Mixed-fleet telematics: unifying CAT, Volvo, Komatsu and JCB data.
AEMP 2.0 was supposed to solve mixed-fleet telematics in 2015. It didn't. Here is what actually works when your yard runs six brands.
Ask any yard manager with more than one brand of machine what their biggest daily annoyance is, and the answer will not be the machines. It will be the telematics. CAT wants you in VisionLink. Volvo wants CareTrack. Komatsu wants KomTrax. JCB wants LiveLink. Each portal has a different login, a different definition of 'engine hour', a different notion of what a fuel-level percentage means. Mixed-fleet telematics — unifying all of it into one screen — is the single biggest software problem in construction today.
AEMP 2.0 / ISO 15143-3 — the theory.
The industry has had a standard since 2016. AEMP 2.0, now formalised as ISO 15143-3, defines a JSON/XML feed that every major OEM exposes: identity, location, cumulative operating hours, fuel used, fuel remaining, distance, engine-on/off state, and a small set of others.
In principle, if every OEM implements the standard, a third-party dashboard can pull the same shape of data from all of them and unify it. In practice, three things go wrong:
- Each OEM implements a slightly different subset of fields
- Refresh rates differ — CAT may push every 30 minutes, JCB every 4 hours
- Fault codes, DTCs and idle-vs-work breakdowns are not in the standard at all
What a good unification layer does.
Any construction fleet management software worth its licence fee will:
- Pull the AEMP feed from every OEM you own — no aftermarket hardware for machines that already report
- Normalise units, timezones and definitions so 'engine hours' means the same thing for every brand
- Layer in brand-specific extensions (fault codes from ConSite, DEF levels from CareTrack) where the standard runs out
- Fall back to an aftermarket gateway only for pre-2015 machines that don't report at all
What to ask the vendor.
- List the exact brands and model years you support natively via AEMP.
- For each, what fields do you get, and at what refresh rate?
- For fault codes and idle breakdowns not in the standard — which brands do you cover, and how?
- For pre-2015 machines — what gateway do you recommend, and what does it cost per unit installed?
If the vendor gives you a straight table with brand, model year, fields and refresh, they have done this before. If the answer is 'we support everything', they haven't.