DODOTRACKER is a tracker radio location system able to trace wildlife.
What is it?
Dodotracker system is composed with 3 parts and a Lithium battery:
- GPS is necessary to fix the spatial location.
- GSM is able to send data to another cellular phone by SMS messages.
- The control unit: turn on and off GSM and GPS and process data received.
How does it works?
The system is controlled by central unit, a microcontroller with nanowatt technology able to use a very low energy. It manages other components on the basis of programmed sequences that can be changed even when the device is in use.
The following parameters can be programmed by a PC connected to a cellular phone:
GPS
- The minimum number of satellite in order to compute a valid fix.
- Hour and minutes of the day in wich it is turned on.
- Minutes between 2 fixes of the same day.
- Number of ignitions in a day.
- Max turning on time if a fix is not taken.
GSM
- Hour and minutes of the day in wich it is turned on.
- Number of time of turing on in a day if signal isn't taken.
- Minutes between 2 turning on of the same day if signal isn't taken.
- Number of days between 2 turning on.
- Max turning on time.
What does it appens if...
- GPS signal is too low? or GPS hangs?
> after a predefined amount of time GPS is turned off in order to avoid unuseful battery usage. Central unit tur it off and reset GPS
- GSM cannot take the signal to send messages? or it hangs?
> after a predefined amount of time the central unit turn off and reset the GSM. Fixes informations will be sent the next time.
- if central unit hangs? a Watchdog timer, turn off and on all the system.
Had been provided many software and hardware solutions in order to avoid every possibility to block of the system. The central unit is a microcontroller without operating system and it is able to control itself and the correct run of GPS and GSM.
GPS is a Sirfstar III with a very low power consumption, moreover is provided with a small quadrifilar built in antenna allowing a high sensitivity even is placed in horizontal position or in areas where satellite signal is partially blocked by mountains.
The low power quadriband GSM (one of the smallest on the market) send and receive information via SMS, avoiding GPRS or UMTS communications often unavailable in wild zones.
Every SMS keeps the recording of 16 fixs (latitude, longitude, day and time), hence using only few messages we can receive a lot of informations.
It's not necessary to have our cellular phone always turned on! DODOTRACKER send all the SMS and when we'll turn on our phone it'll receive all messages. The same is for configurations SMS sent from our phone to the DODOTRACKER.
