CHAPTER 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The GPS-GPRS based vehicle tracking system is one that makes use of the Global

Positioning System (GPS) to determine the precise location of a vehicle to which it is attached. I

therefore sought to design a cost effective web-based GPS-GPRS vehicle tracking system that

enables owners to view the present and past positions recorded of the target vehicle on Google Map

through a purpose designed website. With the rapidly increase in number of vehicles in Nigeria,

there is an increase need of tracking your vehicle or fleet of vehicles due to the following reasons:

i. Increase in carjacking incidences that are unresolved by the police

ii. Increase in unrecovered stolen motor vehicles

iii. To know exactly where all your vehicles are and of what use they are being used for. It will

tell you what time your driver started, how long is being spent on breaks or whether the

vehicle is being used to pursue non-work related activities.

iv. Can be used to settle false claim or complaints against the company that may arise hence

prove indubitably where the vehicle was at the time of the alleged and thus demonstrate that

the claim is bogus.

A GPS-GPRS based tracking system gives all the specifications about the location of a

vehicle. The system utilizes geographic position and time information from the Global Positioning

Satellites. In order to track the movement of the vehicle Google Maps used for mapping the location.

The GSM modem fetches the GPS location and sends it to the server using GPRS.

The integration of GPS and GSM was first established using SMS as a method of

transmitting GPS coordinates. The inclusion of GPRS technology to transmit location coordinates to

a remote server facilitates the tracking of object remotely using any computer connected to the web.

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1.1.1 Aims and Objective

1.1.2 Aim

← The aim of this project is to develop a GPS/ GSM-GPRS vehicle tracking system

1.1.3 Objectives

← The objectives of this projects are:

ii. Developing Automatic Vehicle Location system using GPS for positioning information and

GSM/GPRS or information transmission with following features.

iii. Acquisition of vehicle’s location information (latitude longitude) after specified time

interval.

iv. Transmission of vehicle’s location and other information (including ignition status, door

open/close status) to the monitoring station/Tracking server after specified interval of time.

v. Developing a based software to display all transmitted information to end user along with

displaying location of vehicle on a map.

vi. The objective of the project is to build an additional feature to the present security system

that will warn the owner of the vehicle by sending SMS when there has been an intrusion

into the vehicle.

To provide a solution to avoid car stolen in the lower cost than advance security car system

1.2 Global Positioning System

The GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time

information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed

line of sight to three or more GPS satellites. GPS technology can be described in terms of three

segments:

i) Space Segment: Consists of twenty-four satellites orbiting 11,000 nautical miles above

the earth. Ii

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 ii) Control Segment: Consists of 5 ground stations around the globe that manage the

operational health of the satellites by transmitting orbital corrections and clock updates.

iii) User Segment: Consists of various types of GPS receivers that can vary in complexity

and sophistication.

GPS receivers are able to identify their location when three GPS satellites triangulate and

measure the distance to the receiver and compare the measurements. A fourth satellite measures the

time to the receiver. The information from all four satellites is compiled to determine the location.

The sophistication of a GPS receiver impacts the reliability and accuracy of the GPS data received.

1.3 General Packet Radio Services

General Packet Radio Service GPRS is a packet switched service based on Global System for

Mobile Communications GSM, an extensively deployed voice technology. GPRS is a 2.5 G cellular

network. It provides affordable and fast internet connections to service users. Billing is based on the

amount of data transferred rather than on the connection time. This is achieved by allocating

resources radio channels to users only when they need to send data. GPRS utilizes most nodes in an

existing GSM network; two additional nodes are introduced in the GSM network to support GPRS

Serving GPRS Support node SGSN and Gateway GPRS Support Node GGSN, these two nodes

constitute the core network of a GPRS sub-network and they are connected through an IP based

GPRS backbone network.

1.4 Web Based Vehicle Tracking System

The web based tracking system is a system designed using a combination of several modern

information and communications technologies. The system comprises of vehicle-mounted tracking

devices, a central server system and a web-based application. Through the system, users will have

the facility of monitoring the location graphically and other relevant information of vehicle. This

system is designed to serve enterprises with an unlimited number of vehicles and complex usage

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requirements. The web based system enables user to browse location track on map through

developed web application embed Google Map and interact with database server for vehicles track

details. Using the web based system enables users with different operating system platforms to easily

reach the demanded details by the existence of internet access.

