I'm a full time bicycle commuter who's invested quite a bit of money/time into my steed. I live in a good area with a low crime rate, however the fear of having my bike stolen and the cost to replace it has lead me to consider how to recover a stolen bicycle. Being a bit of a geek and tinkerer I think I've come up with a solution!
In the coming weeks I'll be order the parts necessary to build a GPS tracking system for my bike based on the Arduino programmable IC/rapid prototyping platform. The project will use the Arduino ATmega base controller (
http://www.arduino.cc) and the GM862-GPS GSM/GPRS module with onboard GPS (
http://www.telit.com/en/products/gsm...&p_ac=show&p=7) The idea is to install this device in a somewhat concealed location on the bike (seat tube with the antennas mounted on the underside of the saddle?) The device will be powered using a LiIon battery but in the future I'll be adding a dynamo front hub, whenever the bike rolls it'll charge the devices battery. Once installed the device will stay in standby mode until an SMS is received with the location request command. At which time the GM862 will acquire its location and send a response SMS with the bikes current location (in the form of a Google Maps link). Also thinking about adding a buzzer/speaker than can be activated by sending an SMS command, so once I'm near it i can activate an alarm that can be heard. This device also will come in handy on my longer tours being able to update my location online for friends/family to track my progress. Perhaps integrating a panic button that will send an SMS to an emergency contact with my current location so they can alert the local authorities. Does anyone know of a pre-paid SIM that offers SMS only or unlimited data? (GM862 has GPRS and tcp/ip builtin, so i could just have it send formated data to a webserver in realtime).
Once i get the parts in i'll be blogging my way through the development and building process. I'll come back here and post a link.