Designing and performance evaluation of GSM/GPS based helicopter tracking device

Low flying aircrafts are always tough to track due to the radar horizon limitation. But an aircraft is always to be tracked for the safety purpose. However, there are means to augment the radar detection like aircraft to ground data link or satellite phone. The combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) can also perform the job satisfactorily. This work proposes the design for GPS/GSM based helicopter tracking device and evaluates the performance. In this work, two GSM networks were utilized to track low flying aircrafts in different routes. The device design is proposed basing on the experimental results of tracking. Possible future modifications of the device are also suggested to achieve more accurate and precise results in future experiments.