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On GPS tracking of mobile devices
Abstract
Tracking living beings and devices using the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become prevalent and indispensable over the last few years. Applications range from military and national security to personal safety and comfort. This paper reviews some of the recent application areas and discusses the benefits and issues of GPS tracking. It then presents a software architecture of a general tracking system to locate lost and misplaced devices (and those that carry such devices).
... Regarding unknown open environments, the literature reports different works that attempt on-demand P&T. The work in [15] proposes the use of SMS or MMS to request and receive the localization of people tracked with a GPS device. The authors developed a simple protocol that provides a location service. ...
... The interaction of GPS-enabled devices with cell and Wi-Fi networks represents a clear synergy that allows a large amount of possibilities for P&T, solving some of the aforementioned problems. In this sense, a possibility to avoid third-party intervention is to establish P2P communication between the GPS-enabled devices using a wireless data connection or exchanging short messages [15]. The Wi-Fi networks can also be used in a P2P solution to get additional information or improve the provided service. ...
This paper presents the design and development of an on-demand low-cost positioning and tracking (P&T) system for large environments based on standard mobile phones and Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled devices, which allows the position of a terminal to be tracked by exchanging text or multimedia messages using short message service (SMS) and/or multimedia message service (MMS). In contrast with other works in the state of the art, the presented method and system do not require an intermediate server or an intermediation center (location-based service (LBS) providers) since communication is performed, following a peer-to-peer (P2P) paradigm. The P2P communication established between two devices with means of access to the mobile network is carried out, guaranteeing the privacy, security, and anonymity in their use and avoiding third-party intervention. Moreover, the proposed procedure protects the user from unwanted tracking through exchange of specific information, following a predefined protocol. In addition, the confidentiality of the information exchanged is guaranteed, in part, by the underlying wireless communication protocols that encrypt the messages swapped. The presented method and system represent an improvement with respect to the state-of-the-art P&T devices since it runs on standard mobile platforms, avoiding the need for a specific hardware and guaranteeing the universalization of the service. Another major advantage with respect to existing devices is that one peer can track multiple users, and each user can be tracked by multiple peers with no third-party intervention.
... If the user can access different location, it will deny access to the user, and the message alert or security will be sent to the user's mail and mobile phone. The access control and authentication have been efficient based on the user mechanism with the security existing from the location information integrated from the mobile device GPS [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].The user, the authentication, the user an OTP method, and the OTP (One Time Password) were sent via e-mail to the registered account to login to the user account. When a user needs to authenticate on a device, the server sends the user an e-mail containing the OTP required to log on to their account. ...
End-user security is the most important thing in day-today life. We use a security system for household appliances, vehicles, smartphones, etc., to protect and safeguard our things and the environment. The Cyber Physical System (CPS) contains an internet-enabled digital component. CPS security is applied in many areas, such as transport, healthcare, and all industry 4.0 applications. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one of the traditional authentications that helps enhance the security level in CPS. The typical authentication method contains a strong password, biometrics, etc. Even though the current end-user security system has implemented a legacy digital control mechanism, the system has a higher chance of getting compromised through malicious activities. The major point of the MFA approach is that intruders can be blocked at any level of the authentication scheme. This study aims at developing a secure and efficient authentication gateway. The proposed system presents enhancements to end-user security using MFA techniques. Three distinct works in this study use MFA technique. The MFA technique consists of three distinct layers. The end-user's geo-location is considered the first security gateway by the user distance within the range of CPS and validates the user's current position with predefined geo-location logic. One Time Password (OTP) send through e-mail is used for the second layer. Hash algorithms such as SHA256 or SALTING use the third layer implementation. The typical CPS needs to authorize and authenticate the user's identity to ensure end-users identification in the modern security system. Efficient and secure multi-factor authentication techniques designed and evaluated on end-user digital health applications and obtained the results with the accuracy of 95.50%, 97.50% and 96.40% respect to three distinct layer authentications. The developed system also analyzed the formal and informal verifications against to the various attacks.
... If the user can access different location, it will deny access to the user, and the message alert or security will be sent to the user's mail and mobile phone. The access control and authentication have been efficient based on the user mechanism with the security existing from the location information integrated from the mobile device GPS [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. ...