1.5 System Components

iii. Desktop application

1.6 GSM/GPS Module

Quad-Band SIM908 module is used which combines GPS technology for satellite navigation

with worldwide known technology GSM. This module is configured to connect to navigation

satellite and gets GPS location at predetermined intervals and sends this information to web

application through GPRS service provided by GSM. The GSM/GPRS engine works on frequencies

GSM 850MHz; EGSM 900MHz, DCS 1800MHz and PCS 1900MHz. SIM908 supports the GPRS

coding schemes CS-1, CS-2, CS-3 and CS-4. The GPS solution offers best- in-class acquisition and

tracing sensitivity, TTFF and accuracy. With a tiny configuration of 30*30*3.2mm, the device can

meet almost all the space requirements in user applications and is designed with power saving

technique so that the current consumption is as low as 1.0mA in sleep mode.

1.7 Web Design

The overall functionality and usage eased using various web application development languages

where the interaction between several purposes designed applications resulted in complete integrated

system enables the users to reach and benefit of the system. The overall design goals of the web

application can be summarized in the following:

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 i. Define and manage all client accounts information by system administrator.

ii. Define, manage and browse all agents’ accounts information and tracking data by clients.

iii. Receive and identify tracking information from each device unit.

iv. Store tracking information received from tracking device to the related agent in the database.

v. Display track locations on electronic map through using several browsing types.

Generate reports of agent’s movements showing agent information and tracking details. Web

pages formatted using HTML elements. Appearances and text layout formatted using. HTML

embeds scripts such as JavaScript and PHP which performs functions and adds effects on the

behavior of HTML pages.

JavaScript performs all background operations and functions such as login checking, data

validation, and paging function; also JavaScript embeds Google Map API on the web site using key

and Google maps class provided by Google where vehicle locations coordination are presented.

Administration of accounts implemented using PHP functions; PHP commands can be embedded

directly into HTML source document rather than calling external file to process data. The

administration functions include adding, editing, deleting, browsing clients and agents accounts, and

formatting those accounts into tables. PHP used at the server side to store the received GPS data in

forms which is easier to examine and check relevant parts of received data. Detailed reports of

agents track also generated using PHP function where the relevant data are presented into table

contains agent basic information and detailed track including exact time and location coordination.

1.8 Database Design

The database responsible for storing all system information including user login credentials, clients

information, agent information, and tracking data. Databases also enforce data integrity by ensuring

that data is collected and presented using a consistent format. For the system to be usable, it must

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retrieve data efficiently. The need for efficiency has led to use complex data structures to represent

data in the database. The database architecture consists of the following layers:

i. Presentation layer: This is the topmost level of application. The presentation layer

displays information related services. The presentation layer communicates with

other tiers by outputting results to the browser/client tier and all other tiers in the

network.

ii. Business Logic Layer, Data Access Layer (or middle layer): The logical layer is

pulled out from the presentation layer and, as its own layer; it controls an

application’s functionality by performing detailed processing. Another in-between

layer added to make benefit of the reusable set of functions performing database

operations, this is the DB Worker Layer.

iii. Data layer: This layer consists of database servers. Here the information is stored and

retrieved. This keeps data neutral and independent from application servers or

business logic. Giving data its own tier also improves scalability and performance.

1.9 Power Supply

The power supply of SIM908 is from a single source of VBAT, its normal operating voltage

is from +3V to +5V. The peak working current can rise up to 2A during maximum power

transmitting period, which cause a voltage drop lower than 3V, and the module may will

automatically power down. In our Tracker, VBAT was set to 5V.

The input voltage to the power supply is 12V or 24V DC supply voltage, which a practical

values that a present in our motor vehicles on the roads. A suitable voltage regulator was chosen that

could regulate both 12V and 24V input to give a stable output of 5V.

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1.10 Netlight circuit

Status of the module during the power on/off will be done by the netlight circuit. After power

up, AT commands will not respond till the status pin change to high, and status pin will change to

low after the module is logged off from the base station in a power down procedure.

Netlight is a net status indicator. It can drive a transistor to control a LED which will blink

slowly or quickly according to different states.

