Introduction
About the system
The GALAKTIKA satellite monitoring system (hereafter the "System") is designed for monitoring moving objects (vehicle fleets, special and agricultural machinery, mobile staff, etc.) and stationary objects (tower cranes, fixed installations, machine tools, etc.).
Object monitoring includes:
- observing the location and movement of objects on a map;
- tracking changes in object parameters — speed, fuel level, operating time, temperature and others;
- controlling objects (sending commands) and drivers (SMS, calls, assignments);
- receiving notifications about changes in an object's status;
- interpreting data received from an object in various reports (tables and charts);
- obtaining analytical information about fleets.
Monitoring is performed using dedicated devices — trackers — installed on the monitored objects. At a set interval, the devices determine their location and transmit data over the GSM network to the monitoring server. Sensors and additional equipment can be connected to trackers via analog and digital inputs (temperature and pressure sensors, equipment status sensors, fuel-level sensors, alarms, etc.).
GALAKTIKA is built on a high-performance columnar database. A columnar DBMS for online analytical processing (OLAP) runs SQL queries with complex computations over very large datasets. Unlike transactional (OLTP) queries, which read and write a few rows per query, analytical queries process billions of rows. This database design ensures high-performance operation in real time.
Core concepts
Monitored object — a vehicle, machine, person or other moving or stationary object being observed. An object is identified by a unique code in the system (ID, IMEI) and has a name, an icon, information about its equipment type, connected sensors, etc.
Track — the line of an object's movement on the map. It consists of points that arrived in the system in messages from the monitored object. Each object's track can be assigned an individual color in the object settings.
Sensor — displays additional data coming from objects; it specifies the data source (parameter), the minimum and maximum values, and the type of connected equipment (ignition indicator, panic button, fuel-level meter, etc.).
Geozones (geographic zones) — defined areas on the map that are of interest to the user. They are used to control the movement of objects inside or outside these areas. A geozone can be a circle of arbitrary radius, a polyline (a street or route) or a polygon (a city or enterprise territory). Besides enriching the map visually, geozones can be used in reports and notifications.
Group — a set of objects, geozones, drivers or notifications combined by some attribute. Groups are used for filtering during search and for structuring the system's entities.
Event or alarm — information about a change in an object's status. It is generated from data received from the object (sensor readings, location, speed, etc.): for example, exceeding the speed limit, fuel drain, or a panic-button press.
Notification — configurable delivery of messages about events or alarms (speeding, geozone entry/exit, sensor readings, etc.). Current alarms are available in the web interface and can additionally be sent by email, to a messenger, or via an HTTP request.
Keys and tags — information carriers that uniquely identify their holder (a driver) or a vehicle. Identification happens when the carrier contacts a reader. Available for devices with a connected RFID reader or i-Button.
Drivers — a list of people authorized to operate vehicles. If the equipment supports driver identification via keys and tags, the system can link object movements to drivers, detect violations, and keep a record of penalty points.
Shift — a description of staff working hours: start and end times and working days. Used to detect use of equipment outside working hours. Multiple shifts can be defined.
Command — a request sent to an object to perform an action: take a photo, change device settings, block the engine, etc. The set of supported commands depends on the equipment and its configuration.
Company — a global system element that contains objects, geozones, other companies and its own settings. It lets you build a structure for different divisions or manage separate companies. A company has the status "Active" or "Blocked".
User (system account) has a unique name (login), an email address and a password. With these, users sign in, monitor their objects (end users) or manage the system (administrators, integrators).
Access rights — the ability to view certain system elements and perform actions on them. They apply primarily to users, objects and geozones, are assigned individually by the service administrator, and can be changed in the Control Panel. A related concept is the user role — a set of access rights.
Relay (retranslation) — forwarding object data from the System to external services over a chosen protocol. A configured relay can be enabled (active) or disabled.