Vehicle Tracking Device

Fatin Balkis Binti Alzahri Maziani Sabudin

School of Computer Sciences School of Computer Sciences
Universiti Sains Malaysia Universiti Sains Malaysia
11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
fbalkis.ucom12@student.usm.my maziani@usm.my

Abstract— This paper discuss the process of developing a lead to the risk of having the car stolen.
Vehicle Tracking Device (VTD). VTD is a tracking device
focusing on vehicles that use Short Message Service (SMS). VTD Normally vehicle are equip with basic lock by the
will give information of location coordinate to mobile phone manufacturer. This is not enough to secure the vehicle. Pulling
whenever there is a request for it through the SMS. The out the main battery easily damages basic lock inside the
integrated Global Positioning System and Global System for vehicle and the alarm of vehicle will not be functioning.
Mobile communication (GPS-GSM) is used to track vehicle using Therefore, there is a need to provide a more secured system
application such as Waze or Google Maps. VTD is an integration that is a stand-alone device without any connection with the
of both hardware and software. The hardware components
vehicle battery.
include a microcontroller, Arduino Uno board, sim-card slot,
voice-alarm module, signal antenna, battery and mobile phone as Users are able to know whether their vehicles are stolen or
well as a program controller interface. The prototype of VTD has not based on the vehicles’ current location; either where they
been successfully developed to track vehicle using GPS via SMS. park their vehicle or anywhere on the road. This show that
there is need for a device to check the location of the vehicle
Keywords— tracking device, SMS, GSM, GPS, arduino
each time the user wants to know.
Hence, there is a need of solution to handle this serious
I. INTRODUCTION
problem. One of the solutions is using and having a tracking
Vehicle tracking system is a system used to determine the device in the vehicle. This tracking device will help to locate
location of a vehicle using method like Global Positioning the stolen vehicle by giving coordinate of location using GPS
System (GPS) and operating system through satellites and and will increase the chance of recovery. Hence, this paper
device. By using the vehicle tracking system, it is easy to focuses on developing a tracking device in order to overcome
calculate and get the accurate location of the vehicle. Vehicle this problem. The tracking device will be affordable; local
information such as locations, speed, and distances travelled made and can be used and owned by many users.
can be viewed on a digital mapping with help of software via
Internet [1]. Even data can be stored or downloaded to a
computer from the GPS unit at a based station and can be used II. RELATED WORK
for analysis purpose [6]. This vehicle tracking system is an This invention relates to an apparatus and method for
important tool for tracking each vehicle at a given period of tracking a vehicle and, more particularly, to an apparatus and
time. Vehicle tracking system also can be used as a theft method wherein the location of a vehicle is recorded during a
prevention and retrieval device. As we know in our country, predetermined event.
Malaysia, there are many cases of stolen vehicle have been
A wide variety of tasks are performed using vehicles. These
reported and the number is increasing every year. The Star and often include pickup and delivery of persons or goods. It is
Asia News Network reported on 30 January 2012 that there sometimes desirable to have a record of the time and place of
were 150 vehicles stolen per day in Malaysia. ACP Amar the performance of these tasks. Various methods exist for
Singh Sidhu’s study, published in the Journal of the Kuala creating such records. These typically consist of simple
Lumpur Royal Police College, mentioned that car theft has handwritten logs kept by drivers of the vehicle, such as those
risen from 22% in 1980 to 49% in 2004, and there is an commonly used by truck drivers. One of the disadvantages of
estimation that total vehicle theft will make up as 74% of total existing systems for recording a vehicle's position is that they
crime theft in 2009. These are the official reported cases. generally require manual action on the part of the driver. This
can result in the recording of incorrect information or the
Since 2005, the average number of newly registered cars omission of information, either unintentionally or intentionally.
per year is 442,023 and the addition of new cars increases by For this reason, it would be desirable to have a system, which
about 7.3% per year. As stated earlier, since 2005, private car determine the location of a vehicle automatically without
theft increases by an average of about 6.4% per year. Although requiring any action on the part of the operator.
the average number of new cars higher than car theft, it still

