101 Ambulance stolen - Warrington

May 16, 2006 49 Replies

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I'd reckon on paying about £300 for the box, then chucking a few quid a year on a pay-as-you sim card to keep it running. This is based on market research we did last summer. a

Typical price point for sat tracking is about £1 per day for 'live tracking', which you don't need.

Our boffins are building an ARM9-based linux box which will compete in this arena, but much more programmable. One obvious feature to program in is a text message / voice call when the vehicle moves outside programmable parameters - e.g. radio tag not in range (on drivers key fob, not at normal hours, outside geofence etc.

Tracker is a very very good solution for theft, particularly the monitored version. However, you can't get the data yourself as it's a closed system. Your own system on the roof is more flexible, but probably won't work out any cheaper.

Details Tim matey? Could be very interesting indeed.

Won't be in the market for a few months yet. It works, but it's still on prototype PCB and lots of cut-and-strap. Looks really good though

- took 5 mins to get bluetooth working on it, zigbee will be just as difficult.

Actually, there's a thought...

If you can get a cheap PAYG mobile, home-grow some kind of PSU / switch to power it on every 15 minutes. When it wakes up, it looks for a Class 1 bluetooth pair to the pc in your house. If it's there, it switches back off. If it ain't there, it texts you to tell you it's been nicked and stays switched on. You can then use the cell info to get the location....

Or something...

you can get data cards that go in a pc or laptop and use a SIM card can't you? I've built a carputer for the 101.

yep (got a blooming office full). Few points to note.

a) they are all crap b) they cost a fortune to run (mine is unmetered, £75 / month) c) they are all crap - lock the CPU, don't get signal, drop it when they've got it etc etc.

Is there a utility that will let you send text messages over a phone connected via a data cable? Could just trigger it to do so when car is started or moves away from home.

Dunno - would be phone specific. Would probably be easier with a Java-based or Windows Mobile phone. You could probably set something up that worked when the power came on rather than having to rig up a serial input. Sod all use if they trailer it away though. Not my area, but you might be able to read the cell information depending on your network to get an idea of whether the phone is at home or not.

Anything else requires GPS, which adds cost, serial comms and needs view of the sky.

What kind of precision do these mobile phone tracking systems offer ?

Steve

+-50m for CPS Cursor AKA Enhanced Observed Time Differential - this is the system that's being deployed as "GPS" in all US cellphones at the moment.

For some of the Sooperdedooper alarms with DGPS - accuracy of sub 1m.

P.

So good enough to act as a tracking signal, without the having clear sky view ?

A GSM modem takes bugger all juice, and can be left on the network virtually permanently.

Steve

Presumably chatting away over GPRS, so you have a proper data link. With the linux box "on the roof" you could upload an image or three with burnt in date/time/location from hidden (USB?) camera(s) to somewhere secure.

Course, what you're talking about is a slightly upgraded version of my old Ericsson SH888 'alarm - build some 5 odd years ago and encased in resin. Bugger, why did I encase it all in resin...

That's an idea - as long as the Bluetooth is rather more reliable that my Nokia (spit) - I'd be out of bed every 10 mins!

Richard

Neil Brownlee uttered summat worrerz funny about:

I've got experience at the sharp end of tracker and can say it's the muts nutts. We've recovered bucket loads of vehicles and plant with it, our force has alot of the kit installed mind including the Force Chopper which really comes in to it's own when we start getting a ping. Once vehicle will suffice though given patients, time and officers with half a clue. We've even had hit's from vehicles within buildings.

Lee

On or around Thu, 18 May 2006 12:42:14 +0100, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:

you know you're in trouble when the scrotes start trying to nick the chopper...

show off :)

very nice though!. ive got a lilliput 7" screen for mine but i couldnt afford a little via 12v board so im using a small pc with an inverter.

I was about to ask why it was running windows till i saw the titling at the end ;)

so what are you actually using for the 'dash' bits?

I think he means the detection kit Austin...

Lee - anyone at your place know a supplier of calibrated odometers, or someone who can tell me the accuracy of mine?

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