Design and Development of a Low Cost Ubiquitous Tracking System

In this paper, design and development of a ubiquitous tracking system is proposed, in which vehicles are tracked and controlled using the prevailing cellular technologies. The system contains a GPS receiver and a GSM modem interfaced with a microcontroller. To track any vehicle, the vehicle's owner has to send an SMS to the tracking system installed inside the vehicle. Upon receiving the SMS, the microcontroller takes the current location's longitude and latitude coordinates from GPS receiver, packs it into an SMS and sends it to the owner and on a web server using GSM modem. When the web server receives the SMS containing vehicles coordinates, it will show location of the vehicle on Google Maps. For android users, the location is also displayed on an android application. In case of vehicle theft, the owner is able to turn off the main ignition switch, check status and speed of the vehicle simply by sending an SMS. The system is also equipped with a special security button for parked vehicles. By turning the button ON, the system will come in ACTIVE mode and will keep a special check on the vehicle's movement meanwhile performing the normal tasks. If the system senses any movement of vehicle during the ACTIVE mode, it will turn the main ignition OFF and will inform the owner immediately be sending 5 SMSs. Record of the vehicle's movement will be continuously managed on the web server where each owner will have vehicle's account. We have used a wide number of technologies including, but not limited to, Global Positioning System (GPS), Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Microcontroller.