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0) November 2010 P a g e | 19
I n recent years, many companies are developing GPS [1] II. GPS GUIDED TRACKING SYSTEMS
enabled applications and systems, because GPS has many 1) Global Positioning System
technical and economical benefits. Countries are spending
GPS is a Satellite Navigation System which is funded and
millions of dollars for research and development of GPS
controlled by the U. S. Department of Defence [2, 3]. The
applications as it has enabled them more powerful in the war
GPS system consists of three segments viz., satellites that
and defence front. More research is being done in this
transmit the position information, the ground stations that
domain as it has a unique capability of locating any GPS
are used to control the satellites and update the information,
enabled system over the earth in terms of latitude, longitude
and finally there is the receiver that computes its location
and even altitude with good accuracy. Researchers need
anywhere in the world based on information it gets from the
GPS databases which contain huge volume of GPS data
satellites[4]. The satellite segment of GPS consists of a
generated by thousands of GPS receivers. But the presently
minimum of 21 satellites and 3 working spares totalling 24.
available GPS databases are owned by private players and
There are often more than 24 operational satellites as new
are not available for use by the researchers. This introduces
ones are launched to replace older satellites. The satellites
a new problem domain of non-availability of sample
are travelling around the world 20,200 kilometres high in
data to develop and test GPS applications. Hence the
carefully controlled orbits at a speed that means they will
need for a GPS data generator which simulates a GPS
make a complete orbit twice a day. The GPS satellites
guided tracking environment is vital. Such a simulator will
broadcasts two signals, PPS (Precise Positioning Service)
greatly reduce the expenses in research area and enable us to
and SPS (Standard Positioning Service)[5]. The PPS signal
have more researches carried out in the allocated
is an encrypted military access code which is available for
budgets.GPS simulation has already been carried
use by military and government. The SPS signal is an
____________________________
About -1Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Government Arts College unencrypted, spread spectrum signal broadcasts at 1575.42
(Autonomous), Salem-636007, Tamilnadu, India. (email : MHz and is available for public use.
guru.rajendran@yahoo.com) The Control Segment consists of a system of tracking
About-2Director, Bharathidasan School of Computer Applications, stations located around the world. The Master Control
Ellispettai-638116, Tamilnadu, India. (email : arthanarimsvc@gmail.com)
About-3Doctoral Research Scholar, Anna University, Coimbatore, facility is located in Colorado. These control stations
Tamilnadu, India. (email : sivala@gmail.com) measure signals from the satellites which are incorporated
P a g e |20 Vol.10 Issue 14 (Ver.1.0) November 2010 Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology
into orbital models which in turn compute precise orbital actually needed for a position fix. The reason for this is that
data and satellites clock corrections for each satellite. The if one satellite becomes unavailable, the receiver knows
Master Control station uploads ephemeris and clock data to exactly where to find the best possible replacement. Three
the satellites. The satellites then send subsets of the orbital satellites are required for two dimensional positioning. Two
ephemeris data to GPS receivers over radio signals. The dimensional positioning reports position only in terms of
Receiver Segment consists of GPS receivers which are used latitude and longitude. Four satellites are required for three
for navigation, positioning, time dissemination, and other dimensional positioning, that is to say position and elevation
research. The GPS receivers listen to signals from a in terms of latitude, longitude and altitude. In general, an
minimum of either three or four satellites at a time and SPS receiver can provide position information with an error
triangulate a position fix using the interval between the of less than 10 meters, and velocity information with an
transmission and reception of the satellite signal. Any given error of less than 5 meters per second.
receiver receives signals from more satellites than are
Figure 1. GPS tracking with the help of a GPS receiver fixed in a moving object
Most of the tracking system combines GPS. In less than ten information recognize data that are in NMEA format which
years since the first GSM network was commercially includes the complete latitude, longitude, velocity and time
launched, it became the world's leading and fastest growing computed by the GPS receiver. In NMEA specification
mobile standard, spanning over 200 countries. There is at system, data is sent as a line of text, called a sentence which
least one cell tower in every 900m-1000m radius in the high is totally self contained and independent from other
traffic regions (city limits) and in the low traffic regions sentences. The precision of data may vary in the message.