1.11 Programming and Coding

In the design of a car tracker requires a lot of knowledge in various programming language to

ensure a coherent communication and storage of data. One has first of all design a desktop

application which will be the presentation layer. Here one has to know how to code and accurately

configure:

i. WAMP Server

ii. PHP as a scripting language

iii. HTML

With the interface designed and connected to a WAMP server, it has to get data from the tracker to

process and map on the website. The tracker has a microprocessor chip and a SIM908 modem

module that have also to be programmed to be able to communicate together with each other and

send coordinates to the server.

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Traditionally, navigation systems have been large, expensive, and used only in aviation or

military applications. However, the presence of the GPS and the recent proliferation of small low-

cost motion sensors have made possible navigation systems that are small and inexpensive enough to

be used in consumer products. Commercial consumer-grade navigation systems are, in fact, readily

found today in Japan, Europe, and the United States, with one application being automobile

navigation systems.

The concept of in-vehicle navigation systems is not new, but implementations of such systems

are relatively recent. Programs investigating the possibility of establishing an infrastructure to

support widespread navigation for motor vehicles began in the U.S. as early as the late 1960‟s.

However, results from these studies deemed that the supporting infrastructure for such a system

would be too expensive, and further study in the United States was dropped until the 1980‟s. In the

late 1980‟s, the U.S. government, recognizing that parts of the country‟s road system were taxed

nearly to capacity, launched a campaign to promote the application of high-tech solutions to enhance

roadway efficiency.

Outlined in the National Program Plan for Intelligent Transportation Systems (NPP), this

campaign includes a strategy for improving the efficiency of the U.S. highway system over 20-year

period. The NPP‟s goals include reducing highway congestion and fuel consumption and the

number of traffic accidents by providing drivers with real-time traffic information, route guidance,

electronic toll collection, advanced vehicle collision avoidance systems, and automatic notification

to authorities in the event of a traffic emergency. These ambitious renovations to the U.S. road

system involve a number of diverse technologies, and knowledge of a vehicle’s location lies at the

heart of many services described in the NPP (e.g., route guidance and emergency response).

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 In Japan, research efforts in real time automobile route guidance were begun in the 1970s with

the goal of reducing traffic congestion. Throughout the 1970‟s and 1980‟s, the Japanese

government, in cooperation with industry, was continuously involved in launching initiatives which

helped to mature vehicle navigation technology. Today, most Japanese car manufacturers offer

factory-installed navigation systems in at least some of their models. Estimates indicate that, by the

year 2000, per annum sales of vehicles with factory installed navigation systems will be reach 2.5

million. Many researchers have proposed the use of cutting edge technologies to served the target of

vehicle tracking. These technology include Communication remote Control, GPS, GIS server

systems and others.

Vehicle tracking system is the technology used to determine the location of a vehicle using different

methods like GPS and other radio navigation systems operating through satellites and ground based

stations. By following triangulation or trilateration methods the tracking system enables to calculate

easy and accurate location of the vehicle. Vehicle information like location details, speed, distance

traveled etc. can be viewed on a digital mapping with the help of a software via Internet. Even data

can be stored and downloaded to a computer from the GPS unit at a base station and that can later be

used for analysis. This system is an important tool for tracking each vehicle at a given period of time

and now it is becoming increasingly popular for people having expensive cars and hence as a theft

prevention and retrieval device

2.2 Proposed System Description

This proposed car tracking system will be well equipped and up to date with cutting edge

technology. What it does best is to be cost effective and readily available to its users since the

components used are readily available to the public and can easily be purchased without government

restrictions.

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 In this project, we build a GPS tracker with integrated Google maps. The GPS chip outputs

the position information of the car which is transferred over GPRS link to a mobile operator`s GGSN

and then to a remote server over HTTP connection. The HTTP server stores the incoming positional

data in a MySQL database. When a client logs in to the tracking webpage, a PHP web application

embedded with JavaScript code. The JavaScript runs in the browser and integrates this information

into Google Maps through Google Maps API which displays the position on a map. Since the

positional information is retrieved every second and the maps updated at the same frequency, a real

time GPS tracking effect is achieved.

Figure 1. Web Based Vehicle Tracking System Overview

2.2 SIM908 Module

This module has different functional parts that makes it best suited to be used as a car tracker

in this project, these are:

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 i. The GSM baseband engine

ii. The GPS engine

iii. Flash

iv. The GSM radio frequency part

v. The antenna interface

vi. Power management unit

The above are the main functional parts of the SIM908 module.