978-1-5090-1636-5/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 In general, there is various systems which have been used Darnell and Douglas in U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,736 discloses a
for determining the location of a vehicle. These include cellular position locating system for ascertaining the latitude
LORAN systems and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). These and longitude of an individual or object at a remote location and
systems rely on externally transmitted radio frequency signals transmitting information to a base operation using a man-pack
to calculate the location of a receiving antenna mounted on the or singular portable personnel unit. The portable unit comprises
vehicle. In LORAN systems, this calculation is based on the a cellular telephone network in conjunction with a satellite
time difference in signals received from multiple transmitters. navigation unit. The base station includes a computation system
Because the latitude and longitude of the transmitters are for decoding the position data transmitted from the remote units
known, the distance from two or more transmitters can be through the cellular telephone system.
calculated from the time lag between the reception of the
plurality of signals. The resulting calculation can determine the In U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,102 issued to Barnard, a vehicle
latitude and longitude of the receiving antenna to within location system is disclosed which makes use of a satellite-
approximately plus or minus 20 feet. based global positioning system (GPS) of the NAVSTAR type
and which has application to an automatic vehicle location
Another type of navigational system is the GPS system. In (AVL) system for use with a fleet of vehicles, each of which is
the GPS navigation system, the transmitters are positioned on in radio contact with a base station. The AVL system comprises
orbiting satellites. Time and location information of the at least one vehicle-mounted equipment including means for
satellites plus the doppler shift of the radio frequency signal receiving signals directly from the GPS and a fixedly suited
received from the satellite is used to calculate the location of base station including first means for receiving signals directly
the receiver. GPS systems can determine location with even from the GPS. The vehicle-mounted equipment also includes
greater accuracy than LORAN systems. means for recording the received GPS signals and means for
retransmitting the recorded GPS signals to the base station.
Insofar as applicant is aware, existing systems utilizing
these techniques are not particularly useful for tracking the Park in U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,281 discloses a vehicle
location of a vehicle during predetermined events. This is mounting apparatus for an automatic vehicle location system,
because they are generally designed for the purpose of which transmits a vehicle location signal to a control center in
informing the operator of his current location. Furthermore, it is response to a reference signal from the control center. The
believed that these systems ordinarily do not record a history of vehicle location system includes an omni-directional antenna, a
the vehicle's location. They also do not include a means for transmitting and receiving switch, an oscillator frequency
automatically activating the navigational system in response to converter, a frequency-shift keying demodulator, post office
predetermined events. committee standard associate group decoder, a pseudorandom
noise signal generator, a phase-shift keying modulator, a
Thus, it would be desirable to have a system, which could
transmitting signal generator, a power amplifier, and a power
record the latitude and longitude of a vehicle during
supplier.
predetermined events by means of a navigational system. It
would also be desirable to have a system, which would be Wortham in U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,689 discloses a vehicle
responsive to predictable movements during these events to locating and communicating method and apparatus for locating
activate the recording of positional information without any and communicating with vehicles. (In U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,132
action required by the operator or driver of the vehicle. Wortham discloses the same apparatus employing a cellular
telephone network for locating and communicating with
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a
vehicles.) The apparatus includes at least one mobile cellular
vehicle is equipped with a navigational system as a GPS or
unit connected to at least one microprocessor and installed
LORAN type system. The vehicle also is equipped with a
within a vehicle. The microprocessor interrogates the mobile
sensor or sensors that are automatically switched upon the
cellular unit to obtain location information from an overhead
occurrence of a predictable or predetermined event. For
message stream transmitted from cellular telephone transmitter
example, this sensor may be a switch that closes when the
sites. The location is displayed on a display located in the
passenger door of a taxi cab or bus is opened or closed. The
vehicle or the microprocessor, which periodically instructs the
placement of the sensor will vary depending on the particular
mobile cellular unit to initiate a call to a host controller and,
type of information desired, and the purpose of the tracking
upon receipt of transmitting instructions from the host
system. The sensor will then trigger the navigational antenna
controller, transmits the location information for display on a
system causing it to receive and process signals containing
screen connected to the host controller.
navigational information. This will permit calculation of the
position of the vehicle at that time. The vehicle, in accordance U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,842, issued to Brown and Sturza,
