Tracking and theft-recovery system for mobile assets

A tracking device including:

• a short range wireless communication module;
• a long range wireless communication module;
• an accelerometer;
• and
• a controller connected to the short range wireless communication module and to the accelerometer so that when an a vehicle to which the tracking device is connected moves, the movement is detected by the accelerometer and in response thereto the controller waits for a period of time to receive an authentication confirmation message from a smartphone located in a vehicle, within range of the tracking device, and belongs to an owner or other authorized user of the vehicle, if no authentication confirmation message is received within the period of time the controller controls
• i) the short range wireless communication module to periodically transmit distress messages to other smartphones within a transmission threshold of the short range wireless communication module and located outside the vehicle, wherein the other smartphones that are capable of receiving the distress messages and the other smartphones each contain a location module for reporting the location information along with the distress messages to a server;
• and
• ii) the long range wireless communication module to periodically transmit a status update.

A tracking device comprising:

• a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) wireless communication module;
• an accelerometer;
• and
• a controller connected to the BLE wireless communication module and to the accelerometer so that when a vehicle to which the tracking device is connected moves, the movement is detected by the accelerometer and in response thereto the controller waits for a period of time to receive an authentication confirmation message from a smartphone located in a vehicle, within range of the tracking device, and belongs to an owner or other authorized user of the vehicle, if the authentication confirmation message fails to be received within the period of time the controller controls the BLE wireless communication module to periodically transmit distress messages for reception by other smartphones within range and located outside the vehicle that are capable of receiving the distress messages and are within range and located outside the vehicle, wherein the controller further generates a single-use identifier and sends it to the smartphone located within the vehicle as part of an authentication process between the tracking device and the smartphone located within the vehicle, and the single-use identifier is valid for a duration of a connection between the controller and the smartphone located within the vehicle.