End-user security is the most important thing in day-to-day life. We use a security system for household appliances, vehicles, smartphones, etc., to protect and safeguard our things and the environment. The Cyber Physical System (CPS) contains an internet-enabled digital component. CPS security is applied in many areas, such as transport, healthcare, and all industry 4.0 applications. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one of the traditional authentications that helps enhance the security level in CPS. The typical authentication method contains a strong password, biometrics, etc. Even though the current end-user security system has implemented a legacy digital control mechanism, the system has a higher chance of getting compromised through malicious activities. The major point of the MFA approach is that intruders can be blocked at any level of the authentication scheme. This study aims at developing a secure and efficient authentication gateway. The proposed system presents enhancements to end-user security using MFA techniques. Three distinct works in this study use MFA technique. The MFA technique consists of three distinct layers. The end-user's geo-location is considered the first security gateway by the user distance within the range of CPS and validates the user's current position with predefined geo-location logic. One Time Password (OTP) send through e-mail is used for the second layer. Hash algorithms such as SHA256 or SALTING use the third layer implementation. The typical CPS needs to authorize and authenticate the user's identity to ensure end-users identification in the modern security system. Efficient and secure multi-factor authentication techniques designed and evaluated on end-user digital health applications and obtained the results with the accuracy of 95.50%, 97.50% and 96.40% respect to three distinct layer authentications. The developed system also analyzed the formal and informal verifications against to the various attacks.
... Por otra parte, las tecnologías de geolocalización se han establecido en nuestra sociedad gracias al masivo incremento en el uso de los dispositivos móviles con GPS (Manoharan, 2009), lo que ha permitido la generación masiva de información georeferenciada (Jeansoulin, 2016). Adicionalmente, los sistemas basados en localización (LBS) son servicios que adquiere una persona cuando posee un dispositivo móvil (junto con alguna aplicación que ofrezca información según la localización actual) y opera utilizando una tecnología de sistemas de información geográfica, una de posicionamiento (como GPS) y una de comunicación de redes (Gaitan & Moreno, 2010;Virrantaus et al., 2001). ...
Introducción: El transporte público es de vital importancia para las ciudades debido a que permite una mejor planificación urbana de la ciudad evitando el crecimiento del transporte privado y de esta forma la contaminación ambiental y acústica en las ciudades. Sin embargo, el desconocimiento del funcionamiento del transporte público provoca que los ciudadanos no lo utilicen, optando por el transporte privado. Objetivos: Por lo tanto, en el presente estudio se propone desarrollar una aplicación móvil con georreferenciación que permita una fácil disponibilidad de acceso a la información sobre el servicio de transporte público a los usuarios que residen en la ciudad de Riobamba, provincia de Chimborazo, bajo el sistema operativo Android, y con el objetivo de potenciar el uso del transporte público urbano mediante la ayuda de la asistencia GPS en la geolocalización de buses. Metodología: La metodología de desarrollo utilizada fue MOBILE-D, se establecieron requerimientos del proyecto mediante técnicas de recolección de datos, se ejecutaron iteraciones planificadas mediante el uso de herramientas como: MySQL como sistema gestor de base de datos, Laravel 8 como framework de desarrollo del back-end, React Native como framework de desarrollo para la aplicación móvil mediante el lenguaje de programación JavaScript, Google Maps y Pubnub como servidores en la presentación de rutas, paradas y buses en un mapa de la ciudad. Resultados: Para la evaluación del sistema se realizó el cálculo del porcentaje de disponibilidad de la aplicación y de la distribución de la aplicación, mediante la fórmula de disponibilidad establecida por la Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), la cual impuso niveles de disponibilidad del 100% y 99.767% respectivamente, mismas que fueron evaluadas durante el período diciembre de 2021 a enero de 2022. Conclusiones: La aplicación desarrollada logró de manera óptima el objetivo de otorgar un servicio informativo del transporte público a la ciudadanía de Riobamba.
... Based on the modeled network, they use Breadth-First Search to determine the route with the least number of stops. Also, Wang and Yang [12] used Space P to determine the optimal route based on the number of transfers in PTN. For each transfer, they multiply the adjacency matrix by itself. ...
Nowadays, vehicle tracking is extremely useful for many things: personal vehicle security, public transportation management, fleet management, and mass transit management, among others. It is common for passengers to use public transport applications that propose the best route for them. Users may prefer a different route for public transportation depending on their preferences. Most users find the shortest route based on this criteria when choosing an ideal route. The shortest path is frequently determined using Dijkstra's Algorithm, according to our research. For this project, we designed a GIS application to improve public transportation using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Based on the system's real-time location tracking, Dijkstra's algorithm provides taxis with the appropriate category for passengers. With this system, taxi drivers will not have to drive across town to pick up passengers, as confirmations will be sent directly to their phones. If you frequently have to wait for a taxi that has been booked, this will be helpful, especially if you are frequently left waiting
... The current demand for robust and secure security systems in vehicles are very high. Therefore, the importance of designing and implementing a fingerprint based security system helps us to prevent from unauthorized person to start vehicle ignition without permission [4]. ...
