Telematics Tutorials — the protocols behind the platform

A field-tested series on CAN, J1939, OBD-II, DBC, and BLE sensor integration. Written by the engineers who build iMatrix FleetConnect, tested on real fleets, and paired with the hardware you deploy.

12 Tutorials · 4 Tracks
Field-Tested on iMatrix Devices
Free to Access
Tutorials Protocol → Device Map ColdChainMeter Stack ← Back to Products
Tutorial Tracks
Four protocol tracks. Twelve deep dives.
Every track starts with fundamentals and ramps toward production-grade implementation. Whether you’re validating an OBD-II fleet tracker for light vehicles or wiring a J1939 gateway into an EV platform, the patterns here map directly to iMatrix hardware in the field.
CAN

CAN Bus — the vehicle’s nervous system

4 tutorials · foundational
4 parts
From differential signaling and bus arbitration to CAN-FD, error handling, and secure CAN. The protocol underneath OBD-II, J1939, and virtually every in-vehicle network built in the last two decades.
FC-201 FC-500 / FC-501
01Physical Layer — wiring, signaling, termination~12 min 02Protocol & Frames — data, remote, overload, error~14 min 03Bit Timing & Error Handling~10 min 04Interfaces, Higher Protocols & Security~15 min
OBD

OBD-II — plug in, read the vehicle

3 tutorials · light vehicles
3 parts
From standardized diagnostic PIDs to DTC fault handling and UDS. The protocol stack that lets a single connector pull engine, fuel, emissions, and driver-behavior data out of any 1996+ car, van, or light truck.
FC-201
01Fundamentals — connector, modes, PIDs~12 min 02Transport, DTCs & UDS diagnostics~14 min 03Tools, Compliance & EV OBD~13 min
J1939

SAE J1939 — heavy-duty telematics

3 tutorials · commercial / EV / off-highway
3 parts
The standard behind commercial trucks, buses, agricultural equipment, and the growing EV platform space. PGN structure, transport protocol, DM diagnostics, and the CAN-FD upgrade path used in modern OEM integrations.
FC-500 / FC-501
01Fundamentals — addressing, PGNs, SPNs~14 min 02Transport Protocol, Diagnostics & DM messages~15 min 03CAN-FD Implementation & Tooling~13 min
DBC

DBC Files — decoding the bus

2 tutorials · signal engineering
2 parts
The database format that turns raw CAN frames into named signals — RPM, fuel level, battery state-of-charge. Everything the iMatrix cloud needs to turn a bus capture into a dashboard chart.
FC-500 / FC-501 Wayne AI
01DBC Syntax & Signal Encoding~12 min 02Authoring DBC Files & Tooling~11 min
Protocol → Device Map
Which protocol lives on which iMatrix device?
Every tutorial track in this series ties to hardware you can deploy today. Here’s where each protocol shows up across the iMatrix platform — from the OBD-II plug-in on a delivery van to the industrial gateway inside a commercial EV.

FC-201 — FleetConnect Drive

OBD-II Fleet Tracker · Light Vehicles

Plug-in OBD-II telematics for any 1996+ car, van, or light truck. Decodes ISO-15765 / CAN 2.0 diagnostics, scores driver behavior, and pairs with NEO-1 BLE sensors for temperature, door, and cargo monitoring inside the cabin.

OBD-IICAN 2.0BLE 5.0
FC-201 product details →

FC-501 — FleetConnect Edge

Industrial Gateway · OEM / Heavy Duty

Linux edge gateway built for OEM vehicle programs — commercial trucks, buses, agricultural equipment, and EV platforms. Dual CAN bus with full J1939 and CAN 2.0 decoding, Wayne AI signal mapping from DBC, OTA firmware, and BLE hub for NEO-1 sensor networks.

CAN / CAN-FDJ1939DBCBLE 5.0
FC-501 product details →

NEO-1 Family

BLE 5.0 Wireless Sensors

Battery-powered BLE sensors that pair with FC-201 and FC-501 gateways over Bluetooth 5.0. Temperature, humidity, door, pressure, and motion. NIST-traceable calibration available for cold-chain and pharma applications.

BLE 5.0NIST CalMulti-Year Battery
NEO-1 sensor family →

ColdChainMeter

Cold-Chain Monitoring SaaS

Dedicated cold-chain and pharma-grade monitoring built on the iMatrix stack. Turns FC-201/FC-501 telematics plus NEO-1 BLE temperature sensors into end-to-end audit trails for regulated shipments — with the reporting, alarms, and NIST certificates compliance teams need.

PharmaFoodAudit TrailsNIST
Visit coldchainmeter.com →
Applied Stack
How it all comes together — a ColdChainMeter deployment
The tutorials above aren’t abstract theory — they’re the layers a real ColdChainMeter deployment traverses every time a refrigerated load leaves the dock. Here’s that round trip in four steps.
End-to-End Data Path

From a BLE sensor inside the reefer trailer to a pharma compliance report.

Each link in this chain is covered by one of the tutorial tracks above — so when you build or validate a ColdChainMeter integration, you can follow the signal all the way down to the bit.

Explore ColdChainMeter
1
NEO-1 BLE sensor inside the reefer reads product temperature every 60 seconds and broadcasts over Bluetooth 5.0 — NIST-traceable calibration for pharma compliance.
2
FC-201 or FC-501 gateway in the cab receives the BLE advertisement, timestamps it, correlates with GPS position, and attaches vehicle state read from OBD-II (FC-201) or J1939 (FC-501) — engine status, door events, ignition.
3
EdgeUplink eSIM pushes the signed event stream over triple-carrier LTE to iMatrix Cloud. DBC-decoded signals — coolant, RPM, state-of-charge — flow alongside the sensor readings.
4
ColdChainMeter stores the immutable record, runs excursion alarms in real time, and produces the audit-ready compliance report — delivered to the shipper, the customer, and the regulator.
Want us to walk you through it?

Our engineering team runs free 30-minute technical deep dives for fleet operators, integrators, and OEM design teams — from first-principles CAN to a full ColdChainMeter rollout plan.

Book a Technical Deep Dive ← Back to Products
Or jump straight into the tutorials — no sign-in required.