Case Studies
Connected Telematics System for Heavy Equipment Fleets
A construction equipment rental company operating 3,000+ machines across 14 depots needed real-time visibility their commercial telematics vendors had failed to deliver.
The Challenge
The client operated a fleet of 3,000+ pieces of heavy equipment across 14 regional depots. Their legacy approach — OBD dongles and manual inspection sheets — gave no real-time visibility into machine health, utilisation rates, or unauthorised use outside business hours.
A previous attempt to deploy a commercial telematics platform had failed for two reasons: poor RF coverage inside steel-sided storage buildings, and incompatibility with older CAN bus implementations across their diverse equipment mix. The commercial vendor's response was to recommend replacing equipment — an answer the client rightly rejected.
The program required a purpose-built hardware unit tolerant of 12V-48V supply variations, a firmware stack capable of store-and-forward operation when cellular coverage dropped, and a cloud platform that could surface actionable insights. Ankh was brought in to design and deliver the full stack.
Our Approach
Site Survey & Requirements
Ankh conducted RF characterisation surveys at three representative depots to map cellular coverage and building penetration loss. The data confirmed that store-and-forward capability with a minimum 72-hour local buffer was non-negotiable. CAN bus analysis across 12 equipment models from four manufacturers revealed five distinct PGN schemas, each requiring custom parsing logic. This upfront field work prevented three significant design assumptions that would have required hardware respins had they been discovered later.
Hardware Design
Ankh designed a purpose-built telematics unit: an LTE-M/NB-IoT dual-mode modem with a GNSS receiver, 3-axis IMU, CAN/J1939 interface, and RS-232 port for legacy equipment. Power input was designed for 12V-48V DC with full load-dump protection to MIL-STD-1275. The IP67-rated enclosure was vibration-tested to IEC 60068-2-64. Installation brackets were designed for tool-free mounting across all 12 target equipment types, reducing installation time to under 25 minutes.
Firmware & Cloud Platform
Firmware ran on an STM32 with a lightweight RTOS, implementing the store-and-forward queue on internal flash with a 72-hour buffer and integrity checksums. Ankh's software team built the cloud ingestion pipeline on AWS IoT Core, with a rules engine for geofence breach alerts, utilisation dashboards, and predictive maintenance flags. A RESTful API was provided for direct integration with the client's existing ERP system.
Systems Integration & Rollout
Ankh developed installation jigs and a QC test protocol that depot technicians could execute without electronics training. Over-the-air firmware update infrastructure was built on a delta-patch system to minimise data costs on constrained rural cellular plans. A phased rollout across all 14 depots was completed within 10 months of hardware sign-off.
Results
3,200 units were deployed across all depots within 10 months of hardware sign-off. Field failure rate was under 2% at the 12-month mark.
Unauthorised use incidents dropped 84% in the first quarter of deployment. Predictive maintenance flags prevented three major drivetrain failures in the first operating season, avoiding an estimated $340,000 in downtime and repair costs.