Section 2 — Device Protocols

JT808 GPS Protocol

Connect industry-standard JT/T 808-2019 GPS trackers to the platform via TCP.

What is JT808?

JT/T 808-2019 is a Chinese national standard for vehicle-mounted GPS terminal communication, widely used across fleet and logistics hardware. It defines a binary protocol over persistent TCP connections for location reporting, alarms, and bidirectional commands.

Track Any Device implements a high-performance JT808 server that accepts these connections natively, so compatible hardware connects without any firmware modification.

Connection

Configure your GPS tracker to connect to the platform's TCP endpoint:

Host: your-domain.com

Port: 7018

Protocol: TCP (raw, not HTTP)

The TCP port (7018) cannot be routed through Cloudflare Tunnel. It requires direct TCP exposure — either via your server's firewall, an frp reverse proxy, or Cloudflare Spectrum. Contact your platform engineer for the correct endpoint.

Supported Hardware

Any GPS tracker that implements JT/T 808-2019 (or the earlier JT/T 808-2011 revision) can connect. This includes:

Vehicle-mounted GPS trackers from major Chinese manufacturers
Smart card trackers used for personnel and asset tracking
Two-wheel and motorcycle GPS units with JT808 firmware
Fleet management terminals with JT808 support

Check your device manual to confirm JT808 support and locate the server IP and port configuration fields.

What the Platform Captures

Once connected, the following data is processed automatically:

Location — latitude, longitude, heading, speed
Battery / power voltage — where reported by the device
Alarm flags — SOS, low battery, geofence exit (device-side flags)
Heartbeats — keep-alive signals confirming the device is online

Data flows from the TCP connection into a processing queue where it is stored as snapshots in the database and as time-series in InfluxDB for historical analysis.

First-Time Device Registration

When a new device connects for the first time its IMEI is recorded and the device appears as Pending in the admin panel. A platform administrator must approve it before live data is displayed in the tenant portal.

After approval the device is immediately active and assignable to an operator or beat zone.

Sending Commands

Supported command types (sent from the admin panel or via workflow automation):

Location request — ask the device for an immediate position update
Reset / reboot — restart the device firmware
Parameter update — change reporting interval, server address

Commands are queued and delivered over the active TCP connection. If the device is offline, commands are held and delivered when it reconnects.

Need to connect a device that isn't JT808? See the TAD101 Protocol for WebSocket-based connections from Android, iOS, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi.