I'm currently in Year 12, undertaking my major design project.
I have chosen to design and produce an emergency survival kit that comes with an in-built personal locator beacon. The personal locator beacon must have the capability of transmitting geolocation data to emergency services for atleast 72 hours. It must be able to work in remote areas.
I have purchased a range of parts in order to help create this project, of which, I will list below.
Arduino Uno r3 Development Board
Arduino compatible Long Range LoRa Shield
Arduino Compatible GPS Receiver Module
2600mAg Metallic Power Bank
5/5.8GHz 5dBi Wireless Networking Antenna
I have been experimenting with Ardunio & Components for a while and now understand the basics. I have managed to get the GPS module to work and receive geolocation data. However, I have only been able to do this when the Arduino is plugged in and powered by a computer. For my project, I need to be able to send geolocation data to a specific source, whilst on the go, in remote areas.
I plan to power my components by using a portable power pack (similar to a portable phone charger), however, I am unsure of how to program the gps module to send geolocation data to the long range shield, which will then send the geolcationd data to emergency services (it can be a proof of concept but it needs to be communicated to something such as a cell phone or a radio frequency).
I would really appreciate any advice or information that can help me develop this project or point me in the right direction.
Paul_KD7HB:
How is your project better/cheaper/lighter, etc. that the existing emergency locator equipment?
Paul
Hi Paul,
My personal locator beacon is not a project by itself.
It will be a component of my larger project, which is my survival kit. I have chosen to create a personal locator beacon myself, as I have yet to find a survival kit that comes ready with an personal locator beacon.
Providing all goes well, My personal locator beacon will be substantially lighter than some existing designs and quite a lot cheaper.
The personal locator beacon must have the capability of transmitting geolocation data to emergency services for atleast 72 hours. It must be able to work in remote areas.
What you use rather depends on whether the 'emergency services' know you are missing and are searching for you or if they dont.
First, if your not known to be missing, GSM/GPRS, APRS, LoRa etc are of no value whatsoever, they dont work in remote areas. The only choice here is one of the widly available satellite locator beacons, doubt you could make one, around £300 to buy.
So second, if the 'emergency services' are activly searching for you then they would need matching equipment to receive your distress signals, and I doubt they carry APRS or LoRa equipment.
In terms of finding stuff, when the person searching has the appropriate equipment the the obvious candidtates (for remote areas) are APRS and LoRa.
APRS would require the building of a portable APRS setup. APRS requires the use to hold an Amateur radio licence (so it does not have universal application) and has an advantage that significant powers can be used, up to 5W perhaps from a portable VHF handheld.
LoRa requires simpler equipment, but in a lot of places in the World is limited to 10mW in the license exempt ISM bands.
For universal application, no licenses required, then of all the current radio technologies LoRa will go the furthest.
Pleas, keep an eye on the given facts: It's a school project. Teachers are happy, if it works at all, even in a controlled environment. So, why complicate things?
zwieblum:
Pleas, keep an eye on the given facts: It's a school project. Teachers are happy, if it works at all, even in a controlled environment. So, why complicate things?
It was part of the requirement;
"The personal locator beacon must have the capability of transmitting geolocation data to emergency services for atleast 72 hours. It must be able to work in remote areas."
Yes, cool. Nothing will work in remote areas. Go to Antarkica, good luck with whatever you have that works in remote areas. Go exploring caves ... Or do you define "remote areas" as "areas wher gsm does not work, but [inser any oter m2m comunication does work"? As long as you do not define your "remote area", it's just picking at ghosts.
srnet:
What you use rather depends on whether the 'emergency services' know you are missing and are searching for you or if they dont.
First, if your not known to be missing, GSM/GPRS, APRS, LoRa etc are of no value whatsoever, they dont work in remote areas. The only choice here is one of the widly available satellite locator beacons, doubt you could make one, around £300 to buy.
So second, if the 'emergency services' are activly searching for you then they would need matching equipment to receive your distress signals, and I doubt they carry APRS or LoRa equipment.
In terms of finding stuff, when the person searching has the appropriate equipment the the obvious candidtates (for remote areas) are APRS and LoRa.
APRS would require the building of a portable APRS setup. APRS requires the use to hold an Amateur radio licence (so it does not have universal application) and has an advantage that significant powers can be used, up to 5W perhaps from a portable VHF handheld.
LoRa requires simpler equipment, but in a lot of places in the World is limited to 10mW in the license exempt ISM bands.
For universal application, no licenses required, then of all the current radio technologies LoRa will go the furthest.
zwieblum:
Pleas, keep an eye on the given facts: It's a school project. Teachers are happy, if it works at all, even in a controlled environment. So, why complicate things?
The project needs to have a degree of difficulty to it.
Trust me, If I could pick up a satellite phone, stick it in my kit, and call it a day,
zwieblum:
Yes, cool. Nothing will work in remote areas. Go to Antarkica, good luck with whatever you have that works in remote areas. Go exploring caves ... Or do you define "remote areas" as "areas wher gsm does not work, but [inser any oter m2m comunication does work"? As long as you do not define your "remote area", it's just picking at ghosts.
By Remote areas, I mean where cell phone coverage is not available.
If you needed to search large areas quickly and you were looking for say a LoRa locator beacon, then with some very simple equipment you can search large areas quite quickly, see here;
Put a LoRa relay on a cheap foil party balloon or send an autonomous drone to altitude and you would likley be able to find a locator in a 200km+ radius.