(high ways) a single cell tower can cover a radius up to 10 For example latitude or longitude may contain 3 or even 4
km. The operation of GPS tracking is explained in Fig. 1. digits after the decimal point. There are standard sentences
The GPS receiver captures position data from the for each device category and there is also the ability to
satellites, computes the position of the object, say, a define proprietary sentences for use by the individual
vehicle, and sends this information to a central base station, company. All of the standard sentences have a two letter
using SMS. If the optional storage module is installed, then prefix that defines the device that uses that sentence type
location data can be stored when the vehicle is out of range which is followed by a three letter sequence that defines the
of the cellular operator and retrieved later. GSM technology sentence contents. The NMEA sentences for GPS receivers
is used to transmit this information which in turn is collected have the prefix GP. Each sentence contains a maximum of
by the server at the base station. The geographical position 80 characters of visible text, begins with a '$' and ends with
of the object can be displayed at the base station using a a carriage return/line feed sequence. The data is contained
suitable application. within this single line and the data items are separated by
2) NMEA Specification
commas. The commas act as terminators for the sentences
and the programs that read the data should only use the
GPS receiver communication is defined with NMEA commas to determine the end of a data item.
specification. The NMEA has developed a specification that
3) The NMEA Sentence $GPRMC
defines the interface between various pieces of marine
electronic equipments. The NMEA standard permits marine NMEA has its own version of essential GPS data. The most
electronics to send information to computers and to other important NMEA sentences include the $GPGGA which
marine equipments [6] in predefined formats. Most provides the current fix data, the $GPRMC which provides
computer programs that provide real time position the minimum GPS sentences information, and the $GPGSA
Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology Vol. 10 Issue 14 (Ver. 1.0) November 2010 P a g e | 21
which provides the Satellite status data. The recommended developed GPS simulators with hardware devices by
minimum sentence C, $GPRMC, provides the essential GPS generating pseudo GPS signals. These devices are
PVT data which is used to locate moving objects in terms of dependent on hardware for the generation of GPS data. A
latitude and longitude. All GPS receivers output this device for generating NMEA sequences for testing
sentence along with some other sentences. The $GPRMC embedded GPS reception firmware and hardware is
data format is given in Table 1. described by Sinivee V [8]. This work describes a prototype
This $GPRMC NMEA sentence will look similar to: GPS data simulator designed and built in Department of
$GPRMC,060447.644,A,1119.1450,N,07740.3855,E,22.4,2 Physics of Tallinn University of Technology. Device can
16.39,030410,,,A*62 work in standalone mode and also in conjunction with
Where control software. Configuration program can be used to
$GPRMC : Recommended Minimum sentence C generate test strings without tester hardware as well. First
060447.644 : Fix taken at 06:04:47.644 UTC version of the device was limited to generating only one
A : Status A=active or V=Void. NMEA message and enabled simulation of communication
1119.1450,N : Latitude 11 deg 19.1450' N errors. Later versions were developed to a more universal
07740.3855,E : Longitude 77 deg 40.3855' E device with control via a GUI running on an ordinary PC.
22.4 : Speed over the ground in knots But there is no option provided in this software to create a
216.39 : Course over the ground database of NMEA sentences.Virace GPS Simulator[9]
030410 : Date - 3rd of April 2010 V0.01 is a keyboard or mouse controlled NMEA sentence
A : Autonomous mode generator and it can produce 3 COM port outputs. This
*62 : The checksum data, always begins with * simulator supports NMEA sentences like $GPRMC,
$GPGGA, $GPGSA and $GPGSV. A lot of defined keys for
The moving object, if attached with a GPS receiver, can be steering and speed are available in this simulator. It supports
located with the help of this NMEA sentence. three display and input formats of latitude and longitude.