... Sistemas de posicionamiento y comunicación celular Todos estos sistemas de navegación, existen gracias al Sistema de Posicionamiento Global (GPS, Global Positioning System); este fue creado en 1970 por el Departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos como un sistema de navegación para uso militar (El-Rabbany, 2002); dejó de ser exclusivamente militar después de 1983, cuando se derribó a una avioneta por volar en un área no permitida, desde ahí se vio la necesidad para el público de un dispositivo que permita ver la ubicación actual, hoy estos dispositivos son muy usados en vehículos para poder transitar por áreas desconocidas y por las mejores vías disponibles (Manoharan, 2009). Con la constante integración de dispositivos de localización empezó el crecimiento de los Servicios Basados en Localización (LBS, Location Based Services), que son servicios que utilizan coordenadas para referenciar información de seguridad, marketing, navegación y más; con el fin de mejorar la experiencia de los usuarios finales se combinó el GPS con otras tecnologías, una Mónica flores Marín / Marcelo Triana Cordero de estas combinaciones que ya está disponible para el consumo masivo es el GPS Asistido (AGPS, Assisted GPS) que utiliza información de las antenas celulares e internet para calcular la posición del dispositivo más rápido (Schmida, y otros, 2005). ...
... In our project, we have integrated Google maps which are accurate and dynamic. SathiamoorthyManoharan [5] stated location visualization as how GPS location data is received in NMEA format. NMEA format needs to be translated for extracting information. ...
... Kalman filter [2] is used to increase the accuracy of data received from GPS satellite and of sending tracking data through SMS. Other studies include improvement of a low-power tracking device [3], development of a system for tracking and searching lost mobile devices using SMS [4], design of a logistics system for transportation vehicles [5], based on using barcode technology, car monitoring, a letting and tracking model enhancement with mobility and database facilities [6] which reports to the police station if any accident through the use of a camera and MMS relay to a server. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 contains a detailed description of the GPS. ...
Smartphones are advanced versions of cell phones which can provide multi functions tasks. Most Smartphones have the following facilities: E-mails, Cameras, Wi-Fi connectivity, and comprehensive user interface such as touch screen and built in GPS system and interface for installing new applications. Using outdoor location-based services associated with GPS/GPRS have widely out broken. This paper aims at developing a velocity based system for location tracking that will be more convenient for users and more reliable, putting into consideration the expenses for the network service and increasing the accuracy in Smartphones.
... The system's main motive is to render a real-time and reliable service to the public facilitating their travel demands. The system makes extensive use of the inbuilt GPS sensor along with its internet capabilities to send and receive data [8] . The GPS sensor is used to obtain the current location of the smartphone. ...
transportation system plays a vital role in today's world. With the rapid growth in the number of vehicles, the traffic overhead is increasing day by day. People always look for ways to save time while travelling. Due to lack of necessary infrastructure it is difficult to obtain real-time access to a vehicle's location and its timings in case of public bus transportation systems. Addressing this problem, the paper present an innovative methodology to provide real-time updates of the vehicle's location to users through the use of cost efficient smartphones equipped with Global Positioning System that are widely available in the market. The implementation of the system is shown for use in various public and private sectors like for real-time bus tracking, taxi tracking, tracking people, tracking fleet of vehicles for logistics and other companies. The paper also presents how the data collected can be used for traffic estimation and other applications of implementing the system in vehicles.
... The results show that Bouguet's fisheye calibration method seems to be sufficiently precise and practical for the calibration of fish-eye lenses in a DAS context. GPS navigators track vehicle location in real-time [32]. A related problem is tracking a vehicle's path after the travel. ...
Vision-based driver assistance is an active safety measure currently under development in various car companies and research institutes worldwide. The paper informs about related activities at The University of Auckland, focussing on stereo vision, performance evaluation, provided test data, and currently developed components.
... L. Liu and M. G. Amin [8] develop analyses of the effect of multipath carrier phase offset on GPS tracking error bounds as well as statistical average error values. Also S. Manoharan [9] reviews some of the recent application areas and discusses the benefits and issues of GPS tracking, then presents a software architecture of a general tracking system to locate lost and misplaced devices. ...
