International Journal of Advances in Electronics and Computer Science, ISSN: 2393-2835 Volume-4, Issue-10, Oct.

-2017
http://iraj.in
VEHICLE TRACKING AND ANTI-THEFT SYSTEM USING
INTERNET OF THINGS
1
H.V.DADWANI, 2R.B.BUKTAR
1,2
Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
E-mail: 1himanshudadwani09@gmail.com

Abstract - This paper presents a system that effectively and efficiently provides an application of Internet of things in
transportation by assisting in Fleet Management, Vehicle Security and Safety. Technology achieves success only when it
meets every stratum of people. Apart from the various expensive GPS tracking devices that are available in the market, this
paper introduces a vehicle tracking and anti theft system that works only using GSM-GPS and open source technologies
which makes it cheapest system for Fleet Management, safety and security. The system checks for change in GPS co-
ordinates of the vehicle when not being used by the owner. Once the location of vehicle changes, owner is notified via text
SMS Message. The text SMS message consists of current GPS Location of vehicle and also a warning message. The owner
then sends a SMS, which instructs the microcontroller to turn OFF the vehicle by switching the relay supply of the battery of
the vehicle. The enviable advantage of this system is that it helps the owner in tracking the vehicle at a greater pace, and
reduces the complexities compared to other systems, besides being a cheapest alternative for anti-theft system as well.

Keywords - Internet Of Things, Transportation, Fleet Management, GSM-GPS Tracking System, Anti-Theft System.

I. INTRODUCTION transportation can find the right path with information

Internet of Things (IOT) is interconnection of
things/objects using networks, where things or
objects can interact with each other without or
minimal human intervention. It enables the objects to
communicate with each other and the user. IoT uses
sensors and other hardware to collect the data from
the system, software to interpret the data and use it
for required purpose and connectivity to provide
communication between various systems. Thus IoT
can provide communication, control and information
processing across the system. Figure 1, shows the
architecture of IOT.
Fig.1. Architecture of IOT
1.1 Internet of Things & Transportation
Leveraging IoT in Transportation can provide
applications in aspects of transportation systems.
Dynamic interaction between vehicle, infrastructure,
and the driver or user enables communication
between vehicles, smart parking, toll collection
systems, traffic control, logistic and fleet
management, vehicle security, safety and road
assistance.Cars, trains, and buses along with the roads
and the rails equipped with sensors, actuators and
processing power may provide important information
to the driver and/or passengers of a car to allow better
navigation and safety. Collision avoidance systems
and monitoring of transportation of hazardous
materials are two typical example functions.
Governmental authorities would also benefit from
more accurate information about road traffic patterns
for planning purposes. Where as, private
about the jam and incidents. Enterprises, such as
freight companies, would be able to perform more
effective route optimization which allows energy
savings. Information about the movement of the
vehicles transporting goods together with information
about the type and status of the goods can be
integrated to provide important information about the
delivery time, delivery delays, and faults. For Fleet
Management, technologies which can provide data
about location and status of the vehicle in real time
are required. Global Positioning System (GPS) is
commonly used as a space-based global navigation
satellite system. The location information provided
by GPS systems can be visualized using Google
Maps/Google Earth. In wireless data transporting,
GSM and SMS technology is a common feature with
all mobile network service providers. Utilization of
SMS technology has become popular because it is an
inexpensive, convenient and accessible way of
transferring and receiving data with high reliability.
Figure 2, shows the framework of IOT enabled
Transportation System which consists of: GPS
receiver, GSM modem, and embedded controller. The
users of this application can monitor the location
graphically on Google Map/Google Earth, can stop
any vehicle of the fleet if it was stolen; they can also
view other relevant information of each vehicle in the
fleet.
Fig.2. Internet of Things in Transportation [4]

