Vehicle Tracking Using GPS
Vehicle Tracking Using GPS
Vehicle Tracking Using GPS
Abstract: The research is about creating a system for tracking vehicle. Objective of the research is to
design and develop a GPS based Vehicle Tracking System in order to display location of vehicle on
Google Maps. This system used Arduino MEGA as a microcontroller and it will be used as the main
processing unit. Next, Ublox NEO-6m GPS module is used to routing the coordinate while SIM 900A
GSM module is used to connecting with the user. The product was successfully run at outdoor and
having some problem at indoor due to GPS module cannot extract the accurate coordinate when there is
a roof or obstructer that block the direct signal connection between the GPS and satellite. For the next
improvement, the researcher can use the high quality of GPS module to connect with satellite. An
example, GPS NEO-6P module where it can collect data more accurate and stay connect to the satellite.
Index Terms: GSM (Global Services for Mobile Communication), GPS (Global Positioning System),
Vehicle Tracking System.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, crime rates in Malaysia are increasing rapidly, such as stolen vehicles cases. Various
devices have been invented to reduce the crime rate. This is because criminals are also become crafty
and they using various ways to commit crimes. Now the demand for the vehicle’s detection devices
increases from time to time, it is increasing in line with the growing number of vehicles in Malaysia.
Lot of tracking devices have been installed in vehicles, either by the car manufacturer or by third party
developer. Today's electronic technology is growing fast, making users more tend to using tools that
can be controlled directly through their phones or computer. Development of GPS based vehicle
tracking system is an electronic device project that allows owners of vehicles to know the exact location
of the vehicles [1]. This project can be positioned the location of vehicle and show it on Google Maps.
In general, this system will send the coordinates and Google Maps link to mobile phone user using
message. For the record, the theft case of vehicles in the first half of 2015 are as follows, 4,539 private
vehicles, 7,122 motorcycles and 751 commercial vehicles were reported missing by the Vehicle Theft
Reduction Council of Malaysia (VTREC). This due to the components in the car get high demand dark
market. Usually the percentage of getting back the lost vehicle is very low. In order to solve this
problem many GPS detectors have been build to reduce the rate of theft case. Namely, the GPS locator
is usually showing current location and do not update the vehicle location after that. Besides that, GPS
detectors only show the coordinates of longitude and latitude, so the user will waste their time to search
2 METHODOLOGY
Figure 2 shows the flowchart of GPS Based Vehicle Tracking System. First, GPS will be connecting
continuously with satellite to routing the coordinate. Once the LED at GPS module was blinking, it
means the location was locked. Then, check the LED at GSM Module. It will blinking after get the
mobile communication line. After all LED was blinking, user can sent ―START‖ to GSM module via
massage. GSM will reply the message. The message will contain location of vehicle detail and URL
link to Google Maps. The location will be updated every one minute. In order to terminate the system,
user just need to sent ―STOP‖ to GSM. Then, the system will stop sending message to user’s phone.
Figure 5 shows SIM900A Module which is built with Dual Band GSM/GPRS based SIM900A module
from SIMCOM. It works on frequencies 900/ 1800 MHz. SIM900A can search these two bands
automatically. AT Commands can also set the frequency bands. The baud rate is configurable from
1200- 115200 through AT command. The GSM/GPRS module has internal TCP/IP stack to enable
connection with internet via GPRS. SIM900A is an ultra-compact and reliable wireless module [5].
NEO-6 module is a series of family stand-alone GPS receivers featuring the high-performance UBLOX
6 positioning engines. These flexible and cost-effective receivers offer numerous connectivity options
in a miniature 16 x 12.2 x 2.4 mm package. Their compact architecture and power and memory options
make NEO-6 modules ideal for battery operated mobile devices with very strict cost and space
constraints [4]. As can see on Figure 6, this module has an external antenna and built-in EEPROM.
Figure 7 shows LM2596 series of regulators are monolithic integrated circuits that provide all the
active functions for a step-down (buck) switching regulator, capable of driving a 3-A load with
excellent line and load regulation. These devices are available in fixed output voltages of 3.3 V, 5 V, 12
V, and an adjustable output version.
