Hi
I am just about to start testing my APM2 / xbee equiped UAV aircraft and I want to find a device to help to locate the plane if everything decides to stop working one day!! no dis-respect to the developers and providers of the equipment intended.
I intend to keep the plane within visual range BUT I want to know where my investment has departed to on the occasional real bad day! 30 minutes of battery at 40mph is a long walk.
Ideally this device would be GPS and cell phone equiped , small, battery life of 2-3 days and can send its own message to an iphone with its co-ordinates so I can find it again. especially in my part of Canada where there are more trees than you can imagine!
Anyone found such a really useful device please.?
Thank you
Dwgsparky
Replies
Hi Dwgsparky and Jake,
No i don't sell it.... :D
But, did you see, how small it is?
Also cheep...
The bad part is that i haven't tried it yet.
But as it is on the way it will happen soon. I can give you more information after i have experience with it, if you want me? (Hopefully no crash experience :))
At first i wanted to use my old mobile phone. (Nokia E66)
It works as it should, but too big, and heavy for my Easystar2
But still, if you send an sms to it it sends back its exact location (GPS coordinates, nearest address, and a link also to google maps). No extra service needed, just a software for the phone.
So if your plane is big enough... :)
The best solution I've found is a simple boost mobile phone. If you search ebay for "GPS tracker boost mobile" you'll find the phones I'm talking about.
Ebay sellers figured out the cheapest GPS tracker is a prepaid boost mobile Motorola phone, so they're selling them as GPS trackers. The phones are pretty small and the cost is cheap. Service is also cheap. AFAIK you'll have to use the internet to track the phone, but I'm sure you can figure out something with text messages if you need.
Try something like this: Link