In this paper, we investigate a novel technique to acquire comprehensive context information of remote Smart-phone users, including surrounding environment, location and behaviors, for further information process, e.g. localization and human safeguard. Our system is simply launched by a normal 3G video call and to transmit the captured real time video in 3G connections. The technique makes use of the efficiency of 3G video call and thus zero-configuration for the call initiator. It can achieve the remote user's status on-demand and fast show a general view of the user for the call initiator, besides location based service. Moreover, no costly special devices other than normal 3G Smartphones are needed in our technique. It can also help to revise the inherent limitations of GPS by employing the surrounding environment information provided by captured real time video when lies indoor or dense high building districts.
... The most widely used technology for this application is definitely Global Positioning System(GPS) which is a world-wide satellite based communication system [1]. However, GPS cannot be used indoors because a GPS receiver usually fails if line of sight visibility to the satellites is lost. ...
There have been various navigation and tracking systems being developed with
the help of technologies like GPS, GSM, Bluetooth, IR, Wi-Fi and Radar. Outdoor
positioning systems have been deployed quite successfully using GPS but
positioning systems for indoor environments still do not have widespread
deployment due to various reasons. Most of these use only a single technology
for positioning but using more than one in cooperation with each other is
always advantageous for obtaining greater accuracy. Particularly, the ones
which use Bluetooth are better since they would enhance the scalability of such
a system because of the fact that this technology is in use by the common
people so it would always be easy to track them. Moreover it would also reduce
the hardware installation cost to some extent. The system that has been
introduced here uses Bluetooth primarily for positioning and tracking in
combination with Wi-Fi access points. The reason that makes the commercial
application of such a system easier and cheaper is that most of the localized
areas today like college campus, offices are being provided with internet
connectivity using these access points.
The research paper focuses on addressing automobile theft by proposing a framework utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT), GPS, and GSM technologies. This system allows vehicle owners to track and monitor their vehicles at any time from anywhere, improving security against professional thieves. The IoT sends information about the vehicle's status to the guardian or owner, while GPS provides the vehicle's current location. In case of theft, the fuel supply can be gradually cut off by sending a message, disabling the vehicle, and updating data to the Google Firebase server. An RFID card is provided to start the vehicle, and an Android app is developed using the MIT AppInventor tool for monitoring maps and notifications. Additionally, emission levels are measured and updated to the cloud, and a panic button is included for driver assistance in emergencies. This proposed system enhances existing anti-theft measures while offering innovative features for better vehicle security and management.
The ability to do tracking and routing of a motorized vehicle is very useful in everyday life, such as security on private vehicles, public transportation systems, mass transportation fleet management and others. In this study, we designed a Geographic Information System (GIS) application that will be applied to public transport services. This system will in real time track the position of each vehicle (taxi) and be able to perform automatic service for every taxi request by the customer. Dijkstra's algorithm is a graph search algorithm that solves the shortest path problem that originates from one node for a graph where the weight of the node must not be negative. The analysis is done by examining the node with the smallest weight and inserting it into the set of solutions with the initial search for the origin node requiring knowledge of all paths and weights. Dijkstra's algorithm which is applied to this system will function to find the most suitable taxi for customers by using distance parameters and traffic density levels as the weight value.
Monitoring small crowd of people as tourists in different country always create recurrence issues to their tourguides such as someone is lost somewhere, losing important documents and getting sick in the middle of the crowd. Similarly, during the Hajj season, such issues occur while millions of Muslims are gathered in two popular cities, Mecca and Medina, of Saudi Arabia. At the peak of the Hajj season, Mecca is identified as the most crowded place when pilgrims all over the world along with their respective tourguides known as Mutawwif are resided in the city. Thus, communication between the crowd and their respective tour guides offers useful dynamic multi-user tracking data which is essential for close monitoring purposes. This study explores the usage feasibility of dynamic multi-user tracking data in order to provide a context-aware and simple communication means in the form of mobile application to both pilgrims and Mutawwifs for resolving their recurrence issues. The application can be used by the pilgrims to send current location and purpose for contacting the Mutawwif. At the same time, the Mutawwif is able to locate their respective pilgrims and aware of their pilgrims' current location and needs. The prototype of the system is developed by using software engineering approach to test the feasibility of using multi-user tracking data in such situation. The prototype has been evaluated and fulfilled the intended requirements for monitoring small crowd. As a conclusion, the prototype offers an alternative for Malaysian Mutawwifs to aware of pilgrims' issues and track their need and location at real time during Hajj season. Similarly, the pilgrims also can communicate their needs and problems to their respective Mutawwifs.