Figure 2. SIM908 Functional Diagram

2.3 ATMEGA328P-PU

This MCU is a low-power CMOS 8-bit MCU based on the AVR enhanced RISC

architecture. By executing powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the MCU achieves

throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz that allowed me to optimize power consumption and

processing speed. The AVR core combines a rich instruction set with 32 general purpose working

registers. All the 32 registers are directly connected to the ALU, allowing two registers to be

11
accessed in one single instruction executed in one clock cycle. The resulting architecture is more

code efficient while achieving throughputs up to ten times faster than conventional microcontrollers.

The MCU has a in-System programmable Flash with Read-While-Write capabilities, 1K

bytes EEPROM,2K bytes SRAM, 23 general purpose I/O lines, 32general purpose working registers,

three flexible Timer/Counters with compare modes, internal and external interrupts, a serial

programmable USART, a byte-oriented 2-wire Serial Interface, an SPI serial port, a 6-channel 10-bit

ADC, a programmable Watchdog Timer with internal Oscillator, and five software selectable power

saving modes. The Idle mode stops the CPU while allowing the SRAM, Timer/Counters, USART, 2

wire Serial Interface, SPI port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. The Power-down mode

saves the register contents but freezes the Oscillator, disabling all other chip functions until the next

interrupt or hardware reset. In Power-save mode, the asynchronous timer continues to run, allowing

the user to maintain a timer base while the rest of the device is sleeping. The ADC Noise Reduction

mode stops the CPU and all I/O modules except asynchronous timer and ADC, to minimize

switching noise during ADC conversions. In Standby mode, the crystal/resonator Oscillator is

running while the rest of the device is sleeping. This allows very fast start-up combined with low

power consumption.

The device is manufactured using Atmel’s high density non-volatile memory technology.

The On-chip ISP Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed In-System through an SPI

serial interface, by a conventional non-volatile memory programmer, or by an On-chip Boot

program running on the AVR core. The Boot program can use any interface to download the

application program in the Application Flash memory. Software in the Boot Flash section will

continue to run while the Application Flash section is updated, providing true Read-While-Write

operation. By combining an 8-bit RISC CPU with In-System Self-Programmable Flash on a

12
monolithic chip, the ATMEGA328P-PU is a powerful microcontroller that provides a highly flexible

and cost effective solution to many embedded control applications.

Below is a functional diagram of the ATMEGA328P-PU used in this project.

Figure 3. ATMEGA328P-PU Functional Diagram

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2.4 Sequence Diagram

This is a pictorial representation of how the different users will be interacting with the

system. It is a general overview of how each of them queries the system for a desired function

including:

i. Login to the website

ii. Logout from the website

iii. Registration of user

iv. Listing of users

v. Tracking record listing

2.5 Database Design

The database responsible for storing all system information including:

i. user login credentials

ii. clients information

iii. agent information

iv. tracking data

Databases also enforce data integrity by ensuring that data is collected and presented using a

consistent format. For the system to be usable, it must retrieve data efficiently. The need for

efficiency has led to use complex data structures to represent data in the database. The database

architecture consists of the following layers:

i. Presentation layer; this is the topmost level of application. The presentation

layer displays information related services. The presentation layer

communicates with other tiers by outputting results to the browser/client tier

and all other tiers in the network.

14
 ii. Business Logic Layer; data Access Layer, the logical layer is pulled out from

the presentation layer and, as its own layer; it controls an application’s

functionality by performing detailed processing. Another in-between layer

added to make benefit of the reusable set of functions performing database

operations, this is the DB Worker Layer.

iii. Data layer; this layer consists of database servers. Here the information is

stored and retrieved. This keeps data neutral and independent from application

servers or business logic. Giving data its own tier also improves scalability

and performance.

The figure below presents the database architecture indicating to all database layers.

15
Figure 5. Database Architecture Layers

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 CHAPTER 3

SYSTEMS DESIGN

3.1 SIM908 Interface connection

SIM908 is the modem module of choice for this project. It’s the latest SIM Com modem

module and has a lot of in built functions that can be advantageous in the design of a car tracker. The

module was connected as shown below and various connections done described in detail henceforth.

