Design and Implementation of a Low-Cost Secure Vehicle Tracking System

In this paper, we used XBee wireless technology due to the privileges that it provides in terms of low-cost and a high level of security which gives a more reliable information transfer, penetration avoidance, and unauthorized access, without any cost in sending and receiving this information. The aim of this work is to syndicate the XBee wireless technology and Global Positioning System (GPS) for a low-cost real-time secure vehicle tracking system and displaying the result on Google earth. The overall system involved two main modules, the displaying module (monitoring station) and the tracking module (vehicle unit). The tracking module consists of a microcontroller (Arduino) platform, an XBee, and a GPS for navigation purpose. The GPS delivers real-time data about the location of the vehicle and directs the coordinates to the XBee via the Arduino platform. The latter is incorporated as a connecting buffer between the XBee transmission unit and the GPS receiver. Receiving the location data of the tracked vehicle and displaying them securely on Google earth is the responsibility of the monitoring station. The designed system has been tested practically in both crowded and open area environments, the overall system works well and displayed securely the vehicle coordinates nevertheless the existence of noise and interference in the vehicle area and regardless the obstacles like buildings.