The ability to perform vehicle tracking is very useful in daily life — today, such as security on personal vehicles, public transportation systems, fleet management and other mass transit. In this study, we designed an application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that will be applied to public transport services. This system provides real-time position tracking of each vehicle (taxi) and capable of providing a taxi with the best category for passengers using Dijkstra's algorithm. This system can be helpful, especially for passengers who are often too long waiting for a taxi that had been booked and also helps the driver to save fuel consumption because the taxi drivers do not have to drive across town to get the passengers and are just waiting for confirmation sent by this system.
Losing a laptop is not only limited to its cost. However it also includes loss of sensitive information stored in it. In case of a theft, the precious data may fall into the wrong hands. Available laptop tracking software solutions require the laptop to be connected to internet which is usually in the form of Wi-Fi connection. Thus, it proves useless if there is no internet connection. The main objective of the offline laptop tracking system is to track a stolen laptop without making use of internet. In any developing country like India, wireless internet connectivity is limited to residences or organizations for personal use and its availability in public places is almost nil. Unlike all internet dependent tracking solutions, the proposed solution successfully meets the needs of laptop users in places on globe where the availability of internet as such is restricted.
This paper proposes a method for clustering and averaging the tracks of people obtained in a multi-camera network using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) and Random Sampling (RANSAC). The method allows analyzing trajectories of factory workers in order to estimate average work cycles, variances on the work cycle and outlier trajectories. The main application is to provide information on problematic parts of work cycles, and on how to optimize the work cycles.
The main novelty of the methods is track clustering based on a combination of DTW and RANSAC, with time alignment of tracks as byproduct. The experimental results show that our algorithm outperforms other methods on averaging the tracks, specifically that the spacial structure is kept even part of tracks differentiates from each other. Also it allows a deeper statistical analysis using the time alignment, i.e. time variability analysis of the arrival time for a specific location.
GPS system will help the companies to track and monitor their employees on their work time. If we do that, it will help you allow your Office staff to Track your location, this is especially useful for Security & Business applications. Mobiles also become much needed device for this generation. Previously we used mobiles, now it changed to smart phones, handheld devices this shows how powerful device we fitted within our pockets. We can do whatever we want with the smart phones by using technical impacts Instead of using complex and costly GPS tracking devices you can convert your Mobile phone into a powerful tracking device. The GPS devices provide an easy way to use tracking service available anywhere in the world. Using a mobile phone a system administrator can monitor their work.
With the increase in the number of vehicles on road, there has been a marked increase in the number of crimes involving vehicle theft. In spite of several stringent laws being in place and security measures taken by car manufacturers, thieves still find a way to remain one step ahead and vehicle theft is still among one of the most reported crimes worldwide. Due to the expensive nature of motor vehicles, there is ample incentive for petty thieves to attempt thefts and a simple redecoration of the exterior makes it almost impossible to track the stolen vehicles. Numerous technologies have been mooted from time to time but have been unable to make a big mark due to their price ineffectiveness and complicated mechanisms. In this document a simple and economical solution to the problem has been presented. This scheme can be assembled and used even by private car owners and provides reasonable protection against vehicle theft.
This paper examines the ethical and methodological problems with tracking human mobility using data from mobile phones, focusing on research involving low- and middle-income countries. Such datasets are becoming accessible to an increasingly broad community of researchers and data scientists, with a variety of analytical and policy uses proposed. This paper provides an overview of the state of the art in this area of research, then sets out a new analytical framework for such data sources that focuses on three pressing issues: first, interpretation and disciplinary bias; second, the potential risks to data subjects in low- and middle-income countries and possible ethical responses; and third, the likelihood of ‘function creep’ from benign to less benign uses. Using the case study of a data science challenge involving West African mobile phone data, I argue that human mobility is becoming legible in new, more detailed ways, and that this carries with it the dual risk of rendering certain groups invisible and of misinterpreting what is visible. Thus, this emerging ability to track movement in real time offers both the possibility of improved responses to conflict and forced migration, but also unprecedented power to surveil and control unwanted population movement.
The performance of a GPS antenna (inverted-F) design is investigated when the tracking device is placed on flat torso and dog-shaped phantoms. A prototype of the device is constructed to validate the proposed antenna design in free space condition with both measurement and simulation. Following that, the effects of body loading to the antenna are examined through numerical simulations to achieve an optimum orientation of the device with respect to the actual operating condition (with body loading). The results from this study indicate that the radiation/reception characteristics of a small GPS antenna can be very different between free space and body loading conditions. In order to achieve the best antenna performance, the body loading effect should be closely examined.