Initially, the SIM908 module is initialized to start gathering GPS data from the satellite;

device initiation is done using AT commands and includes GPS and GSM module; to turn on the

GPS, first it is powered on and put in reset mode then in the worm mode where the module become

ready for receiving coordinates from satellite. The GPRS is next turned on; the process includes

GPRS power on, setting APN of service provider, initiating HTTP protocol, and setting protocol

method (Get method). Device initialization process may take up to 1 minute to worm up and

calculate the accurate position. In the SIM908 module initialization process, the process starts with

powering the module and setting the reset mode, the worm to the provider. In case of network un-

availability, the acquisitioned GPS coordinates and other data such as time and speed are stored

temporarily until the network returns back to service then the stored coordinates are sent with their

time stamp and speed.

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Figure 6.SIM908 Circuit connection diagram

18
3.2 Power Supply Design

The power range of SIM908 is from 3.2V to 4.8V. The transmitting burst will cause voltage

drop and the power supply must be able to provide sufficient current up to 2A. For the DC car power

input, a bypass capacitor of 100µF was used and placed as close as possible to SIM908 DC input

pins.

Since there is a high drop-out between input and desired output, a DC-DC power supply will

be preferable because of its better efficiency especially with the 2A peak current in burst mode of the

module.

During the power supply design, attention was paid to power losses. The voltage was never

allowed to drop below 3.1V even when current consumption rises to 2A in the transmit burst since

the module would shut down automatically. The PCB traces from the VBAT pins to the power

supply should be wide enough to decrease Voltage drops in transmit burst. The bypass capacitor was

placed close to the module as possible.

The single 3.7V Li-ion cell battery can be connected to SIM908 VBAT pins directly. A Li-

ion 3.7V 1000mAh battery was chosen with a limited charge voltage of 4.2V.

When battery is used, the total impedance between battery and VBAT pins should be less

than 150mΩ, this was confirmed by use of a digital multimeter.

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 Figure 7.Power supply circuit connection

3.3 Power on/off SIM908

When powering on SIM908 we pull down the PWRKEY pin for at least 1 second and

release. This pin is already pulled up to 3V in the module internal, so there was no need to have an

external pull up.

The power on scenarios is illustrated as in the figure below:

Figure 8. Power on scenario timing diagram

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 When power on procedure is completed, SIM908 will send RDY (ready) command to

indicate that the module is ready to operate at a fixed baud rate but since we are not using a screen,

we will use the status and netlight indicator. In this mode during normal operation, all operations and

AT commands are available.

The SIM908 will automatically turn on when the car battery is connected to the switched off

SIM908 of which VBAT pin voltage is greater than 3.2V. SIM908 will go into the charge –only

mode. In this mode, the module does not register to the network, and has a few AT commands

available.

When the module is powered on using the VCHG signal, SIM908 status pin LED

continuously lights red. This only occurs when the car battery is discharged or doesn’t supply

enough voltage to power on the module.

SIM908 will be powered down in the following situations:

i. Normal power down procedure using PWRKEY pin.

ii. Normal power down using AT command “AT+CPOWD=1”.

iii. Abnormal power down during under/over voltages automatic power down.

iv. Abnormal power down during over/under temperature automatic power down.

When powering down SIM908, we pull down the PWRKEY pin for at least 1 second and

release. The power down scenario is illustrated in the following figure:

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 Figure 9. Power down scenario timing diagram

This procedure makes the module log off from the network and allows the software to enter

into a secure state to save data before shut down. At this moment, AT commands cannot be executed

any more. Power down mode will therefore be indicated by STATUS pin, which is at low level at

this time. The following is the power on key circuit:

Figure 10. Power Key input circuit connection to SIM908

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3.4 Charging Interface

SIM908 has integrated a charging circuit inside the module for Li-ion batteries charging

control, which makes it very convenient for battery charging support.

SIM908 has optimized the charging algorithm for the Li0Ion battery that meets the

following characteristics listed below:

i. The maximum voltage of the Li-Ion battery pack is 4.2V and the recommended

capacity is 1100mAh if exceeded the battery pack will take longer to charge.

ii. The battery pack should have a protection circuit to avoid overcharging,deep

discharging and over current, and the circuit should be insensitive to pulsed

current.

iii. The internal resistance of the battery including protection circuit should be as low

as possible. In our case it should not exceed 150mΩ.

iv. The battery pack should be protected from reserve pole connection.

There are three pins in SIM908 related to battery charging function: there are VCHG,

VBAT and TEMP_BAT/ADC0 pins. The VCHG pin is driven by an external voltage, system

can use this pin to detect a charger supply and provide most charging current through SIM908

module to battery when charging is in fast charge state. VBAT pin gives charging current to

external battery from SIM908 module. TEMP_BAT pin is used to measure the battery

temperature; this pin was left open since temperature of battery is not our concern.

