Covert Vehicle Trackers Come Of Age?

Here we take a brief look at the development of vehicle trackers including the leap forward in their use of modern GPS systems. We now live in an age where these devices have come to play a much bigger role in the surveillance industry and society as a whole.

Covert Vehicle Trackers – A Brief History

Being able to follow a vehicle without getting too close has always been a dark art. We have all seen on TV and in the movies how Police and private investigators go about following a car. It’s always made to look easy with there being only one or two vehicles involved in the follow. In real life things are somewhat different. Dependent upon the seriousness of the situation, Police used to have up to 13 vehicles, cars and motorcycles involved in discreetly following one vehicle. back in the late 70’s and early 80’s Police experimented with RF (Radio Frequency) vehicle trackers. The RF tracking beacon would be tied to the underside of a vehicle using wire to prevent it from dropping off and then some following vehicles would have a receiver that would indicate the general bearing the needed to be taken to get close to the tracked vehicle. The receiving vehicles would still have to be within a mile to maintain a signal in the city.

GPS Technology was first developed by the US military, but the current GPS format of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth was not finalised until 1994 and even then full accuracy access was only granted to civilians in May 2000. Satellite navigation devices were quickly released and over the years the technology has become far more advanced. Remote tracking of vehicles was initially the preserve of logistics companies wishing to track their vehicles and then many companies took the plunge to enable the monitoring of their traveling workforce. These vehicle trackers were powered from the vehicle electrics, which meant that they were always switched on and accessible. Not until 2006 was the first car tracker made available that it was possible to deploy underneath a vehicle. These devices had an external GPS antenna, were attached with strong magnets and had a battery life of around two days.

Modern covert vehicle trackers are very small, compact and discreet. They work with incredible accuracy and with sophisticated power saving circuitry they can work away in total discretion for weeks and sometimes even months. One thing is certain. Covert vehicle tracker sales are on the increase now that they have come of age. We have a range of trackers available, from car trackers to people/VIP trackers to asset trackers. View our complete list of tracking devices today and contact us if you have any queries relating to these device types.