Design and Implementation of Real Time Vehicle Tracking System

DESIGN AND
IMPLEMENTATION OF
REAL TIME VEHICLE
TRACKING SYSTEM
BY
R.SINDHU (283576141)
M.RENUKADEVI (283576122)
R.VANITHA (283576191)
FINAL YEAR – ECE
SEC-B
INTRODUCTION:
Tracking systems were first developed for the shipping industries to determine
the position of ships and boats in the sea. Initially passive systems were developed to
support in tracking and navigation for location-based applications. For the applications
that require real time location information of the vehicle, these systems cannot be
employed, because they store the location information in the internal storage that can
only be accessed when vehicle is available. Recently, Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)
systems are developed and deployed in numerous environments. These systems are
capable of transmitting vehicle’s location information in real time. In these systems, the
device installed in the vehicle can transmit the location information in real time to a
remote data centre, instead of storing into local storage, using some radio network. In this
paper, we present the design and implementation of a real time AVL system that
incorporates a hardware device installed in the vehicle and a remote Tracking Server
(TS).
AUTOMATIC VEHICLE LOCATION (AVL) SYSTEM:
Most of the modern vehicle’s tracking systems belong to the category of

Automatic-Vehicle-Location (AVL) systems. AVL systems aid in determining the
geographic positioning information of vehicles and transmitting it to a remotely located
server. The vehicle’s location is determined using GPS, while the transmission
mechanism can be satellite, terrestrial radio or cellular connection from the vehicle to a
radio receiver, satellite or nearby cell tower. There may also exists some other
alternatives for determining the location in the environments where GPS signal strength
is poor, such as dead reckoning i.e. inertial navigation, active RFID systems or
cooperative RTLS systems. After collecting positioning data, it is transmitted using some
kind of telemetry or wireless communications systems. GSM is the most common used
service for this purpose. AVL system uses GPS for positioning information and
GSM/GPRS for information transmission. The design and implementation of the system
includes acquisition and transmission of vehicle’s location information along with
ignition and doors status information to the monitoring station/tracking server.
Additionally, system also provides a web based interface to display all transmitted
information to end user along with location of vehicle on a map.
AUTOMATIC-VEHICLE LOCATION SYSTEM –BLOCK DIAGRAM
BASIC COMPONENTS OF THE AVL SYSTEM:
• In-Vehicle-Unit (IVU)
• Remote Tracking Server (TS)
IVU has GPS receiver that receives signals from GPS satellites and calculates its
position. This information is transmitted to TS using GSM/GPRS modem on GSM
network. The information can be transmitted using SMS on GSM network or using direct
TCP/IP connection with TS through GPRS. TS also has GSM/GPRS modem that
receives vehicle’s location information via GSM network and stores this information in a
database. This information is available to authorized users of the system via website over
the internet.
SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE:
The high-level architecture of the system is partitioned into two major design
units: In-Vehicle-Unit (IVU) and Tracking Server/Monitoring
Station (TS)
HIGH-LEVEL ARCHITECTURE OF THE SYSTEM

IN-VEHICLE-UNIT:
IVU is designed using OEM module Telit GM862-GPS GSM/GPRS modem and
microcontroller PIC18F248 manufactured by Microchip. Figure 3 shows the internal
architecture of IVU. IVU would be installed into the vehicle. It is responsible for
capturing the current location of vehicle, speed of vehicle, doors and ignition status. IVU
is also responsible for transmitting this information to TS located anywhere in the world
using SMS service available in GSM network or through GPRS. SMS is preferred for
data transmission, since it does not require dedicated connection to
the TS.
ARCHITECTURE OF IN-VEHICLE UNIT
MODULES OF IN-VEHICLE-UNIT:
• GPS receiver
• Central Processing Unit
• Data Transceiver
GPS RECEIVER:
IVU uses GPS receiver to capture the current location and speed of the vehicle.
Location and speed data provided by GPS is not in human understandable format. This
raw data needs to be processed so that it can be converted into useful information, and
then displayed on the map. CPU is required to perform the necessary calculations to
achieve this goal. SiRF Star III single-chip GPS receiver is used for this purpose, which
comes integrated with GM862-GPS modem. GPS receiver can also provide information
of altitude, time of GPS fix, status of GPS fix, and number of satellite used to compute
current location information along with speed data. GPS fix means last reported location.
For tracking purpose, only location and speed data is required; while the other data
provided by GPS receiver can be used to determine the validity of location information.
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT:
The raw data provided by the GPS receiver is captured by the CPU and processed
to extract the required location and speed information. CPU is also responsible for
monitoring the doors status and controlling the ignition status of the vehicle. CPU holds
all the required information that is to be transmitted to remote TS. It also controls data
transmission module to exchange information with remote TS. It actually acts as a bridge
between GPS receiver, vehicle, and remote TS. It receives commands sent by server
through data transmission/receiving module and performs corresponding action required
by the server. The processing required in the IVU is not computationally intensive;
therefore any low-end microcontroller can be used as a CPU. Microchip’s PIC18F248 is
selected to serve as the CPU for IVU. This is an 8-bit microcontroller and runs at the
speed of 20 MHz, which is enough speed for the system to operate smoothly.
DATA TRANSCEIVER:
When all required information is extracted and processed, it needs to be