A common connection is shown in the following figure:

The SIM interface complies with the GSM specifications (phase 1 and phase 2). The

SIM interface is powered from an internal regulator in the module. There is no need of a pull

up resistor on the SIM_DATA line is already added in the modules internal design. The

following table shows pin connections of SIM card interface.

Table1: SIM card pin connections

Pin Name Signal Description

C1 SIM-VDD SIM card power supply

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 C2 SIM-RST SIM card reset

C3 SIM-CLK SIM card clock

C4 SIM-DATA SIM card data I/O

C5 VPP Not connected

C6 GND Connect to ground(GND)

The following is a circuit design for the SIM card interface:

Figure 12.Sim card circuit connection diagram

A supply voltage of 5V was supplied to the microcontroller as per design specification to

the three power pins VCC, AVCC, and AREF from the power supply circuit. VCC is the digital

supply voltage, AVCC is the supply voltage pin for the A/D converter, PC3:0 and ADC7:6. It is

connected to the VCC externally regardless of whether the pins are used or not. The AREF is the

analog reference pin for the A/D converter.

Port B is an 8-bit bidirectional I/O port with internal pull up resistors. They can therefore

be used as both inputs and outputs. For this reason they are used to program the ATMEGA328P-

PU using pins PB3, PB4 and PB5 as MOSI, MISO and SCK respectively. Port C6/RESET is

used as an I/O pin. In our case PC6 was used as a reset input. A low level on this pin for longer

than the minimum pulse length will generate a reset even if the clock is not running. We need to

use an external 10KΩ pull-up resistor to the reset pin.

Port D is an 8-bit bidirectional I/O port with internal pull up resistors, this is the reason

pins PD0 and PD1 were used as transmission and reception pins. The port D output buffers have

symmetrical drive characteristics with both high sink and source capability, this is the reason

why port PD5 was used to power the SIM908 module. As inputs, Port D pins that are externally

pulled low will source current if the pull-up resistors are activated. The port D pins are tri-stated

when a reset condition becomes active, even if the clock is not running.

All ground connections are shorted and connected to GND.

26
 To be able to program the microcontroller, a six pin AVR_SPI connector was integrated

in the design circuit of the tracker and was connected as shown on the diagram.

Figure 13. ATMEGA328P-PU circuit connection diagram

27
 Figure 14.AVR SPI 6 pin connection diagram

3.6 GPIO Selection

3.6.1 NETLIGHT Circuit

This is a net status indicator. It can drive a transistor to control a LED which will blink
slowly or quickly according to different states. The module cannot drive the LED directly on its
own hence the need of the transistor.
NETLIGHT has a dedicated pin in the SIM908. The circuit below is the circuit
responsible for netlight in the design.

Figure 15. Netlight circuit connection diagram

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3.6.2 STATUS Circuit

This pin is used to monitor the module status during the power on/off process. After

power up, AT commands will not respond till the status pin change to high and change to low

after the module is logged off from the base station in the power down procedure. STATUS pin

has a dedicated pin in SIM908 and was connected to GPIO of the MCU.

Figure 16. Status circuit connection diagram

3.7 Design of Circuit PCB

Using the schematic diagram from EAGLE 7.2.0 a PCB design was extrapolated and the
PCB layout was done. As per the design there are various factors that were considered while

29
carrying out the design layout with special considerations for the SIM908 module. A good PCB
layout will help improve the whole performance, including reliability and efficiency. These
factors that were considered are as follows:-
i. The power trace should be short and wide, it is recommended to be routed above
12.5mil and was easily done by manually routing the power traces.
ii. The layout of ground is of great importance. A whole ground layer is the best for
the module performance if it is possible. Some noise interference signal is
shielded by the ground.

Figure 17. PCB design layout of vehicle tracker using GPS

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 CHAPTER 4

IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING

4.1 SCHEDULING OF THE WHOLE PROJECT

The project had various tasks that were carried from commencement to completion. A

Gantt chart was developed to keep track of project progress. Project tasks were listed against

their estimated start and completion times to accurately complete the project within the

estimated time. However there were delays in the implementation of the project due to the

fact that SIM908 was not readily available in the local market and had to be imported which

took a long time almost a month.

