SENTINEL is an innovative project that aims to develop a comprehensive solution for monitoring the use of earth moving machines and addressing the crucial challenges of theft prevention and ensuring correct machine usage. The earthmoving machines market, a significant sector in the construction and mining industry, has witnessed a growing trend towards equipment rental and leasing, both in Europe and worldwide.
The exploitation of heavy and expensive equipment poses several issues, including rental fraud, thefts, and incidents resulting from negligent usage. Unlike conventional vehicles, heavy equipment lacks pre-installed security measures, making them vulnerable to theft. This presents a substantial market opportunity for anti-theft and geofencing devices that can detect and provide real-time alerts to equipment owners regarding the exact location of their machinery. Existing GPS technology-based solutions have proven inadequate and are known to thieves, necessitating an innovative approach.
SENTINEL introduces a ground-breaking technology/system that fulfils the diverse needs of the targeted clients and applications, ensuring enhanced protection for their business operations. The system is built upon three key aspects and innovations:

1. Advanced devices with on-board processing: SENTINEL integrates advanced and autonomous devices enabling the complete monitoring and control capabilities at the user level. This ensures a high degree of accuracy and reliability in data acquisition.
2. Multi-Sensor Enhanced Navigation algorithm: By leveraging a combination of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and Magnetometer sensors, SENTINEL enhances navigation accuracy even in challenging environments. This innovation provides precise positioning data, improving overall monitoring efficiency. Furthermore, it includes a WAY4WARD proprietary Spoofing Detection Technique to further protect the Solution from spoofing attacks (even the most complex ones) aimed to support a theft attempt.
3. Additional protection capabilities by independent sensors-based proximity awarenerss function to determine if a vehicle is moving away from the others (e.g. due to a theft attempt). The function is based on UWB techniques.
4. Multi-Area, Multi-Sensor Dynamic GeoFencing technology: SENTINEL incorporates a dynamic geofencing system that allows the definition of multiple Keep-In and/or Keep-Out areas for vehicle operations. The system offers preventive alerts and raises alarms in case of non-compliance with the defined rules, ensuring proactive security measures.

SENTINEL boasts several key features that make it a robust monitoring solution:

• Meter-level accuracy and availability greater than 90% for monitoring the position of multiple vehicles: SENTINEL enables precise tracking of multiple vehicles, ensuring accurate and reliable data with high availability. While quantitative availability requirements are yet to be confirmed, SENTINEL strives to provide consistent performance.
• Robustness against spoofing attacks usually used to try to steal the vehicle.
• Coverage of areas up to 4 km²: The solution is designed to operate efficiently within sizable areas, catering to various project requirements. The ability to monitor such expansive regions enhances overall monitoring capabilities.
• Flexible Keep-In and Keep-Out areas: SENTINEL allows the customization of geofencing parameters, enabling users to define specific areas for vehicle operations. This flexibility supports diverse project needs and ensures compliance with designated zones.
• Real-time alerts and non-compliance detection: SENTINEL promptly alerts users in case of position non-compliance or imminent non-compliance with the defined geofencing rules. Alerts are generated within seconds, ensuring swift response and enabling proactive measures.
• Vehicle use analyses (VUA): The system incorporates dedicated data analysis capabilities to support specific future client needs. VUA facilitates detailed usage insights and enables the implementation of customized analyses for optimized operations.

The SENTINEL solution comprises two primary segments:

• SENTINEL-Eyes: These devices are deployed on the vehicles to be monitored, providing all the necessary functions for monitoring and generating alerts according to user requirements.
• SENTINEL-Voice: This user-level application, designed to be multiplatform and compatible with various operating systems, offers a centralized interface for controlling and monitoring the status of vehicles from any device. SENTINEL-Voice also includes customization options and setup functionalities.

SENTINEL aims to revolutionize fleet monitoring solutions for earth moving machines, effectively combating theft and ensuring the proper usage of these valuable assets. By combining advanced sensor networks, dynamic geofencing, and real-time alerts, SENTINEL empowers businesses in the construction and mining industry to enhance their security measures, protect their investments, and optimize operational efficiency.