Vehicle Tracking and Anti-Theft System using Internet of Things

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International Journal of Advances in Electronics and Computer Science, ISSN: 2393-2835
http://iraj.in
II. SYSTEMS USED IN TRANSPORTATION
Despite the various technologies that have been
introduced in recent years to deter vehicle thefts and
tracking it, the effectiveness of these systems have
not reduced vehicle thefts by a good rate. Also
several security and tracking systems are designed to
assist corporations with large number of vehicles for
fleet management. A fleet management system can
minimize the cost and effort of employees to finish
road assignments within a minimal time. Besides,
assignments can be scheduled in advanced based on
current vehicles location.
Therefore, central fleet management is essential to
large enterprises to meet the varying requirements of
customers and to improve the productivity. However,
there are still some security gaps where these
technologies don’t prevent a vehicle from theft, don’t
assist to recover it and don’t allow the users to know
the status of their vehicles. They can’t permit the
owner to communicate with the vehicle, even if the
owner is certain that his vehicle is stolen.
There exist two types of devices for vehicles for
tracking, theft detection and safety from theft. These
are,
1. GPS Tracking devices for vehicles: These
systems provide tracking of vehicle location in
real time. In case of thefts these systems won’t
be able to stop the vehicle because these systems
can only provide the GPS co-ordinates of the
vehicle in real time. There is no program for theft
detection or a circuitry involved in the system to
stop the vehicle. One of such tracking devices
that is used in India is called MapMyIndia and it
costs INR 15000
2. GPS tracking along with Central Locking and
Immobilizer: These systems provide GPS
tracking as well as mechanisms to stop the
vehicle by using a central locking and
immobilizer mechanism. These systems have the
circuit to implement theft detection and to
prevent the theft from happening. The most
widely used GPS tracking along with Central
Locking and Immobilizer are AutoCop which
costs INR 16000 and 3Detrack which costs INR
18000. These systems are the most widely used
systems worldwide and are not used much in
India because of the high cost.
Luxury Sports companies that manufacture cars like
BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Porsche etc. have
pre-installed anti-theft and tracking systems. All
common car companies do not have such systems.
Considering all the literature survey and the Market
survey the system developed should have improved
Vehicle Tracking and Anti-Theft System using Internet of Things
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Volume-4, Issue-10, Oct.-2017
efficiency, reduced power consumption, reduced cost
and size, improved accuracy, user-friendly and easy
to use and installable in all vehicles (with fuel
injectors) over the existing or theorized systems
available.
III. ANTI THEFT SYSTEM
The main objective of the anti theft system for
vehicles is to establish a connection between vehicle
and the user. The established connection enables the
vehicle to notify the user in situation of theft and the
user can stop the vehicle after sending a command.
The system should be compact so that it can be
placed at a location where a thief cannot perceive it
and hence the safety of the vehicle and the reliability
of the system is not compromised.
The scope of the study as follows:
 To implement system to provide vehicle
tracking in real time.
 Design a mechanism to detect theft and
notify user of theft.
To accurately implement the system in real time a
GPS Antenna, GPS+GSM Module, a Microcontroller
and a Relay circuit will be required. Figure 3 shows
the framework of the system. In this system, a GPS
Antenna is used to acquire real time GPS co-ordinates
of the vehicle.
A GPS+GSM Module (SIM808 Module) is used to
carry out the extraction of GPS co-ordinates obtained
from GPS antenna. GSM part of the SIM808 Module
is used for sending the GPS co-ordinates and the
warning message about the theft to the user via SMS
Messages and for receiving commands from the user
to start or stop the vehicle. Vehicle is stopped using a
relay circuit which can cut the supply to fuel injector
from the battery. Relay circuit used is implemented
using a Hercules Motor driver IC. This IC has high
input range and provides protection from over
voltage/over current. Thus this driver is very safe to
use for vehicle battery so that the battery does not get
damaged by any voltage/current fluctuations. The
microcontroller is the most important element of the
system and controls the entire operation while
coordinating with SIM808, GPS Antenna and the
Relay circuit.
SIM808 Module extracts the GPS co-ordinates from
the GPS antenna and the micro-controller converts
the GPS co-ordinates extracted into a form that can
be used for signal processing. If theft is detected, the
microcontroller along with SIM808 sends the
warning SMS Message to the user and receives the
commands via reply obtained from the user. The
Microcontroller converts the signal which is then
applied to the relay circuit. The SMS message and
GPS co-ordinates is sent by SIM808, GPS antenna in
conjunction with Microcontroller.
International Journal of Advances in Electronics and Computer Science, ISSN: 2393-2835 Volume-4, Issue-10, Oct.-2017
http://iraj.in

Fig.3. Block diagram of the system

The system requires the following I/O functions:

 Conversion of GPS co-ordinates acquired by
GPS antenna (GPS aspect of SIM808) into text
format that can be displayed via a SMS message.
 Conversion of SMS Message (GSM aspect of
SIM808) into electrical signals for controlling
relay and sending of SMS message using
Microcontroller and SIM808
Fig.5. SMS with GPS co-ordinates of vehicle
IV. ALGORITHM FOR THEFT DETECTION

For theft detection, algorithm shown in figure 4 is

used. Whenever vehicle starts, system will send a
SMS to the owner. If vehicle use was unauthorized,
owner can then reply with a text SMS ‘Stop’ to turn
the vehicle off.

Fig.4. Algorithm for theft detection

V. RESULT

The progression was made to implement the system

in real time on a Battery of a vehicle (Bike) while
Fig.6. Location in Google maps
placing the system inside the vehicle such that it is
not visible to the thief. Testing of the system was
CONCLUSION
done and the system responded by sending a warning
SMS message to the user when there was
The system developed effectively provides an
unauthorized movement of the vehicle. The user got a
application of connected devices or Internet of things
SMS message which had the warning message and
in Transportation. The system includes a Combined
GPS co-ordinates. The user sent a SMS message to
GPS+GSM Module which can track the location of
stop the vehicle and the system responded to this
the vehicle via the GPS antenna implanted in the
message by relaying the supply to the battery and
vehicle. Thus, this system is an integration of several
hence the vehicle stopped.

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 International Journal of Advances in Electronics and Computer Science, ISSN: 2393-2835
http://iraj.in
modern embedded and communication technologies.
This makes the system very cheap since these are
simple and open source technologies. Also the system
is very compact. Security standards are maintained by
mobile network providers hence security of the
network is very good. This makes the system suitable
for the market since it is cheaper than other anti theft
systems available. Also it is user friendly since a
simple ‘Stop’ SMS turns the vehicle off. Along with
tracking and theft prevention, this system can also
provide more applications like condition monitoring,
vehicle control, fleet management, traffic
management, smart parking and vehicle safety by
using various sensors like speed sensor, alcohol
sensor, proximity sensor and other sensors to get the
data about condition and performance of vehicle and
the driver. Thus, this system is very useful and can be
used in all aspects of transportation system.
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