January 2004
Intermediate to advanced
348 pages
13h 33m
English
Content preview from Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks
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233
12
12. How to Build a
Remote Object Tracker
Cost
Time
Difficulty
$100–200
a weekend
moderate
A few years ago I ran across a new offshoot of amateur radio (also called
ham radio) that caught my interest. This offshoot combined two technology
gadgets that I like: GPS and two-way radios. This new system was called
Automatic Packet Reporting System, or APRS. APRS allows you to track the
location of a transmitter with GPS accuracy and view this location data on a
PDA or a laptop computer. I put together one of these systems and had great
fun tracking the location of a friend while hiking. The system also allowed
us to send and receive text messages. Normally, APRS uses licensed ham
radio transceivers to work, but I decided to use unlicensed Family Radio
Service (FRS) radios instead.
In this hack I will show you how to take a couple of these inexpensive, two-
way Family Radio Service radios, a GPS receiver, two small off-the-shelf
circuit boards, and a PDA, and build a mini-LoJack system for your vehicle,
bike, or any other object. Simply install the small black box on a car, a bike,
a motorcycle, or even a person, and view its location on a real-time, mov-
ing-map display via a PDA or a laptop. You should be able to track objects
up to two miles away. The view from the PDA screen will look something
like Figure 12-1.
Credits
All photographs copyright © 2003 Scott Fullam.
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I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.