transmitted to remote TS. TS is responsible for providing this information to the end user
or application. We have used wireless network to transmit vehicle’s information to
remote TS. Existing GSM network is selected to transmit vehicle’s information to remote
TS, since it has wide coverage. It is also less expensive approach as compared to
deploying our own network for transmission of vehicle’s information. GSM modem is
required for data transmission over GSM network. It aids in the process of sending and
receiving SMS text messages and other GPRS data over GSM network. GM862-GPS
GSM/GPRS modem is used for this purpose. GM862-GPS provides AT commands
interface, i.e. all functions can be accessed using AT commands. AT commands can be
sent to it using serial interface. It has built in UART that accepts the AT commands, and
modem performs the function as described in received valid AT commands.
TRACKING SERVER:
TS maintains the information received from all of the IVUs installed in different
vehicles in a database. This database is accessible from internet to authorized users
through a web interface. Authorized users can track their vehicle and view all of the
legitimate information stored in the database. TS has a GSM/GPRS modem attached to it
that receives SMS messages from IVUs and sends them to the server through serial port.
ARCHITECTURE OF TRACKING SERVER:
GM862-GPS is the same GSM/GPRS modem that is used in IVU. It is used on server
side to exchange information with IVUs through SMS. Vehicle’s information sent by
IVU through SMS is received by this modem on TS. TS can also send commands for
IVUs using this modem. GM862-GPS interface board is connected to the serial (COM)
port of server. Server can communicate with modem using AT commands. To send and
receive data using this modem communication software is required. The communication
software provides communication interface to the GM862-GPS modem attached to the
computer’s serial port. It is responsible for communicating and controlling the operations
of GM862-GPS.
CONCLUSION:
Real time vehicle tracking system is successfully implemented using SMS of

GSM network, and GPRS as transport channel to achieve the desired properties of
Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system. Currently, In-Vehicle-Unit (IVU) is
implemented with two boards. Microcontroller board is externally connected to GM862-
GPS interface board. Single board can be designed to incorporate,microcontroller’s
circuitry on the GM862-GPS interface board. It will reduce the overall size of IVU. It
will alsoreduce the number of components, so the cost as well.Currently both boards have
RS232 level converter circuit,which is not required when microcontroller will be directly
interfaced with GM862-GPS. Further, advanced user interaction will be employed into
IVU to allow drivers to exchange information with the remote TS during driving the
vehicle. For example, a driver should be able to send an emergency message or guidance
request to the remote TS.
REFERENCES:
[1] S. Ritier and J. MCCoy (1977). Automatic Vehicle Location: An overview. Vehicular
Technology, IEEE Transactions, Vol.26 Issue 1. Pg. 7-11
[2] Automatic vehicle location (2008).

Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_vehicle_location
[3] Vehicle Tracking Systems – Overview(2008)

http://www.roseindia.net/technology/vehicletracking/VehicleTrackingSystems.shtml
[4] N. papadoglou and E. Stipidis (2001). Investigation for a global system. IEEE
transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp121-126.
[5] Easy GPRS User Guide. 80000ST10028 (2007). Telit Wireless Solutions.

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Design and Implementation of Real Time Vehicle Tracking System

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DESIGN AND

AUTOMATIC VEHICLE LOCATION (AVL) SYSTEM:

Most of the modern vehicle’s tracking systems belong to the category of

HIGH-LEVEL ARCHITECTURE OF THE SYSTEM

ARCHITECTURE OF IN-VEHICLE UNIT

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT:

When all required information is extracted and processed, it needs to be

ARCHITECTURE OF TRACKING SERVER:

Real time vehicle tracking system is successfully implemented using SMS of

[2] Automatic vehicle location (2008).

[3] Vehicle Tracking Systems – Overview(2008)

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