The chart shown below is a prototype of the results generated.

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32
33
34
35
4.2 SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION

The software design was implemented first from the application layer. The design of

the homepage was simple and could easily be understood and used by most users. It had few

links to navigate through the website. My home page interface was implemented as follows:

Figure 18. Home page of the website

The client will login and the interface below will appear as the figure shown below. It will

contain all the parameters captured by SIM908 GPS module. This parameters include speed,

time and date, course, longitude and latitude that are displayed using the google embedded maps

which was optimized to be 1000px by 500px in dimension.

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Figure 19. Client login index page

After completion of the interface implementation, PHP scripts were programmed to do all the

form handling that are done with the administrator and the agent. The scripts also were used to

handle POST and GET functions to and from the database.

The admin interface is as shown below:

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38
 Figure 20. Admin page listing enrolled agents

Alongside programming the interface design on my computers localhost, I also programmed my

database php My Admin and created four tables as shown below:

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 Figure 22. Megawcoc car tracker database with admin login details table

Figure 23.Megawcoc car tracker database with agent details table

4.3 HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

Hardware implementation started with developing the board. The following procedure was

followed to develop the board and later components mounted on the board.

i. Circuit was prepared and printed on a transparent film layout paper.

ii. The board was cut to the desired size and the black protection film was pilled of and the

board exposed in the Kinsten Exposure box on both sides for 60seconds

iii. In the process of developing, one litre of sodium hydroxide was poured into a tray and

the exposed board suspended in the developer. The board was agitated until the artwork

was clear. The board was then rinsed with running water to completely wash away the

developer.

iv. The parts that were not clearly visible were enhanced using a permanent mark pen.
 v. The board was then immersed for eight minutes in Kinsten etching tank that had been

turned on for 30 minutes to warm the ferric chloride to a temperature of about (50-60C).

vi. The board was then removed and rinsed for 15minutes.

vii. Appropriate holes were drilled to complete the design of the PCB ready for mounting.

viii. Components were then mounted on the PCB and the circuit was ready.

Figure 25.The front side of PCB design

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

Tracking system is becoming increasingly important in large cities and it is more secured than other

systems. It is completely integrated so that once it is implemented in all vehicles, then it is possible

to track anytime from anywhere. It has real-time capability, emerges in order to strengthen the

relations among people, vehicle and road by putting modern information technologies together and

able to forms a real time accurate, effective comprehensive transportation system.

The main objective of the project was to develop a GPS tracking system that uploads a set of

given parameters to a database server through a GGSN network to a website where it can be viewed

remotely. The expected results were obtained as it can be evident as analysed as in CHAPTER 4

above.

5.2 Recommendation for future work

The recommendations for future work are as follows:

i. Investigate how to protect the data collected on the website by making sure users only get to
access only those devices that they are authorized to. Generally increased security to protect
Vehicle tracker identity.
ii. To develop a mobile application for the different types of mobile Operating Systems rather
than just using a desktop application.
iii. Developing a means to show track record of where the vehicle has been rather than just the
position it is located.
 REFERENCES

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System-on-Chip, International Journal of Electrical & Computer Sciences IJECS-IJENS Vol: 10

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[2] Ambade Shruti Dinkar and S.A Shaikh “Design and Implementation Of Vehicle Tracking

System Using GPS”, Journal of Information Engineering and Applications, Vol 1, No.3, 2011,

www.iiste.org

[3] Dr. Kamal Jain and Rahul Goel “GPS Based Low Cost Intelligent Vehicle Tracking System

(IVTS)”, 2012 International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Engineering (ICTTE 2012),

IPCSIT vol. 26

[4] Muruganandham , P.R.Mukesh “Real Time Web based Vehicle Tracking using GPS” ,

World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology in 2010.

[5] Robin Schubert, Eric Richter, Gerd Wanielik “Comparison and Evaluation of Advanced

Motion Models for Vehicle Tracking”, Professorship of Communications Engineering Chemnitz

University of Technology

[6] SIM908 AT Command Manual_Version 1.01 by SIMCom Tech company, China, 2011

[7] SIM908 Hardware Design Manual_V2.00 by SIMCom Tech company, China, 2013

[8] SIM908 Reference Design Guide_Application Note_Version 1.00 by SIMCom Tech

company, China, 2011-08-10