We are taking GPS one step further in this project by tracking the vehicle using GPS and GSM. With a few hardware and software changes, this system could also be used for Accident Detection Alerts, Soldier Tracking, and many more. Vehicle tracking consists of tracking the location of the vehicle using GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude). GPS coordinates represent the location of a point. A system like this is a great choice for outdoor applications.

In order to track Cabs/Taxis, stolen cars, school/college buses, etc., this type of Vehicle Tracking System Project is widely used.

Arduino GSM Module GPS Module 16x2 LCD Power Supply Connecting Wires

With the Global Positioning System, you can find the position of any place on the planet in exact UTC time (Universal Coordinated Time). GPS stands for Global Positioning System. Vehicle tracking systems are primarily built with a GPS module as the key component. Using this device, satellite coordinates are received every second from the earth, as well as time and

date. Tracking position data is sent in real time via GPS module, and all the information is formatted in NMEA (see the screenshot below). We only need one sentence in the NMEA format, which consists of several sentences. Starting from $GPGGA, this sentence contains coordinates, times, and other relevant information. The GPS fix data is known as the GPGGA, or Global Positioning System Fix Data. Read more about GPS data and its string here. Counting the commas in $GPGGA allows us to extract the coordinates for this string. Consider how Latitude and Longitude can be found from a string stored in a $GPGGA array; after two commas Latitude can be found and after four commas Longitude can be found. Latitudes and longitudes from the array can now be inserted into other arrays.

$GPGGA,104534.000,7791.0381,N,06727.4434,E,1,08,0.9,510.4,M,43.9,M, ,*47 $GPGGA,HHMMSS.SSS,latitude,N,longitude,E,FQ,NOS,HDP,altitude,M,h eight, A, checksum data Identifier Description $GPGGA Global Positioning system fix data HHMMSS.SSSTime in hour minute seconds and milliseconds format. Latitude Latitude (Coordinate) N Direction N=North, S=South Longitude Longitude (Coordinate)

E Direction E= East, W=West FQ Fix Quality Data NOS No. of Satellites being Used HPD Horizontal Dilution of Precision Altitude Altitude from sea level M Meter Height Height Checksum Checksum Data

A Vehicle Tracking System uses a simple circuit where TX pin number 10 of the Arduino is connected directly to Tx pin number 9 of the GPS module. By using the Software Serial Library here, pins 10 and 11 have been enabled for serial communication and have been set to Rx and Tx respectively, leaving the RX pin of the GPS Module open. By default, serial communication is limited to Pin 0 and 1 of the Arduino board. However, the SoftwareSerial library enables serial communication on almost any pin of the board. In order to power the GPS Module, a 12-volt power supply is used.

Rx and Tx pins of the GSM module are wired directly to pins Rx and Tx of the Arduino. A 12v power supply is also required for GSM modules. Pin numbers 5, 4, 3, and 2 of the Arduino are connected to the LCD's data pins D4, D5, D6 and D7. The RW pin of the LCD is connected directly to ground. Command pins EN and RS are connected to pins 2 and 3 of Arduino. The LCD can also be controlled by the potentiometer by setting the contrast or brightness.

This project uses an Arduino board along with a GPS module and GSM module to control the whole process. GSM module is used for sending GPS coordinates via SMS to the user. GPS receiver detects the location of the vehicle. Furthermore, a 16x2 LCD allows status messages and coordinates to be displayed. This module was integrated with the GPS module SKG13BL and the GSM module SIM900A.

Creating our hardware is the final step in programming our vehicle. The hardware is now ready to be mounted on our vehicle and powered up. Our vehicle will receive a message stating "Track Vehicle" as soon as we send it to the tracking device. In projects like these, we have incorporated prefixes (#) and suffixes (*) to indicate the beginning and the end of the string. Similarly, we did the following in these projects: Wireless Notice Board and Home Automation with GSM The sending GSM module receives the message data, which it sends to Arduino, which reads it and extracts the main message. It will be compared with a predefined message in Arduino. Once any match occurs, the Arduino reads the coordinates by reading GPS module data and extracting $GPGGA String, which it sends via the GSM module to the user. The location of the vehicle is specified in this message.