with the invention, is also equipped with a data collector that discloses a low cost vehicle tracking system employing GPS
has the capability of storing this information along with the satellites that is capable of tracking several hundred vehicles or
time and date of the recording of the information, as well as a platforms using a low bandwidth data link. The tracking system
full identification of that specific vehicle. The stored comprises a sensor means mounted on each object that supplies
information can then be downloaded to a data processing the data required to locate a particular vehicle, a two-way
system and accessed immediately, or at a later time and vehicle location system (VLS) communication link, and a VLS
analyzed to determine the exact location and time of the workstation to process the data and display the vehicle location.
occurrence of the events.
Mansell and Riley in U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,844 disclose a
vehicle tracking and security system which allows mediate
response in case of vehicle theft, an accident, vehicle can get their vehicle back. The message will show the
breakdown, or other emergency. Guardian and tracking coordinate of latitude and longitude of the location. VTD is
functions are provided through Mobile Units installed in hidden composed of a Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global
locations in vehicles to be monitored. A Mobile Unit System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology. GPS
communicates with a Control center by using a transceiver, and GSM will provide effective and real time of the vehicle
which is a part of the Mobile Unit. The vehicle's location being location and display on the digital mapping in order to track
determined by the GPS may be automatically transmitted to the the vehicle. The concept or operation of VTD is track the
Control Center along with any automatic alarm signal. The location and send the data via SMS.
system provides continuous monitoring of a large number of
vehicles for a broad range of status and emergency conditions Figure 1.0 shows the system description on how user gets
over a virtually unlimited geographic area. the location of the vehicle via SMS. User will request for the
In U.S Pat. No. 5,270,937 Link and Spencer disclose a location from VTD via SMS and the location is gained from
vehicle map position determining apparatus. The apparatus GPS [4], [5].
includes a map memory means which stores map data defining
fixed road segments that exist in an overall geographical area, a
determining means for accessing the map data, a means for
receiving vehicle position data, and a utilization means coupled
to the receiving means and the determining means for utilizing
the vehicle position data and the map data in the map memory
means which defines the road segments.
Noreen and Harper in U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,393 disclose an
integrated radio satellite response system and method
permitting the integration of analog or digital audio broadcast
services with personal communications services and navigation
services into low-cost mobile radios. The system has ability,
from a mobile terminal, to signal an emergency condition or to
order products or services offered in advertisements. The radio
response system includes a broadcast station, a satellite relay, a
processing center, and a plurality of user terminals. Each user Figure 1.0: System Description
terminal has a broadcast receiver, a communications interface
device, a controller, and a data transmitter. The broadcast The VTD will have both hardware and software for
station broadcasts a program signal. The communications tracking. The hardware is the VTD itself with the components
interface device communicates the program signal to a user. of Arduino Uno board, antenna, battery and sim-card slot [5].
The controller generates a user-data signal from identification While the software is the coding that connect the VTD with the
information transmitted in connection with the program signal. mobile phone. VTD will help user get the information of
The data transmitter transmits the user-data signal at a carrier location faster through the SMS [5]. VTD will report or respond
frequency as a transmitted-data signal. The satellite relays the back to user about its location by using GPS only when each
user-data signal to the processing center. time user request for it. It will be implemented of GSM of any
SIM network provider technology in the system.
III. OBJECTIVE
To use VTD, users need to install it in a specific hidden
The objective is to design and develop a device to track place in their vehicles. This is to avoid thieves easily locate the
vehicle using GPS-GSM technology called Vehicle Tracking VTD and disable it. There are several specific places that user
Device (VTD). This device provides a function, which tracks can put and locate the VTD. The places such as under the car
the location of vehicle, each time user request for it. In seat, under the dashboard that seem strategic and hidden, at the
additional, VTD also provide panic button that will cover of the seatbelt, and also can put inside the box of tissue,
automatically give a message of location and call the receiver dustbin or any undercover places.
when the button is pushed. This button is useful when the user
is trapped inside the vehicle. IV. VTD
VTD is developed to help the user and authorities to track The architecture of VTD is shown in Figure 2.0. The
the vehicle when it is stolen or each time user wants to know diagram is divided into two parts. The first part is hardware,
the location of their vehicle. The VTD will help the user to which is the VTD, and the second part is mobile phone. The
find back their vehicle using the location of the vehicle after it power supply source to power on Arduino Uno is from the
