How Reliable Are Dog GPS Systems
- Details
- Category: Technology
GPS Trackers May Not Save Pet
People have now been using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for a variety of different uses from navigational routing, fleet tracking and asset management for businesses for roughly two decades. The ability to pinpoint a person, place or object has revolutionized the way companies operate, and how motorists locate gas stations, banks, restaurants and other places in unfamiliar areas. Although the above mentioned applications of GPS are commonly daily occurrences, the use of GPS trackers to safeguard family pets is a new form of monitoring that has created a buzz among animal lovers. The only problem is that the satellite technology can no way guarantee pet safety due to some limitations of the portable pet monitoring devices.
Pet trackers are now widely available for purchase at many popular retail centers that focus on animal care such as Petco and PetSmart. How the GPS trackers work is pretty simple:
- GPS receiver & transmitter is fashioned into a animal collar.
- The GPS collar is then placed around the neck of the animal a family wishes to monitor.
- If the pet ever wanders away or gets lost, the family can use a computer satellite image program found online to determine the position of the animal.
With this GPS tracking information, families can quickly find and recover their missing pet before the animal becomes lost in a remote area, or hit by a motor vehicle.
In theory, the use of pet trackers is a wonderful method of safeguarding family pets, and for many families in certain areas, the technology can and will live up to the product description. Unfortunately, many families will find that the two primary limitations of GPS tracking technology, battery-life and cellular coverage, can essentially render a pet tracking device useless.
Battery-Life: Smaller Is Not Better
GPS trackers that are powered via internal lithium-ion battery pack typically can not function for more than approximately 15 hours of motion time. This is because, like cellular phones when they are in use, pet trackers are constantly receiving and transmitting data over wireless networks. This hard work can be extremely taxing on the battery-life of a pet monitoring system. Therefore, if a family does not recognize rather quickly that the family pet is missing, by the time they access the real-time GPS tracker data, the GPS collar could already have ran out of battery-life. This means that the family would have zero way of locating the pet using GPS technology.
Cellular Coverage & GPS Tracking
Poor cellular coverage can be a nightmare for any person using a mobile communication device, but it can be even more so for families who are using GPS tracking devices to monitor their pets. Pet trackers are essentially cell phones with GPS receivers, therefore if a pet wanders into an area where no coverage is present, the GPS collar will have absolutely no way to transmit the information stored on the receiver. This is why people living in remote mountainous and wooded regions or other areas where cellular coverage is unreliable should do substantial research before investing in a pet tracking collar.
Battery-life and cellular coverage are the two primary problems that can impact pet tracking systems, but there are still other variables that can hurt reception or overall device operation. At this time, the retail market does not have piece of technology for consumer purchase that can guarantee pet safety. This is why it is so important that families with pets continue doing the simple things to keep their animals safe, making sure doors and gates are closed, microchipping pets and of course having a collar with the most updated address, phone number and other relevant contact information.