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1.0

Abstract

Objects Location Tracking using Walkie-Talkie and Triangulation method is a system which was designed to track location of an object in confines areas instead of using GPS (Global Positioning System). The project have four main objectives which are to determine the appropriate triangulation formula, to find the relation of signal strength sent from transmitter to the receiver with distance, to build a model to establish triangulation method and lastly to display objects location using the LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) software. The project development was divided into two parts which are hardware implementation and software development. For hardware implementation, a walkie-talkie was used (Motorola P200) as transmitter (object) and three others as receivers, to determine the triangulation area. By using triangulation method formula, the output from the receivers was the input to the software development. For software development, LabVIEW was being chosen for this project because of the software compatible with the hardware part. Using C and graphical programming by LabVIEW, the object can be tracked and its location automatically displayed on the monitor of personal computer.

2.0

Methodology

For PSM 2, the methodologies continue with the hardware implementation and software development. For hardware implementation as shown in Figure 4(a), the main component is the four walkie-talkies (1 walkie-talkie acts as transmitter (object) and the rest acts as receivers), National Instruments BNC-2110 and DAQ Card. At the top of the receivers walkie-talkies, there is universal connector, [3]. The universal connector was connected to the BNC-2110 by using CAT5 and crocodiles clips. The output of the receivers walkie-talkies is voltage. The test at the laboratory was done to identify which pins are suitable to get the output voltage of the receiver. By using Pin 6(DATA) and Pin 5(GROUND), the experiment is to test the effects of the output voltages of the walkie-talkies when placed near and far to each other. The results were as follows: Table 1 Parameter Vpp (mV) Time(ms) Cycle RMS(mV) Frequency(Hz) Data from the oscilloscope. Near 832 19.94 268 50.15 Far 672 20.04 211 49.90

Volt/div = 1V/division Time/div = 5ms/division Figure 1 Sine output voltage of the receivers walkie-talkie.

From the test, when both walkie-talkies were placed near to each other, the output voltage is higher than the further ones. So, Pin 6 is suitable to this project for finding the output voltages. Another test was assigned to know the voltages whether it proportional or not due to the distances of the walkie-talkies. The results were as follows: Table 2 Data from multimeter.
Voltage( mV) 42.6 35.6 30.0 25.7 20.8 15.1 10.0 6.3 2.5 0.5 0.2

Distance( m) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

From this experiment, the voltages decreased proportionally to the increase of the distances. Then, the graph is linear as Figure 2.

Figure 2

Graph voltages (mV) versus distances (m).

Last step to the hardware implementation is to arrange the walkie-talkies based on triangulation. The walkie-talkies were placed as Figure 3.

Figure 3

Walkie-Talkies were placed in triangulation position.

The locations of the receivers were fixed as below (in meter). Only the object was adjusted. R1 = (0, 0) R2 = (2.5, 5) R3 = (5, 0)

For software part as Figure 4(b), there are three subparts programming using LabVIEW. First subpart programming is to show the waveform and display the values of output voltages from the receivers. Second is to display the values of the conversion of the output voltages to signal strength in decibel. Last programming is to display the location of the object.

Figure 4(a)

The flow chart of the hardware part.

Figure 4(b)

The flow chart of the software part.

3.0 3.1

Results and Analysis Display Waveforms and Receivers Output Voltages Values

Figure 5

The Front Panel of subpart programming 1.

Figure 6

The Block Diagram of the subpart programming 1.

Analysis

This Front Panel as shown in Figure 5 was built to display the waveforms and the values of the output voltages of the receivers. At this panel, its represents of three receivers walkie-talkies named as Receiver 1, 2 and 3. Voltage Rx icon (x=1, 2 and 3) is for I/O Traditional DAQ Channel for Tag Constant which function as a constant input for a tag and/or a VI. By clicking the arrow at it, the name of analog input channel was selected. There are three analog input channel names as Voltage, Voltage1 and Voltage2. This analog input channel was configured earlier at Data Neighborhood in Measurement & Automation. Numeric Rx is Numeric Indicator which functions to display the digital values of the receivers and the Waveform Graph is to display the voltage waveform of the receiver. For Block Diagram as shown in Figure 6, all icons were placed in the While Loop that repeats the subdiagram inside it. AI Acquire Waveform, was used to

acquire a specified number of samples at a specified sample rate from a single input channel and the output were links to both of Waveform Graph and Numeric Rx.

3.2

Display Values of the Conversion of Output Voltages to Signal Strength

Figure 7

The Front Panel of subpart programming 2.

Figure 8

The Block Diagram of the subpart programming 2.

