Open Source Tracking System Gets A Kickstarter

open-source-tracker

Many of the hacks featured here inspire others to build on the creator’s work, and on occasion the positive feedback brings the hack to market. Last year we told you about [Wayne’s] creation, a system aimed at tracking down would-be game console thieves. He received a bunch of requests to document the tracker in full, so he decided to revise his creation and release it as Open Source Hardware.

As you might remember, his original tracking device was powered by an Arduino, which monitored an accelerometer and GPS sensor, reporting coordinates and movements to his mobile phone on demand. He combined the disparate components together on a single board, and started a Kickstarter for the project.

Aside from his original purpose of tracking stolen goods, he lists off an array of other uses, such as tracking the driving habits of your newly licensed teen, geofencing objects in certain areas and more.

If an SMS controlled all-in-one tracking system is something you might be interested in, check out his Kickstarter, or take a look at the documentation and build one of your own.

19 thoughts on “Open Source Tracking System Gets A Kickstarter

  1. I wonder if the charging circuit is capable of handling power to it %100 of the time? So one can take power from the device it’s used in to keep the battery charge. When he mention accelerometer I thought why didn’t take advantage of the reasonable suggest from a HAD commenter as to how to detect removal, but later in the video I heard he is using for other functions as well.

  2. Nice project, but nothing new really. We have more sophisticated open source project ongoing, it’s called RuuviTracker.

    Wiki:
    http://www.ruuvipenkki.fi/ruuvitracker

    Google-translated version:
    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ruuvipenkki.fi%2Fruuvitracker%2F

    Video:
    http://youtu.be/HRzA5lBGu1Q?hd=1

    It’s not a complete system yet, but our HW is working and other parts are halfway there. You will hear from us! ;)

    Follow us on Twitter:
    http://twitter.com/RuuviTracker

    1. The advantage is this one compaired to one form ebay is that it’s open source, meanwhile you have the schematics and code when you want to hack it.
      With ebay ones you luckily to get one with instruction you can read (ie not chinese)

    2. one thing with those chepo ebay trackers is: they don’t work with the 3G cards (32kb) so you can just use old cards and only GSM network.
      I’m currenty using cheap prepaid android phones as trackers: unlimited data plans are cheap-free in many countries.
      using a phone is toying around, but it works for me.

  3. wow i forgot about seeing this , im makeing something for my car like this so it tells me if my arlam goes off the i can sms it back to lock the windows and shutdown the car, also will have rpm + speed + gps feedback, sound win?…. you bet it is xD

  4. WOW, RuuviTracker seems to be REALLY professional open source system! Apparently they have:

    * STM32 Cortex-M3
    * GSM
    * GPS
    * SIM
    * MicroSD (SPI or SDIO)
    * Accelerometer
    * Magnetometer
    * Microphone
    * Speaker
    * Expansion card slot (shield support)
    * Lots of ADC enabled IO pins
    * USB
    * LiPo support
    * Etc, etc.

    It will also have open source FW, server SW, WebUI SW etc. and awesome APIs.. Cool

    Source: http://www.ruuvipenkki.fi/ruuvitracker

    I really hope they finish the system as soon as possible! Hack a Day should write a news item about Ruuvitracker too.. :))

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