The disadvantage of using this is that it does not support
Table 1. Data format of $GPRMC Sentence GPS track replaying.The GPS Generator PRO [10]
application is designed for providing assistance in
Data Item Format Description developing, testing and debugging programs and equipment
Message ID $GPRMC RMC protocol header. working with the NMEA-0183 protocol. This GPS device
UTC Time hhmmss.sss Fix time to 1ms accuracy.
emulator generates NMEA messages from different data
(Coordinated inputs. It can operate in 2 modes: 1)User select map, start
Universal Time) point, heading, speed; 2)User select NMEA log file. The
Status Char A Data Valid. user can change speed and heading during simulation. The
V Data invalid. generated NMEA sentences can be used by other mapping
Latitude Float Degrees * 100 + minutes. software. But buying this software involves certain cost.
N/S Indicator Char N=north or S=south.
Thus a few number of NMEA sentence generators are
available but with some limitations. Mostly these generators
Longitude Float Degrees * 100 + minutes. involve some cost and hardware dependent. Some of the
E/W Indicator Char E=East or W=West. generators require keyboard or mouse control for path
Speed over Ground Float Speed Over Ground in creation. In some generators, there is no provision for
knots database creation. The NMEA sentence generator proposed
Course over Ground Float Course Over Ground in in this work addresses these problems.
Degrees
Date Ddmmyy Current Date IV. MODELLING DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT OF MOVING
OBJECTS WITH NMEA SENTENCE GENERATOR
Magnetic Variation Blank Not Used
In order to simulate the 2D graphical tracking environment,
E/W Indicator Blank Not Used the $GPRMC-NMEA sentence which contains the random
Mode Char A Autonomous latitude and longitude positions of virtual moving objects
Checksum *xx 2 Digits
are generated. The $GPRMC sentence also contains other
data items like UTC time, Status, speed over ground, course
Message Terminator <CR><LF> ASCII 13, ASCII 10
over ground, date, mode and checksum. The block diagram
of the simplified NMEA sentence generator is given in
III. PREVIOUS WORK Fig.2.The role of the NMEA sentence generator is to create
the path of a moving object by generating sentences that
The idea of many researchers for developing GPS contain random latitudes and longitudes. It also includes
simulators is to carry out their work with minimal cost and provision for random change of directions of moving
with accurate data which they need. Though some work has objects. The source code for NMEA sentence generator is
been done in this area, more GPS simulators which generate written in Matlab 7.6. The Flow Chart of NMEA sentence
NMEA sentences are being developed to suit the custom generator is given in Fig. 3 and the vital steps of the Flow
needs of the hour. Some of the researchers [1,7] have
P a g e |22 Vol.10 Issue 14 (Ver.1.0) November 2010 Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology
Chart are explained below.Date and Time: The system date values in x axis and y axis are added with or subtracted from
and time is converted into UTC date and time.Status: The previous latitude and longitude values and the new latitude
status of the GPS receiver is A‘, i.e., Active‖, when the and longitude positions of the object are calculated.
receiver gets signals from satellites. It is assumed that the x(i)=x(i)+xdsign(i)*xrand;
status of the receiver is A‘.Latitude and Longitude: The y(i)=y(i)+ydsign(i)*yrand;
starting latitude and longitude values of the virtual moving where
object are initialized. A graph is generated by plotting x(i) x coordinate of current plot ; i=1,2,3…..n.
longitude on x axis and latitude on y axis. Two random y(i) y coordinate of current plot ; i=1,2,3…..n.
functions are used to generate the random displacement of xdsign controlled random direction sign (+ or -) generated
the virtual object in x axis and y axis respectively. for x axis.
Meanwhile another random function is used to generate a ydsign controlled random direction sign (+ or -) generated
random number for direction. The direction of the object for y axis.
viz., North East, South East, South West and North West is xrand random displacement on x axis.
generated based on the range of the generated random yrand random displacement on y axis.
number. Based on the direction, the random displacement
NMEA
Initialization of data Next NMEA
items of first sentence Sentence Sentence
Generator
GPS
Tracking
Simulation
The controlled random direction signs are generated in such displacement of latitude and longitude position from the
a way that they change only after a random number of previous latitude and longitude position and it was
sentences and not for each and every sentence.Speed Over converted into knots.
