Introducing the TAT100 [Hardware Series]

2021 is coming to an end. As Pick 'n Pay roll out their festive decorations and mince pie selection, Eskom is rolling out nationwide load-shedding. What with the lingering pandemic, a possible 5th wave, and a questionable election process: we're all desperately looking for something to distract ourselves to carry us over to 2022. And for me, it came in the form of the Tat. (Check out the product launch video below)

Proudly brought to you by Teltonika Mobility is the TAT100, or simply the Tat (as we like to call it in the office). The Tat is a relatively new mobility product launched by Teltonika to provide wireless, Bluetooth, and discrete solutions to monitor... well, basically anything.

I initially heard about the Tat from a colleague of mine who waltzed into my office flinging it around like a goddamn cricket ball. Like most Teltonika hardware, you can, in fact, "fling it", considering most of the devices are water-resistant, dust-resistant and robust enough to endure a fair amount of knock-abouts and fling-arounds. If you don't believe me, you can watch a video of these guys at Teltonika performing extreme drop tests using drones and chucking their routers in dishwashing machines to prove just how durable the technology really is.

The Tat is no different in the durability of materials and is a solid little device, similar to the size of a large lamington. Even with abnormally small hands, I had no problem catching it when my colleague flung it to me.

The Tat, as previously mentioned, forms part of Teltonika's Mobility range, and is probably one of the more basic asset trackers that I've seen in my brief time working in IoT & tech. This is a good thing! (I'll explain why in this series) The device is small enough to sneak into most crevices and has slots to cable-tie, magnetically mount or drill it into any object you desire. It is also battery-powered, and (I know I've already said this but) completely wireless.

With the Tat, we're going back to take a look at asset tracking use cases. In a couple of articles, I'm going to chat about some of the scenarios that the Tat fits into, and my review of the Tat in general. In short, I will be distracting myself until Christmas with the Tat.

AN EXTRA BIT ABOUT ME

Only discovering the world of IoT and hardware roughly a year ago comes with a fair number of challenges: mostly related to the fact that I have next to no experience in the field, and am constantly Googling my way through every use-case scenario and setup when it comes to IoT solutions & hardware. However, what I lack in experience, I make up for in honesty, curiosity, and the absorbency of my sponge-like brain. Everyone has to start somewhere, and the reality is that the majority of the businesses needing, and undeniably benefitting, from IoT or nifty devices like the Tat, didn't even know they needed it to begin with. I'm here to make IoT more accessible for newbies, make technical jargon less scary, shed some light on some interesting use cases, and learn about how businesses can leverage their assets & data in the universe of end-to-end IoT.