Note: This article only applies to Emma trackers running Surfact's movement-based configuration. It is not the default behaviour. For standard Emma trackers, see How Your Emma Smart Tracker Collects and Sends Data.
If your Emma trackers use movement-based sending, this is how they behave. This setting is made for vehicles that drive in shifts, such as delivery vans. It gives you frequent updates while the vehicle is on the road, and saves battery while it is parked.
In short
Emma measures every 15 minutes – day and night, moving or parked.
While the vehicle is moving, Emma sends data every 15 minutes.
While the vehicle is parked, Emma saves its readings and sends them together, about every 8 hours.
As soon as the vehicle starts moving again, Emma sends all saved readings right away.
Every reading reaches the cloud. Nothing is skipped or thrown away.
While the vehicle is moving
Emma sends its latest readings every 15 minutes. You can follow the temperature and location in near real time during the shift.
Short stops do not interrupt this. A vehicle only counts as parked after it has been still for 30 minutes. Normal delivery stops of a few minutes do not change anything – Emma keeps sending every 15 minutes.
While the vehicle is parked
After 30 minutes without movement, Emma switches to battery-saving mode:
It keeps measuring every 15 minutes.
It saves the readings in its memory instead of sending them one by one.
It sends all saved readings together about every 8 hours.
When the vehicle starts moving again
The moment Emma feels movement, it sends all readings saved since the last send. Then it goes back to sending every 15 minutes.
Example: A van finishes its shift and parks at 15:30. At 16:00 Emma switches to battery-saving mode. It keeps measuring every 15 minutes through the night, and sends its saved readings around midnight. At 05:00 the van starts moving, and Emma immediately sends every reading from midnight to 05:00. In your dashboard you see a complete temperature curve for the whole night, with no gaps.
No instant alerts
With movement-based sending, Emma does not send extra data when the temperature or light changes. This is on purpose. In a delivery van, the cargo door opens many times per shift. Each time, the light changes and the temperature rises for a few minutes. Sending on every such change would drain the battery quickly.
The temperature changes are still measured and saved – they are just sent on the normal schedule.
What this means for you
✅ Complete history: A reading every 15 minutes, around the clock, and every reading reaches the cloud.
✅ Up-to-date data on the road: New data every 15 minutes during the shift.
✅ Much longer battery life: Far fewer sends while parked means the batteries last much longer than with standard settings.
Good to know: While a vehicle is parked, new readings can take up to about 8 hours to appear – or until the vehicle starts moving again, whichever comes first. If the temperature goes outside your limits while the vehicle is parked, you will see it in the data, but not straight away.
If there is no mobile coverage
If Emma can’t reach the mobile network, it keeps measuring every 15 minutes and stores up to 14 days of readings. As soon as it has coverage again, it sends everything it has stored. The readings may arrive late, but they arrive complete.
Questions?
Contact our support team if you have questions about how your trackers behave, or if you would like different settings.