2.4 Circuit
The Figure 8 shows the schematic diagram for GPS based Vehicle Tracking System. The PWM pin
number 10 and 11 of Arduino will connect to RX and TX of GPS module.
While GPS module Vcc and GND will connect to 5V and GND pins of Arduino. GSM module Vcc and
GND pins are connected to Step-Down Power Module before connect to Vin and GND of Arduino to
3 RESULTS
3.1 Prototype
A GPS Based Vehicle Tracking System prototype has been developed for the project. Figure 9 shows
the general view of the project prototype, while Figure 10 shows the picture of component in the
system.
Asdasd
The component in a blue box is DC-DC Stepdown, the yellow box is GSM Module while the green box
is GPS Module and the red box is an Arduino Mega.
Figure 11 shows the view of the project while been test. Firstly, the program will be upload to Arduino
MEGA. Then wait for the GPS for routing the coordinate and GSM for connecting a phone line. After
get the coordinate, GPS will blink every 3-4 second. Same with GSM, after get the line, it will blink 3-
4 second. In the figure, the LED for GPS and GSM indicators were blinking, which mean the
coordinate was already locked. Then it ready to send an information if it received a command from
user.
The vehicle tracking system was test at outdoor and indoor. The result was depending at the
surrounding location. Figure 11 shows the general view of the project. First the program will be upload
to Arduino. Then wait for the GPS for routing the coordinate and GSM for getting a phone line. After
3.2 Accuracy
Accuracy play the major role in the tracking system. Figure 14 shows how the accuracy of the
prototype are taken. The red pin is the dropped pin with the longitude and latitude that get track by GPS
Module. While the blue dot shows the real place that the device was located. In this test the coordinate
taken are at 30m from the real coordinate. The distance was measured automatically using the
application. If the distance between the real coordinate and the track coordinate
decrease, so the accuracy will be increase. The accuracy of this prototype was depending on the place,
indoors or outdoors. Table 1 shows the reading of accuracy test.
4 CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study is to develop a system that can track the location of vehicle when the car had
been stolen or loss. Otherwise, this project also perhaps to reduce the number of stolen vehicles in our
country. The idea is when the vehicle was stolen, the owner will send a massage to GSM module and
the massage will be reply by GSM module. The reply massage will contain coordinate and URL link to
Google Maps. Once the system was start, it will constantly updated the current location every one
minute. When the user clicks on the URL link, the link will bring to Google Map. There, the user can
get the location of the vehicle and real-time vehicle location details. The system can be improved in
several ways. First, use the high quality of GPS module to connect with satellite. An example, GPS
NEO-6P module where it can collect data more accurate and stay connect to the satellite. Next, the
system need to be balanced with the latest technology and the project can be improved by sending data
to a server using IOT (Internet of Things). At the end, the location can be known by accessing the
website through internet.
References
[1] Sathe Pooja,‖Vehicle Tracking System Using GPS‖, International Journal of Science and
Research (IJSR), India Online ISSN: 2319-7064, 2013.
[2] Abha Damani, Hardik Shah, Krishna Shah, Manish Vala, Department of Computer Science
and Technology, Uka Tarsadia University,Bardoli, Gujarat ― Global Positioning System for
Object Tracking‖ International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 109
– No. 8, January 2015.
[3] Pankaj Verma, J.S Bhatia, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Mohali, Punjab,
India ―Design and Development of GPS-GSM Based Tracking System with Google Map Based
Monitoring‖ International Journal of Computer Science, Engineering and Applications (IJCSEA)
Vol.3, No.3, June 2013.
[4] A. EI-Rabbany, Introduction to GPS: The Global Positioning System, Norwood, MA: Artech
House, 2006.
[5] Pham Hoang Oat, Micheal Drieberg and Nguyen Chi Cuong, ―Development of Vehicle
Tracking System using GPS and GSM Modem‖ Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. 2013 IEEE Conference on Open Systems (ICOS),
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