New Telematics Standard Streamlines Equipment Data Management

Earlier this year at CONEXPO-CON/AGG, Association of Equip- ment Management Professionals (AEMP) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced that they will be releasing a new standard for their telematics data feed. The new data feed includes 19 data elements and 41 fault codes, increasing the amount of data received from a telematics unit from the current feed’s five data points. The standard will address seven areas of equipment information: utilization, excessive idling, location, job availability, inspection, electronic usage and preventive maintenance.

The new data points include hours, location, GPS distance traveled, machine odometer, fault codes, idle time, fuel consumption, fuel level, engine running status (on or off), switch input events, power take-off (PTO) hours, average load factor, max speed, ambient air temperature, load counts, payload totals and active regeneration hours. These new data points can be sent from equipment with each report either every 30 minutes, hourly, daily or during a status change.

The new standard’s 41 fault codes indicate that the asset is in some form of an alert state. These codes can keep original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), dealers and fleet managers from having to make costly equipment repairs or replacements. The fault codes include events such as changes in engine coolant temperature and oil pressure, multiple pressure indicators and alerts and alarms to help power down the equipment quickly.

The new standard will ensure owners and operators know exactly what information they will receive from a telematics unit when they purchase a piece of equipment. Major OEMs, such as John Deere, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo and Liebherr are committing to use the new standard to ensure that, no matter where machines come from, telematics data is presented in the same format across multiple assets. Currently, each OEM has a different way of formatting telematics data, so the standardization will make sharing information easier because each OEM’s format will be the same.

The new standard also puts an end to logging in and out of multiple portals to access data. Currently, telematics data is captured by each OEM, and the OEMs may have different data formats. With the new standard, however, the OEMs will all adopt the same data formats, allowing information to be compiled and presented in one portal. The telematics data from the AEMP/AEM feed will be shared through an application program interface (API), which will eliminate cutting and pasting data, logging in and out of multiple websites and trying to keep track of all fleet data.

AEM and AEMP hope to have the standard finalized and ready for use by the end of this calendar year. A German-based trade association, VDBUM, has agreed to support the new standard, opening the door for other European trade organizations and OEMs to adopt the standard. AEMP and AEM are working on a beta version so that OEMs can begin to learn the format and integrate it into their telematics solutions. For more information from AEM (aem.org) and AEMP (aemp.org), visit their websites and sign up to receive the standard in beta form as soon as it is available.