Magpie

At long last I have found a way to track my car in real time. The cool thing is I can also track my car from one car to another

Hardware List:

Bluetooth link to my mobile phone (although a cable would work just as well)
GPRS capable mobile phone with a data enabled SIM card and contract.

Software List:

VPN Software
Comfoolery
Lantronix Com Port Redirector
KeepRAS (Internet link keep alive software)

And here is what I did:

Firstly, I configured my mobile phone for internet access, this was probably the hardest bit due to figuring out the best way to configure the bluetooth connection. I happen to be using a Lynksys Bluetooth dongle to a SonyEricsson p900.

Next step was to configure a VPN link to my home server. I needed to do this as it's not possible to access my car PC through the internet from home directly. When the VPN link is up and running I can communicate to my car PC just as though it was sitting next to me in my home LAN. Also, this makes things that bit more secure.

Next was to figure a way to get the serial data from my GPS unit from the car to my home server. For this I used a combination of Comfoolery and Lantronix com port redirector. Comfoolery takes your com port and makes it available through an ip address and port number. The Lantronix software is able to take a local com port and send it to a remote ip address.

You with me so far?

I installed the Comfoolery software on my car PC to provide a car based ip com port. I then installed the Lantronix software on both my car pc and home server. This allows me to provide local comports on both the car pc and home server providing GPS data. This is important as I need a GPS signal in the car for my navigation software and also a GPS signal at home for my tracking software. Simply configure your mapping and navigation software to the com port that Lantronix provides.

Lastly, I used KeepRAS to open the internet connection and VPN connection automatically in the car and also to re-establish the links should they drop. Now all I need to do is start the car and drive off, the car can be tracked from home in real time.

The Lantronix software can be found at:
http://www.lantronix.com/support/utils/index.html

and the Comfoolery software at:
http://www.brianpoe.com/comfoolery

Magpie

MP3Car.com

 

Bravellir

Nice, you're wife should love that

__________________
Ikea Case. Epia M10000.M1-ATX. 512 Mb. 2,5" 80 GB HDD. 7" Lilliput. BU-303 GPS. Sony Joystick.
Status --> Lilliput Installed (not indash yet..)
BraveCar 2.5

Magpie

Well, if she is out in the car I know where she is and when she will get back! Now I can time it perfectly to get off the PC at home before she arives back. You know, I could be doing the ironing or something!

Bravellir

Forgot it could be used the other way around

__________________
Ikea Case. Epia M10000.M1-ATX. 512 Mb. 2,5" 80 GB HDD. 7" Lilliput. BU-303 GPS. Sony Joystick.
Status --> Lilliput Installed (not indash yet..)
BraveCar 2.5

grepzen

"the ironing" so THAT's what that means....

brb..
i need to go have a chat w/ my wife. --NO ONE loves ironing THAT much.

__________________
•Micke

Ricky327

Nice one Mapie

Have you considered this one for a permanent install :

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...dID=&doy=23m10


Nice, you're wife should love that
The wife wont switch the PC on


I still got my standalone universal tracker to finish off, I hope Ill get it done by early next year...Im jealous man

Zip-Lock

CoPilot Live does this too. You can give people a tracking ID then login to live.alk.com and it will give you a map with your vehicles’ location on it.

It also has some more advanced features like the ability for someone to send you new address and it will automatically add them into your current route. You can also send text messages to the driver and he can respond to them with the pre-selected answers you provide.

IntellaWorks

Magpie, thanks for the write up. Nice work, pretty clutch you can see your car wherever it is.

__________________
Progress [I will seriously never be done!]
Via EPIA MII
512MB RAM
OEM GPS (embedded)
nLite WinXP pro on
1GB Extreme III CF card
Carnetix 1260 startup/ DC-DC regulator
Software: Still, re-Writing my existing front end in .Net

MP3Car.com

 

rando

Nice work!

__________________
2004 4runner

RoyN

Is there any software that one can load on the PC to plot the location on a map, and also to update the location automatically? or are you basically using the com port mapping to run GPS software "thinking" it is local?

hd54321

Good find!

This all assumes that you leave your phone in your car. How many ppl have the luxury of leaving their phone in the car?

Ricky327

And it assume the PC is working and running. Not good when a thief actually steal the car.

Credit goes to him for bringing this out though

PotzUK

Sounds quite complex

I take it a Remote Desktop session over the VPN would use too much bandwidth?


I just noticed, you've installed it into an XR2 Fiesta - which is what my Kitcar is based around. I'd be interested in comparing notes on your install?

__________________
Tony P
My Carputer Project

Magpie

I used Route 66 (UK mapping software), which thinks the GPS is local. Any mapping software that is GPS capable should do it.

Magpie

That is very true, currently this works with either my phone or my wifes phone. I've configured everything for Bluetooth so all we need to have is our phone with us. The PC will do the rest by autostarting when the ignition is on and starting the VPN link back to my home server.

My plan is to put something more permanent in the car which will be hidden allowing me to see the car position should some thief take my car.

I had tried to do all this with a "pay-as-you-go" sim card in my old mobile phone. Then I discovered that I need a monthly contract for 2 way GPRS communications.

MP3Car.com