Analysis

This part is for conversion of the voltage to signal strength in decibel (dBm). At Front Panel, there are two values displayed which are for receivers voltage and receivers signal strength as shown in Figure 7. For the Block Diagram, the conversion formula is placed in Formula Node. Its use as to evaluate mathematical formula and expressions similar to C on the block diagram. Semicolon (;) must be placed at the end of formula because the Formula Node is case sensitive as shown in Figure 8. The input and output must be declared in order to avoid error. The input is receivers voltage is a Numeric Control while the output is the receiver signal strength is a Numeric Indicator. The function of the Numeric Control is to manually insert the receivers output voltage value and the Numeric Indicator is use to automatically calculate the Numeric Control value using the formula and display the value at the Front Panel.

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3.3

Display the Location of the Object

Figure 9

The Front Panel of subpart programming 3.

Figure 10

The Block Diagram of the subpart programming 3.

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Analysis

The last subpart of the programming using LabVIEW is to display the location of the object. At Front Panel as shown in Figure 9, the object is in red symbol at Display graph. Numeric Control for x, y and z are the output voltages from the receivers while Numeric Indicator for a and b are the output after the calculation using Triangulation Formula. The locations of the Receiver 1, 2 and 3 also displayed at the Front Panel. At Block Diagram as shown in Figure 10, the Triangulation Formula is placed in the Formula Node that case sensitive. For example, * symbol is used for the multiplication operation to avoid any error. The inputs of the loop are x, y and z while the outputs are a and b. For plotting the location of the walkie-talkie, the both outputs were Bundle together. The Bundle use to assemble a cluster from individual elements. Build Array, function as concatenates multiple arrays or appends elements to an n-array was used to append the output cluster from the Bundle. Then, the output from Build Array was connected to XY Graph (Display) that used for plotting the objects location.

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5.0

Conclusion and Future Recommendation

As conclusion, Objects Tracking Using Triangulation Method is a project that can track location of an object inside the building. This project is a compliment of GPS System in which GPS has limitation of the satellites coverage area that does not cover inside the buildings. To get the precise location of the object, this project needs at least three receivers and applies it to the triangulation formula. The greater number of the receivers, the precise the coordinate or the location of the object. First objective of this objective is to determine the appropriate triangulation formula, [1], the objective is successfully achieved. The formula is: For x-position,

For y-position,

Where:

a = output voltage receives from Receiver 1, R1. b = output voltage receives from Receiver 2, R2. c = output voltage receives from Receiver 3, R3.

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Second objective is to find the relation of signal strength sent from transmitter to the receiver with distance also has been achieved successfully. The walkie-talkie output is in voltage and has to be converted to decibel value to get the receiver signal strength, [2]. For the conversion, the formula is: dBm = 20 log10 Where: V= the output voltage from the receiver in mV. Table 3 The values of Receivers signal strength in dBm.
Distance (m) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Receivers Signal Strength(dBm) 34.8 33.24 31.76 30.42 28.58 25.8 22.22 18.2 10.2 -3.81 -11.77

Figure 11

Graph Signal Strength (dBm) versus Distance (m).

From the graph as shown in Figure 11, the signal strengths decreased with the increase of the distances. The graph is not linear because of the factor of logarithm.

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Third objective is to build a model to establish triangulation method also has been completed successfully. The model is consisting of a walkie-talkie for an object or transmitter, and three walkie-talkies for the receiver as shown in Figure 3. The last objective of this project is to display objects location using the LabVIEW software also successful as shown in Figure 9. For future need, this project can be modified to be a better project. First, the usage of walkie-talkie can be replaced to a light or simple RF that has the same function as walkie-talkie. The simple and light RF is easy to carry and portable. This project can only track an object at any one time. For the future recommendation, multiples objects can be tracked easily in a display on the monitor. The operator can manage the situation easily and all the problems can be overcome in a short time. This project is suitable to the dangerous and risky places such as in an oil and gas plant. Other than that, this project is manually input the output voltages of the receivers by the user to get the values of signal strength and to display the objects location. For future recommendation, this project can be better when the output voltages of the receivers are automatically input to the programming. This can make this system running smoothly and decreased the time needed. Lastly, the display on the monitor that displays the location of the object can be improved by integrating the display with the map of the area.

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Appendix

1. Object Tracking using Triangulation Method has several objectives: a) Determine the appropriate triangulation formula. b) To find the relation of signal strength sent from transmitter to the receiver with distance. c) Build a model to establish triangulation method.
d) To display objects location using the LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual

Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) software. 2. Generally, the scopes of this project are: a) Design a programming system to find location from the signal strength among object (transmitter) to receiver to use in triangulation method formula by using the LabVIEW software in C programming. b) Build a hardware system that can detect an object in the confined area, which consists of transmitter and receiver.

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References

1. Inderjit Singh (2007), Real-time Object Tracking with Wireless Sensor

Networks Lule University of Technology, Prague: Master Thesis.

2. http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-volt.htm

14th February 2008, 8 pm. 3. Portable Radios Service Manual Radius P200, Motorala Inc.