Ground: This data item is generated based on the
Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology Vol. 10 Issue 14 (Ver. 1.0) November 2010 P a g e | 23
Start
Find out the displacement and time interval from Previous Location and
Compute the speed
NO
NMEA Sentence = $GPRMC ,UTC time, mode, Status, Latitude, N/S indicator,
Longitude, E/W indicator, Speed, COG, UTC date, mode, Checksum
Is
Tracking
Over?
YES
End
Course Over Ground: This data item is generated based on sentence generated by it are stored in the database. For
the direction of the virtual moving object. The reading is instance the first sentence received by the GPS receiver is,
always expressed in degrees to the true North. The range is $GPRMC,051142.950,A,1119.0211,N,07740.3135,E,0.00,1
between 0 degree and 359 degree.Mode: The mode is 35.00,110410,,,A*69
always fixed as Autonomous, i.e., ‗A‘. This field is of less The following is the list of ten consecutive $GPRMC
importance in the simulation environment.Checksum: The sentences generated by ZX4125 when it is used in a moving
checksum of the sentence is calculated for the self contained car.
errors within the sentence.The object is now plotted in the $GPRMC,051142.950,A,1119.0211,N,07740.3135,E,0.00,1
current latitude and longitude position on the graph thus 35.00,110410,,,A*69
providing a simulated environment of a moving object. This $GPRMC,051143.950,A,1119.0211,N,07740.3135,E,0.00,1
process is iterated to get required number of subsequent 35.00,110410,,,A*68
latitudes, longitudes and other data items for the object and $GPRMC,051144.950,A,1119.0210,N,07740.3135,E,0.00,1
plotting the same on the graph. 35.00,110410,,,A*6E
$GPRMC,051146.949,A,1119.0201,N,07740.3134,E,2.48,1
V. GPS TRACKING SIMULATION RESULTS AND
COMPARISON WITH STANDARD AND REAL TIME DATA
82.66,110410,,,A*67
$GPRMC,051147.949,A,1119.0189,N,07740.3133,E,4.61,1
The generated $GPRMC-NMEA sentences are compared 83.94,110410,,,A*63
with the data received from the actual GPS receiver. For the $GPRMC,051149.949,A,1119.0155,N,07740.3131,E,6.00,1
purpose of comparison, Wonde-X series GPS receiver 83.10,110410,,,A*67
(ZX4125) was used to generate real time GPS data. The $GPRMC,051150.949,A,1119.0141,N,07740.3134,E,5.08,1
GPS receiver is fixed in a moving car and the NMEA 69.10,110410,,,A*60
$GPRMC,051152.948,A,1119.0120,N,07740.3155,E,5.79,1
25.53,110410,,,A*6A
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$GPRMC,051153.948,A,1119.0113,N,07740.3173,E,7.13,1 $GPRMC,051154.948,A,1119.0105,N,07740.3197,E,8.93,1
10.62,110410,,,A*65 07.04,110410,,,A*6E
The NMEA Sentence generator can be used to create paths Table 2. Comparison of the data items generated by NMEA
of a number of virtual moving objects. The number of Sentence Generator with Standard and Real Time Data
objects that can be created is limited to the main memory Field / Standard for Generated by Generated by
available in the system. Thus thousands of paths of Data data item ZX4125 GPS NMEA
item
independent moving objects can be generated by this receiver Sentence
NMEA generator without using GPS receivers. A Generator
comparison of the path generated by GPS receiver and paths
Min Max Min Max Min Max
of three virtual objects created by the simplified NMEA chars chars chars chars Chars chars
sentence generator is given in Fig. 5. Thus the created GPS Message ID 6 6 6 6 6 6
database consists of paths of a number of virtual objects and UTC Time 1,2,2. 2,2,2. 2,2,2.3 2,2,2.3 2,2,2.3 2,2,2.3
this database can be used as a source of data by the 1 3
researchers.The data items in the sentences produced by the Status 1 1 1 1 1 1
actual GPS receiver and the NMEA sentence generator are Latitude 1,2.1 3,2.4 1,2.4 3,2.4 1,2.4 3,2.4
1 1 1 1 1
compared against the standard values [11] in Table 2. It is N/S
Indicator
1
observed from Table 2 that the values generated by NMEA Longitude 1,2.1 3,2.4 1,2.4 3,2.4 1,2.4 3,2.4
