NETWORKS
THE GEOTAB GO DEVICE PROCESSES EDGE DATA TO REDUCE CELLULAR BACKHAUL
The data plane governs how telemetry is transmitted from a vehicle to the server. In traditional systems, devices send GPS data at fixed intervals – often every thirty seconds – creating redundancy when a vehicle travels steadily in a straight line. Meanwhile, brief manoeuvres may be missed entirely. Geotab resolves this through edgebased traffic shaping, or curve logging. The GO device acts as a programmable SDN switch, applying a variant of the Ramer-Douglas-Peucker algorithm to assess each data point locally and discard those within an acceptable error threshold. Only meaningful deviations – turns, braking or acceleration – are transmitted, reducing backhaul load. As Neil explains:“ You can’ t manage what you don’ t measure.”
“ Telematics has gone from being a nice-to-have to something missioncritical,” Neil states.“ The largest and most impressive fleets in the world – Pepsi, Amazon, UPS and the like – run on telematics. And if their telematics is down, they simply don’ t run.”
Data privacy compliance means strict governance of these transmission paths.“ In terms of telematics, you must understand the various legislations on privacy around the world,” Neil says.“ You need to work with a company you can trust to take the power of data seriously.”
Open-weight models democratise AI at the network edge The network ultimately serves the application layer, where AI
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