A great number of roadside-cameras, which are disposed in large scale road net, are the critical component among Intelligent Transport Systems. These roadside-cameras also can be used to track suspicious vehicles by license plate recognition systems. Suspicious vehicle may perform a wide movement on road net. However, most video recognition systems focus on one or several cameras to perform the recognition operation. It results in that a wide vehicle tracking cannot be performed. Therefore, we propose a mechanism to make an overall plan to perform vehicle tracking on large scale roadside camera network according the recognition information acquired from each camera, which includes (i) a logical roadside-camera network topology (LRNT), and (ii) Suspicious vehicle tracking algorithm using LRNT.
This report informs about current activities and results in the .enpeda‥ (short for ‘environment perception and driver assistance’) project and related performance evaluation studies, in panoramic visualization, in environmental surveillance based on scanned footprints of small species, in artistic filters, and in the design of efficient geometric algorithms for areas related to 2D or D imaging or robotics. The report summarizes some of the current work in multimedia imaging at Tamaki campus; see [52] for a previous report and further areas of research.
The Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service provides rich multimedia services over IP networks and is considered as a potential killer application over the Internet. The intellectual property management protocol (IPMP) system becomes important in developing this network media applications. In this paper, security function, media streaming service system and the user terminal that adopted IPMP are seamlessly integrated to provide a secured live media streaming service. In addition, the peer-to-peer (P2P) network connecting method between user terminals is also developed to provide a stable P2P IPTV system. For one incoming peer, the IPTV system would select a parent peer with low-delay and with better uplink capability than the incoming peer. It would help to maintain a stable media streaming framework. When one peer want to leave the system, it has to look for each children peer and designate a new parent peer according to above rules before updating the parent peer parameter of current one. In addition, the system can adjust the streaming bandwidth of media server to absorb the dynamic network conditions. For security control, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption is adopted in our system, in which the certificate is encrypted with the regular updated Digital Video Broadcasting-Common Scrambling Algorithm (DVBCSA) keys to prevent possible attacks. Experiments show that average bit rate and transmission delay can be maintained in good performances even when most peers are with low uplink capability.
The environment perception and driver assistance (.enpeda..) project searches for solutions for vision-based driver assistance systems (DAS) which are currently starting to be active safety components of cars (e.g., lane departure warning, blind spot supervision). We review current projects in .enpeda.. in the international context of developments in this field.
Over the past decade, mobile computing and wireless communication have become increasingly important drivers of many new computing applications. The field of wireless sensor networks particularly focuses on applications involving autonomous use of compute, sensing, and wireless communication devices for both scientific and commercial purposes. This paper examines the research decisions and design tradeoffs that arise when applying wireless peer-to-peer networking techniques in a mobile sensor network designed to support wildlife tracking for biology research.The ZebraNet system includes custom tracking collars (nodes) carried by animals under study across a large, wild area; the collars operate as a peer-to-peer network to deliver logged data back to researchers. The collars include global positioning system (GPS), Flash memory, wireless transceivers, and a small CPU; essentially each node is a small, wireless computing device. Since there is no cellular service or broadcast communication covering the region where animals are studied, ad hoc, peer-to-peer routing is needed. Although numerous ad hoc protocols exist, additional challenges arise because the researchers themselves are mobile and thus there is no fixed base station towards which to aim data. Overall, our goal is to use the least energy, storage, and other resources necessary to maintain a reliable system with a very high `data homing' success rate. We plan to deploy a 30-node ZebraNet system at the Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya. More broadly, we believe that the domain-centric protocols and energy tradeoffs presented here for ZebraNet will have general applicability in other wireless and sensor applications.
