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Self-described "engineering enthusiast" Mihai Cuciuc has designed a custom location tracker for "dogs & big-ish cats," dubbed Squeak — using a LoRaWAN connection to ensure the location can be reported even outside the range of Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Lithium Auto Battery
"There are many other GPS pet/asset trackers, some of them also using LoRa in one form or another. These all have their own advantages and drawbacks," Cuciuc explains of the project. "[My] tracker uses the RN2483 module from Microchip as an application processor, thanks to Microchip publishing the source code to the module."
The resulting custom-built tracker board has the Microchip RN2483, an 868MHz LoRa radio module with integrated microcontroller, to one side and a Quectel L80 global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver to the other. Two 3.3V low drop-out (LDO) regulators are used for power, so the GNSS receiver can be disabled while leaving the LoRa module alive. A battery charging circuit connects everything to a 3.7V 400mAh lithium-ion battery for power.
"Measurements are periodically reported through uplink messages that use the lowest data rate possible (DR0 — SF12BW125 in EU [European Union]), to maximize the chances of a packet being picked up by a gateway," Cucuic explains. "Downlinks configure the behaviour - how often uplinks are sent and which of these uplinks should contain GPS measurements."
As a proof-of-concept, Cucuic connected the tracker to the Helium network and used Google Forms integration to log to Google Sheets — but has something better in mind for the finished design. "Solutions in the previous posts did get the job done but were rather hacky, having to go through Google Sheets or to configure Datacake for Squeak. These also required users to poll the data for any location updates," he explains. "The Squeak Cloud Service is a custom platform that uses AWS for data storage and for the business logic and a Telegram bot to allow owners to interact with their hardware."
Cuciuc has been testing the Squeak tracker in a vehicle with an added temperature sensor to monitor battery safety; to stay informed of future tests, including when it finally makes its way onto a furry friend for a true field experiment, follow his progress on the project's Hackaday.io page.
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