NAVTRAK: Differential GPS-Based Location Tracking and Long-Range Multi-Hop Communication of Marine Moving Objects

The paper presents a real-time location tracking and long-range multi-hop communication system using (Global Positioning System) GPS-enabled LoRa devices. The system uses differential corrections in the GPS data received at the communicating marine stations. Differential corrections are calculated at the Base Station and applied to the moving stations' GPS measurements to increase the location precision. Furthermore, the system provides multi-hop routing based on RSSI and the hop count of the LoRa nodes. NAVTRAK performs real-time tracking and monitoring of moving ships and sends them alert messages in critical situations. The experimental results show that the system improves the accuracy of GPS measurements by up to 1 meter. The designed system is not restricted to being used for marine applications and is feasible in scenarios (e.g., navigation, surveying, and other scientific applications) where accurate positioning is critical, the equipment cost and infrastructure need to be justified by the benefits of increased accuracy and communication range.