Motivated by a probe-vehicle based automotive traffic monitoring system, this paper considers the problem of guaranteed anonymity in a dataset of location traces while maintaining high data accuracy. We find through analysis of a set of GPS traces from 233 vehicles that known privacy algorithms cannot meet accuracy requirements or fail to provide privacy guarantees for drivers in low-density ar- eas. To overcome these challenges, we develop a novel time-to- confusion criterion to characterize privacy in a location dataset and propose an uncertainty-aware path cloaking algorithm that hides location samples in a dataset to provide a time-to-confusion guar- antee for all vehicles. We show that this approach effectively guar- antees worst case tracking bounds, while achieving significant data accuracy improvements.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is increasingly being adopted by private and public enterprise to track and monitor humans for location-based services (LBS). Some of these applications include personal locators for children, the elderly or those suffering from Alzheimer's or memory loss, and the monitoring of parolees for law enforcement, security or personal protection purposes. The continual miniaturization of the GPS chipset means that receivers can take the form of wristwatches, mini mobiles and bracelets, with the ability to pinpoint the longitude and latitude of a subject 24/7/365. This paper employs usability context analyses to draw out the emerging ethical concerns facing current humancentric GPS applications. The outcome of the study is the classification of current state GPS applications into the contexts of control, convenience, and care; and a preliminary ethical framework for considering the viability of GPS location-based services emphasizing privacy, accuracy, property and accessibility.
Over the past decade, mobile computing and wireless communication have become increasingly important drivers of many new computing applications. The field of wireless sensor networks particularly focuses on applications involving autonomous use of compute, sensing, and wireless communication devices for both scientific and commercial purposes. This paper examines the research decisions and design tradeoffs that arise when applying wireless peer-to-peer networking techniques in a mobile sensor network designed to support wildlife tracking for biology research.The ZebraNet system includes custom tracking collars (nodes) carried by animals under study across a large, wild area; the collars operate as a peer-to-peer network to deliver logged data back to researchers. The collars include global positioning system (GPS), Flash memory, wireless transceivers, and a small CPU; essentially each node is a small, wireless computing device. Since there is no cellular service or broadcast communication covering the region where animals are studied, ad hoc, peer-to-peer routing is needed. Although numerous ad hoc protocols exist, additional challenges arise because the researchers themselves are mobile and thus there is no fixed base station towards which to aim data. Overall, our goal is to use the least energy, storage, and other resources necessary to maintain a reliable system with a very high `data homing' success rate. We plan to deploy a 30-node ZebraNet system at the Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya. More broadly, we believe that the domain-centric protocols and energy tradeoffs presented here for ZebraNet will have general applicability in other wireless and sensor applications.
Structured or fielded metadata is the basis for many digital library services, including searching and browsing. Yet, little is known about the impact of using structure on the effectiveness of such services. We investigate a key research question: do structured queries improve effectiveness in DL searching? To answer this question, we empirically compared the use of unstructured queries to the use of structured queries. We then tested the capability of a simple Bayesian network system, built on top of a DL retrieval engine, to infer the best structured queries from the keywords entered by the user. Experiments performed with 20 subjects working with a DL containing a large collection of computer science literature clearly indicate that structured queries, either manually constructed or automatically generated, perform better than their unstructured counterparts, in the majority of cases. Also, automatic structuring of queries appears to be an effective and viable alternative to manual structuring that may significantly reduce the burden users.
Advances in telecommunications and GPS sensors technology have made possible the collection of data like time series of locations, related to the movement of individuals. The analysis of this, so-called trajectory data, is beneficial both for the individuals (e.g., through location-based services) and for the community as a whole (e.g., decision support for urban planning or traffic control). However, because of the very nature of this data, strict safeguards must be enforced to ensure the privacy of the individuals, whose movement is recorded.
In this paper, we present a privacy-aware trajectory tracking query engine that offers strict guarantees about what can be observed by untrusted third parties. Through the query engine, subscribed users can gain restricted access to an in-house trajectory data warehouse, to perform certain analysis tasks. In addition to regular queries involving non-spatial non-temporal attributes, the engine supports a variety of spatiotemporal queries, including range queries, nearest neighbor queries and queries for aggregate statistics. The query results are augmented with fake trajectory data (dummies) to fulfil the requirements of K -anonymity. Through qualitative analysis, we prove the effectiveness of our approach towards blocking certain types of attacks, while minimally distorting the dataset.
Due to the high cost of fossil-based energy, several methods are proposed to reduce the usage of the energy in logistics and fleet management to be even more. GPS tracking system is a common approach to get vehicle location information in real-time for fleet planning. We proposed a GPS tracking system called Goo-Tracking that is composed of commodity hardware, open source software and an easy-to-manage user interface via a Web server with Google Map or via Google Earth software. The system includes a GPS/GPRS module to location acquisition and message transmission, MMC to temporary store location information, and an 8-bit AVR microcontroller. Our system prototype is shown and tested on a trip from Bangkok to Chonburi. It has shown great stability and also robust message transfer protocol that most of locations are accurately acquired and transmitted to the server in real-time.
