AVR-Chat

Hi,
I have thought of an idea for tracking packages using GPS.My father
owns a transport company and we are thinking of implementing it for
our company.

Here is the idea( which i also sent to NASA design contest) with the
block diagram-
http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html?entryID=1044


Basically i need suggestions how individual packages be tracked so
that it turns out to be a professional solution.

Regards
Spelter

rishi.

If you're concerned about urban areas, you can go for something cheaper
than GPS, and which doesn't need sight of the sky.

you could look for a cellphone base station number
you could try to identify a local FM station

However there are new GPS devices around with very good sensitivity,
which might do the job you want.

You should be able to get the GPS function for less than your budget, but
you may not have allowed enough for boxes, batteries, CPU, etc.

David

On Oct 25, 2007, at 12:02 PM, Atul Aggarwal wrote:

> Hi,
> I have thought of an idea for tracking packages using GPS.My father
> owns a transport company and we are thinking of implementing it for
> our company.
>
> Here is the idea( which i also sent to NASA design contest) with the
> block diagram-
> http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/pages/view/entriesdetail.html? 
> entryID=1044
>
>
> Basically i need suggestions how individual packages be tracked so
> that it turns out to be a professional solution.

There are already many companies doing exactly this sort of solution,  
shipping a GPS with some sort of radio in the package.

There are other companies doing similar without GPS but with other  
radio location techniques to track pallets in a warehouse, or to  
track the location of officers with guns in a prison.

UPS does similar with barcode. Package is scanned every time it is  
loaded or unloaded. Needs more scanners but the cost is minimal.

Where can one get barcode readers for $30? Maybe OE quantities as  
hand held units quantity 1 start at about $100.

I have seen embedded GPS receiver modules for under $50, and that was  
several years ago.

--
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@HiWAAY.net
========================================================================
Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.