the unit. Events can be standard driving violations (e.g. Over-speeding), standard events (e.g. Battery Disconnection) or user-defined events.
Extended Driver ID
It is possible to use multiple means of driver identification in a fleet. This functionality is available via the digital tachograph (DTCO) and certain card reader devices. When using a third-party device, the driver will be identified by a unique extended driver ID. The driver's unique extended ID can be a hexadecimal number (allowed digits are 0-9 and A-F) of up to 32 characters used to identify the driver to certain third parties. For the digital tachograph (DTCO), the number will need to be 16 ASCII characters.
Fob
A key fob is a remote control device that enables keyless entry, i.e. gives access to a vehicle by pressing a button.
GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that uses up to 24 satellites within the network to pinpoint the exact location of an object, anywhere in the world, at any time of the day.
GPS Lock
If a device is GPS locked, it means that the satellite signals have provided enough position signals to know the location of the device.
GPS Drift
GPS drift means the asset is standing still but appears to be moving because satellites move. This indicates the difference between your actual location and the location recorded by the unit.
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a non-voice value-added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network. It enables networks to offer 'always-on', higher capacity, Internet-based content and packet-based data services. Within the mobile phone context, it enables services such as Internet browsing, e-mail on the move, powerful visual communications, multimedia messages and location-based services. GPRS is an extension of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a digital protocol that is the most widely deployed wireless standard in the world. GSM allows vehicle data to be extracted remotely from the vehicle, anywhere within the GSM Network range. The GSM Data Calls are scheduled and initiated by the software and can be used to:
- Download data from the on-board computer
- Upload new device drivers and configuration to the vehicles
The GSM circuit-switched data (CSD), Short Message Service (SMS), and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technologies can be used for communicating with the onboard computers.
HDOP
Horizontal Dilution of Precision - describes the error caused by the relative position of the GPS satellites. If the value is <2 it is considered accurate enough to determine if a vehicle is on the road. An HDOP value of 1 or below would give you an accuracy of about 2.5 meters.
Idling time / Idle time
This shows the time spent idling, indicated in hours and minutes. Note that although idling time is shown as a percentage of trip duration, it cannot be reconciled with driving and standing times. Due to the way that these times are recorded, the idling time overlaps both driving and standing times. Idling time is calculated based on the idle event setup for which the definition is controlled in the Event template. See this article for more detail on how it is displayed.
IMEI
International Mobile Equipment Identity linked to the modem hardware. Consists of 15 numeric digits.
Interval Data
Tacho data (originally recorded by a traditional tachograph) is second-by-second data which normally includes speed and RPM in a graphical format on a paper disk. On-board computers record this information electronically.
KPI
The KPI (key performance indicator) is a global performance measurement standard used to measure the progress towards certain organizational goals or outcomes.
Location
A location is a predefined area (geofence) drawn on the map in the tracking feature that simplifies the task of knowing when your asset arrived and left a certain area like a customer location, fuel stop, rest stop, high accident zone, no-go zone, etc.
Multi-plug
A multi-plug is a vehicle plug that has been initialized in such a manner that it can be used to download from any vehicle.
Object
An object is any tangible entity or item within the system. Organizations, sites, vehicles, drivers, passengers, configuration groups and reporting groups are all objects.
On-board Computer
A computer installed into a vehicle, used for monitoring and recording the activities of the vehicle.
Organization
An organization refers to a business that has assets that are monitored through the use of a mobile device that is installed/attached to the asset.
Passive Tracking
Passive Tracking lets you view the route of your vehicles on an interactive map after the data has been downloaded and stored in the Fleet Manager database. This helps you to monitor the routes drivers take, and highlight when vehicles enter and/or exit pre-defined locations. You can also set up that the GPS position of events should be recorded when they occur, as this allows you to view where the vehicle was when certain events occur.
Passenger
A person who is to be identified to the unit when entering or exiting a vehicle.
Plug Ratio
The ratio between the number of trips and the amount of meter information that can be downloaded into the green vehicle plug.
POPIA
South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act, that seeks to regulate the Processing of Personal Information.
Quick Download
A Quick Download is the download of vehicle data that has not been downloaded yet. This can be done either with or without tacho (interval) data.
Radio Button
Radio buttons are small round controls used together in groups. Only one radio button in the group may be selected at a time. The group as a whole has a value based on the selected radio button.
Reminders
Reminders overdue are categorized by either Assets or Drivers. Asset Reminders include Service Reminders, License Reminders and Roadworthy Reminders. Driver Reminders include License Reminders and Certification Reminders.
Reporting Group
Reporting groups are simply logical groupings to aid you in selecting groups of vehicles or drivers for reporting purposes.
For instance, if you have ten salespeople from four different sites that you would like to reflect on a single report, you could create a reporting group rather than selecting them individually.
RODS
Records of duty status - drivers subject to the ELD mandate must automatically keep track of and record duty statuses using an electronic logging device (ELD).
Serial Interfaces
On-board computers have serial interfaces that can be used to connect accessories to the onboard computer e.g. FM Terminal.
Sender
A sender is a device in the vehicle that is connected to one of the onboard computer's input lines. It passes information back to the unit.
Site
A physical location at which drivers are based and from which vehicles are operated.
SMS
The GSM short message service.
Standing Delay
Standing delay indicates the length of time that the vehicle must be stationary while in a trip before driving time (movement) ends. See this article for more detail and an example on how this works in trip.
Standing time
This shows the time the vehicle spent standing, indicated in hours and minutes. Standing time is the time between halt (movement end) and depart (movement start). The standing time is also shown as a percentage of trip duration. It is the physical time that the vehicle was stationary within a trip, i.e. not moving. See this article for more detail on how it is calculated.
Sub-trip
A sub-trip is the portion of a trip between the vehicle's first ignition on or departure (movement start) and the end of the standing delay, i.e. after it came to a halt. If the trip has ended, i.e. ignition off, before the standing delay has expired, the sub-trip ends immediately. Within a single trip, a sub-trip ends where the new sub-trip starts. See this article for more detail.
Tacho Data
Tacho data (originally recorded by a traditional tachograph) is second-by-second data
Trip Category
Trip categories are optional informational items that you can assign to downloaded trips, to describe what category the trip falls into.
Trip Duration
Driving time + standing time = trip duration. See this article for more detail on how this is calculated.
Trip End
A trip ends when the vehicle's ignition is turned off.
User-Defined Events
A fleet manager is able to set up his own customized events such as driver door opening, no-go zone entered, hazard lights activated, refrigerator temperature exceeded, etc. More complex events can be set up as well, such as driver door opening after hours, headlights off while driving at night etc.
Vehicle
A vehicle is referred to as an asset.
VIN
Your VIN (vehicle identification number) is a unique number that identifies your specific vehicle, almost like your vehicle's identity number. A VIN consists of 17 characters (digits and capital letters) that serves as a unique identifier for the vehicle.
Find your VIN on any of your vehicle's official documentation:
- Insurance card/policy.
- Vehicle registration.
- Vehicle's owner manual.
You can also find the VIN on your vehicle:
- At the corner your dashboard on the driver's side of the vehicle.
- The inside of the driver door.
WLTP
The worldwide harmonized light vehicles test procedure is a global test measurement system to compare pollutants, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption values, and energy consumption as well as the range of electric vehicles worldwide.