We propose the idea of an online, user submitted digital library of recreation trails. Digital libraries of trails offer advantages over paper guidebooks in that they are more accurate, dynamic and not limited to the experience of the author(s). The basic representation of a trail is a GPS track log, recorded as recreators travel on trails. As users complete trips, the GPS track logs of their trips are submitted to the central library voluntarily. A major problem is that track logs will overlap and intersect each other. We present a method for the combination of overlapping and intersecting GPS track logs to create a network of GPS trails. Each trail segment in the network can then be characterized by automatic and manual means, producing a digital library of trails. We also describe the TopoFusion system which creates, manages and visualizes GPS data, including GPS networks.
What effect will tracking technologies like RFID and GPS have on connected businesses?
This paper reports on the growing number of incidents when GPS devices have been used to track and torment former loved ones. Originally developed by the US Department of Defense, GPS technology has been widely adapted for civilian uses. While there are laws against stalking or harassment in many US states, few specifically address GPS tracking, mobile phones, Internet spyware, and other recent developments in consumer technology. The paper also provides some useful tips for anyone suspecting that he/she is a victim of GPS stalking.
With the development of wireless technology, many handheld computers provide the learners with platform and resources to interact, collaborate, and share ubiquitously. The purpose of this research is to explore the potential application of mobile technologies in supporting elementary students' learning in the field trip. By recording the path of traversing, the GPS and GIS offer hyperlinked to the information on the Internet for further learning after the trip. The result indicates that the mobile technologies can be used to provide an adaptive learning support to the zoo visitors. Teachers could integrate teaching material well for further instruction.
A new method of tracking free-ranging marine mammals has been developed which employs a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to accurately fix an animalUs position when it surfaces and a tri-axial magnetometer and velocity-time-depth recorder to track the animals underwater movements between surfacings in 3 dimensions. Concurrent with the development of the electronics of this movement and position (MAP) tracking system has been the development of ways to analyze data from the MAP system. Spray rendering has been used to visualize the data and to combine it with environmental data allowing biologists view the animals activity in an environmental context. Considerable effort has been has been made to incorporate estimations of uncertainty and ways of minimizing it into our visualizations of the data.
Although standard satellite positioning provides unbeatable performance, compared with other available positioning methods it still suffers from many environment-related issues. One of them is disruption of continuity of positioning service, usually caused by temporal inability to collect navigation data due to poor satellite visibility. This problem is particularly noticeable in urban areas, where high buildings often considerably decrease the satellite visibility. A number of GPS-based systems and services (among them the location-based services - LBS) rely upon continuous provision of satellite positioning service. In order to decrease as much as possible the time to first fix (TTFF) after temporal unavailability of standard positioning service, auxiliary communications systems deploy the functionality of assistance data provision to satellite positioning receiver. This article examines the content of satellite positioning assistance, the impact of assistance data on position estimate calculation algorithm and the means for assistance data distribution. Special emphasis is given on satellite positioning assistance for LBS, and the mechanisms for assistance data delivery through the mobile communication network are presented. In conclusion, assistance data are identified as the major contributor to satellite positioning performance improvement, with a brief list of related future activities given
A new method of tracking free ranging marine mammals has been developed which employs a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to accurately fix an animal's position when it surfaces and a tri axial magnetometer and velocity time depth recorder to track the animals underwater movements between surfacings in 3 dimensions. Concurrent with the development of the electronics of this movement and position tracking (MAP) tracking system has been the development of ways to analyze data from the MAP system. Spray rendering has been used to visualize the data and to combine it with environmental data allowing biologists view the animals activity in an environmental context. Considerable effort has been has been made to incorporate estimations of uncertainty and ways of minimizing it into our visualizations of the data
This paper analyzes the accuracy of the multilateration techniques
of possible application in mobile communications networks. A general
mathematical framework including all the multilateration techniques that
process absolute and/or relative distance measurements between the
mobile station and multiple base transceiver stations is introduced.
Based on this scheme, a general measure of positioning accuracy is first
derived and then analyzed in the special cases defined by three
techniques of possible implementation in GSM-based systems. A
geometrical interpretation of the formulas that define the location
accuracy and a comparison between the techniques from the geometric
conditioning point of view are also given
Trace learning path by mobile tech-nologies as an instructional tool
- K.-H Huang
- Y L Chang
K.-H. Huang and Y. L. Chang, " Trace learning path by mobile tech-nologies as an instructional tool, " in ICUC '06: Proceedings of the 1st International conference on Ubiquitous Computing, 2006, pp. 141–147.