is being stolen. Although VTD cannot prevent the thief but it devices (VTD) power socket. GPRS and GPS Shields stack on
can help the user to track their vehicle and find it. As an top of Arduino. There is a slot for user to insert a sim-card at
example, when user notices that their vehicle being stolen, the top of GPRS shield. User must insert any sim-card from
he/she can request the location of the vehicle via SMS [4]. User any provider. For this project, the sim-card used is Celcom
can get the location in a short time in form of SMS and then provider. After the Arduino Microcontroller get power from
the VTD’s power socket, GSM/GPRS and GPS Shield will Sim-card slot
initialize. GPRS Shield will connect to APN. A sim-card holder slot for the SIM card is used for
communication and information. The SIM card acts as the
connection between user and the device, VTD. The
information that will be send by VTD and receive by the user
is the location in terms of latitude and longitude.
Antenna
For improving the signal reception to and from the satellite.
Used for GPS to track the location.
Battery
Range between 7 to 12 volts in order to operate the
Arduino Uno. If it is supplied with less than 7v, the board may
become unstable. While if using more that 12V, the voltage
Figure 2.0: Full Architecture of VTD regulator may overheat and damage the board. Choosing the
battery with the lifetime up to 2 weeks without charging.
A. Technology Deployed LED light
VTD is developed using both hardware and software The LED light is use to tell whether VTD has sufficient
components. For the hardware part, the components consists of power supply of battery or not. Then, LED also will show
Arduino Uno, quad-band chipset, sim-card slot, antenna, whether the program is ready to gain signal of GPS or not.
battery, LED light, microphone, switches, buttons, and wires. Microphone
While for the software, the components are GPS, SMS, and For the transmitting the voices from the VTD to mobile
Arduino Software system. Figure 3.0 shows the picture of the phone when user receive the call from the VTD when panic
components of VTD. button is been pushed.
Switches
There is on/off switch to stimulate the VTD to be whether
in a state of on or off. Then the other switch is to switch
whether VTD is being connected to the laptop/computer for
uploading the program of coding or it is ready to be use as a
tracking device.
Buttons
There are panic button and reset button. The panic button is
used for emergency case. When user push the button, the
mobile phone automatic will get a call from VTD. Then the
reset button as mention above, it has on the Arduino Uno for
Figure 3.0: Components of VTD reset purpose.
GPS
Arduino Uno Global Positioning System is space-based satellite
Act as a microcontroller, the central controller for the navigation system providing position information on Earth. It
whole unit of VTD. Arduino Uno based on the ATmega328. It helps user to determine the location, speed and time of the day
has 14 digital input/output pins, 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz on land, sea in 24 hours a day. GPS signals are accessible to an
quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP unlimited number of people simultaneously. For this project,
header and a reset button. The board can be programmed with only use GPS for determine and getting the information of the
Arduino Software (IDE). It consists of GPS shield and GPRS location.
shield. SMS
Quad-band chipset Act as a medium to display the information of the location
A complete quad-band GSM/GPRS module which by using the GSM technology.
combines GPS technology for satellite navigation. The Arduino Software
compact design which integrated GPRS and GPS in a SMT Arduino Software (IDE) is used for programing. To upload
package will significantly save both time and costs to develop the coding to the Uno board by pressing the upload button in
GPS enabled applications. The module use is SIM908. It also the interface toolbar.
allows variable assets to be tracked seamlessly at any location
and anytime with signal coverage.
B. Device (VTD) and Testing Result Figure 6.0 shows the Google maps with the location given
A complete VTD shown as in Figure 4.0 and it is ready to by VTD.
use. The first step for tracking vehicle, user need to power on
the button on VTD and need to wait around 10 seconds for it is
ready to use. Since the VTD already ready to use, user must
type “LOCATION” from cellular phone or smart phone and
send the message to the number of sim-card on VTD.

Figure 4.0: VTD

Then, user will get a reply from the VTD after user send a
request message to get the location of the vehicle. The Figure 6.0: Location on Google maps
information that user get will appear in terms of coordinate, CONCLUSION
latitudes and longitudes. Then, user can click on the coordinate
received to automatically view the location of the vehicle on VTD can help user to locate the vehicle after being stolen
Google maps. If user does not use smartphone, user can copy and also when user forget where they park their vehicle. User
the coordinate and paste it on the Google maps to view the will get the information from VTD in terms of coordinate
location. Figure 5.0 shows the message request from a user and whether the vehicle is on the road using GPS or inside the
the replied message of coordinate location. building using GSM. Any vehicle can use VTD because it is a
stand-alone device, which does not need to connect with other
system inside the vehicle because it has its own system. It
provides a panic button; which can be used when someone is
trapped inside the vehicle. In conclusion, the objective of this
project, which is to design and develop a device that can track
current position of the vehicle using longitude and latitude and
display the position graphically, has been successfully
achieved by using GPS-GSM.

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