Chapter 8. Creating a GPS Tracker with Arduino

We are now going to build a very common tool that any secret agent should have: a GPS tracker. We'll use the Arduino platform again to build our own DIY GPS tracker. We will actually build two applications using the same hardware:

  • The first one will be a location device that sends its position via SMS
  • The other project will be a GPS tracker that you can actually locate live on a map

Let's dive in!

Hardware and software requirements

First let's see what the required components are for this project. As usual, we are going to use an Arduino Uno board as the central part of the project.

For the GPRS and GPS parts, we are going to use the Adafruit FONA 808 module again, which we already used in Chapter 5, Opening a Lock with an SMS. We'll also need a GSM antenna for GSM/GPRS communications.

However, as here we want to use the onboard GPS, we'll also need an additional GPS antenna. I used a standard uFL passive GPS antenna from Adafruit:

Hardware and software requirements

Then, you will need a battery to power the FONA shield and the onboard GPS module, as the Arduino Uno board doesn't allow you to power the FONA shield (it can use up to 2A at a time!). For that, I used a 3.7V LiPo battery, along with a microUSB battery charger.

A very important part of the project is the SIM card, which you need to place inside the FONA shield. You will need a normal SIM card (not micro or nano), which is activated, not locked by a PIN, and able to receive text messages. You can get one at any of your local mobile network operators. Also, in this chapter you also need to have a data plan active with at least 1 MB of credit on the account.

Finally, here is a list of all the components that we will use in this project:

On the software side, you'll only need the latest version of the Arduino IDE, and the Adafruit FONA library. You can install this library using the Arduino IDE library manager.

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