sentence generator are similar to the values generated by E/W 1 1 1 1 1 1
ZX4125. Besides, these values are within the range of Indicator
standard values. Hence the NMEA sentence generator can Speed over 1.1 5.3 1.2 5.3 1.2 5.3
be used instead of an actual GPS receiver to generate Ground
Course 1.1 3.2 1.1 3.2 1.1 3.2
tracking data. This saves cost and time of generation of GPS over
database to develop and test GPS applications. Ground
Date 2,2,2 2,2,2 2,2,2 2,2,2 2,2,2 2,2,2
Magnetic (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Variation
E/W (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Indicator
Mode 1 1 1 1 1 1
Checksum 3 3 3 3 3 3
Message 2 2 2 2 2 2
Terminator
P a g e |26 Vol.10 Issue 14 (Ver.1.0) November 2010 Global Journal of Computer Science and Technology
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK firmware and hardware", Novel Algorithms and
Techniques in Telecommunications and
This paper introduces a simplified NMEA sentence
Networking, Springer Netherlands, pp.207-210.
generator which generates a sequence of NMEA sentences
9) http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?T
that are used to simulate a GPS tracking environment. The
OPIC ID=114933 accessed on 15-02-2010.
results of the NMEA Sentence generator are compared with
10) http://avangardo.com accessed on 15-02-2010.
the real time data and the available standard. It is found that
11) Wonde-X series GPS module ZX4125
the generated sentences are similar to the data generated in
Specification Document. (2009) Wonde Proud
real time by a GPS receiver. Besides, the generated
Technology Co., Ltd., Taiwan.
sentences are found to fit within standards. This NMEA
sentence generator has eliminated the limitations of the
previous work carried out in this area. The data generated by
this software are used to create a database of sample GPS
data which can be used by researchers to develop and test
GPS applications. This generator can be used not only by
software developers, but also by users, who want to learn
navigation software before buying GPS receiver.This system
generates only $GPRMC sentences. In future this work can
be extended to generate the entire set of NMEA sentences
generated by a GPS receiver. This work can further be
extended to generate GPS data of multiple GPS receivers.
Besides, this system, at present can generate directions, but
not based on the existing routes available on ground. The
generation GPS data based on existing routes can also be an
enhancement to this system.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Hashprompt Logistics
Management India Pvt. Ltd., for their support to perform
initial demonstration on GPS tracking using their resources.
VIII. REFERENCES
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don. (2003) "Test of GBAS Integrity Monitoring
System Using GPS Simulator", Wuhan University
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704.
2) Parkinson, B. W. and Spilker, J. J. (1996) Global
Positioning System: Theory and Applications,
American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, Washington.
3) Interface control document. (2000) Navstar GPS
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4) Asoke K Talukder and Roopa R Yavagal. (2005)
Mobile Computing-Technology, Applications and
Service Creation, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing
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5) Goran M. Djuknic and Robert E. Richton. (2001)
"Geolocation and Assisted GPS", Computer, vol.
34, no. 2, pp.123-125.
6) http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/nmea.htm
accessed on 15-02-2010.
7) Kou Yanhong, Yang Dongkai and Zhang Qishan.
(2005) "GPS Satellite Simulator Signal Estimation
based on ANN", Journal of Electronics(China), vol.
22 no.5, pp.458-464.
8) Sinivee V. (2010) "Simple yet efficient NMEA
sentence generator for testing GPS reception