Geotab IOX-BT and Bluetooth Asset Tags: How They Work and What to Tag

Bluetooth asset tracking on Geotab is a module, a tag and the platform. The IOX-BT is an expansion module that plugs into the IOX port on a GO device and adds a Bluetooth Low Energy radio; newer GO devices carry that radio built in and skip the module. The tag is a small sealed beacon attached to the asset — a trailer, a compressor, a tool crate — that broadcasts its identity every few seconds on a coin-cell or larger battery. MyGeotab is where the tag appears as an asset with a location, a last-seen time and, for sensor tags, a temperature or other reading.

The GO device does the work. Whenever it hears a tag, it records which tag, when and where it was at the time, and sends that up with its regular telematics data. The tag itself has no GPS and no modem, which is why it is inexpensive and why its battery lasts years.

A tag is heard within Bluetooth range of a GO device, typically tens of metres in the open and less through steel. That makes the location of a tagged asset the location of the last vehicle that heard it: a trailer in the yard is seen by every truck that passes, a generator on a site is seen by the crew truck parked beside it, and a tool crate in a van reports from wherever the van goes. An asset that sits where no tracked vehicle ever goes is not seen — so a tagged asset's coverage is the fleet's coverage, which is good for a yard-and-site operation and not for a trailer dropped at a customer three provinces away.

For that case, a standalone battery or solar tracker with its own GPS and modem is the right tool, and the two coexist on the same map.

Beyond identity and presence, some tags carry sensors. Temperature tags in a reefer body or a cooler give a continuous cold-chain record through the vehicle's own device. Door, humidity and tilt variants exist. The IOX port can also take wired third-party sensors from the Marketplace for cases where a beacon's sampling is not enough, and driver ID readers such as the IOX-NFCREADERA share the same port family.

Start with the assets that go missing or are hunted for most: trailers and dollies, generators and compressors, attachments and buckets, and any tool or kit that costs more than a few hundred dollars and travels between crews. Group them by type in MyGeotab so a search for 'where are the compactors' returns a list, and turn on last-seen alerts so an asset unheard for longer than its normal cycle is flagged before it is needed on a job. The installation is a magnet, screws or industrial adhesive in a spot out of sight, and the tag pairs to the platform by scanning its ID.