NaviGadget

low cost and low power tracking solution

Dec 16, 2007 gps navigation, tracking

A company called S5 Wireless has come up with revolutionary way to track people, vehicle, equipment, etc. It is different than GPS tracking in some ways, but similar in others. Most obvious is that it doesn’t rely satellite signals to locate its low cost chip, but still uses triangulation to get a position fix. Also the tracking chips are actually transmitters this time, not receivers like GPS.

Here is how the tracking network works:

1. Inexpensive, low power S5 wireless devices use proprietary direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) radio transmissions to communicate data (telemetry) to base stations.
2. Base Stations receive communications from the radio device. The base station consists of a tower/mast, antenna, radio and customized signal processing hardware that communicate information from the device to the Location and Telemetry Server (LATS) server through an IP back haul network.
3. The Location and Telemetry Server (LATS) recieves information from devices which is collected at the base stations, with many base stations communicating the information to the LATS server. The LATS server aggregates the data and with Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) the algorithm determines the position of the transmitting mobile device.
4. Network Operating Center (NOC) – Linux servers provide interfaces to the data from the devices. The NOC consists of a database for device management, an application for monitoring and managing the device network along with a billing system. Information is then communicated from the NOC based on customer requirements such as a company, government or private individual.

There are advantages and disadvantages when compared to GPS tracking. First disadvantage of course is the coverage – which will vary from city to city, if it exists at all – where as with GPS; you’re even covered in the middle of the Indian Ocean. However most GPS receivers are power hogs – and will run out of juice in a couple of weeks. A 2100mAh tracking chip from S5 wireless however will last about for four years when transmitting location every 30 minutes.

Gizmodo says the company intends to charge money on the service itself, at somewhere around $1 per month.