World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering

Vol:7, No:2, 2013

GPS and SMS-Based Child Tracking System Using

Smart Phone
A. Al-Mazloum, E. Omer, M. F. A. Abdullah

and aimed to help locating missing or lost children. It takes

Abstract—Recently many cases of missing children between advantage of the fact that many of today’s children bring
ages 14 and 17 years are reported. Parents always worry about the smartphones which is convenient for this kind of situation. In
possibility of kidnapping of their children. This paper proposes an this work, GPS is combined with one of the basic service of a
Android based solution to aid parents to track their children in real
smart phone which is GSM, more specifically SMS, in one
time. Nowadays, most mobile phones are equipped with location
system. An application at the parent side will allow parents to
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:7, No:2, 2013 waset.org/Publication/9996929

services capabilities allowing us to get the device’s geographic

position in real time. The proposed solution takes the advantage of send a location request to a child side then retrieve the location
the location services provided by mobile phone since most of kids from the request reply and shows it on a map. On the other
carry mobile phones. The mobile application use the GPS and SMS hand, the application at the child’s side gathers the necessary
services found in Android mobile phones. It allows the parent to get information of the smart phone that will be used to locate the
their child’s location on a real time map. The system consists of two
smart phone. Information such as GPS coordinates and time
sides, child side and parent side. A parent’s device main duty is to
send a request location SMS to the child’s device to get the location are gathered and sent to the parent smart phone that’s pre-
of the child. On the other hand, the child’s device main responsibility registered on the application. The communication between the
is to reply the GPS position to the parent’s device upon request. parent and the child applications is done using Short Message
Service (SMS). SMS offers the system unique features. It will
Keywords—Child Tracking System, Global Positioning System allow the system to work without the need of internet
(GPS), SMS-based Mobile Application. connection thus allows the application to be implemented on
smart phones that don’t support GPRS, 2G or 3G internet
I. INTRODUCTION connectivity. The system sends the location of child’s smart

I N today’s world, over 80% of the world population,

including children around the age of eight or seven, owns
smart phones [1]. This is due to many reasons. One of them is
phone to parent’s smart phone when the parent wishes to
check on the child.
This paper is organized as follows. Section I is an
the remarkable features and capabilities that new smart phones introduction to the work. Section II reviews the related work
offer especially Android based smart phones. With that many focusing on location-based services and GSM. Section III
features, the need for resourceful applications rises. In our describes in details the system development including its
opinion, GPS offers outstanding capabilities in locating requirements, architecture and how the system works. Section
position and this can be used to develop resourceful IV is the conclusion and future work.
application that helps in locating missing or lost children.
Studies conducted by Cyber Travel Tips [2] showed that in II. RELATED WORKS
Malaysia, missing children are basically classified into two In Al-Suwaidi and Zemerl work [3], the problem was
categories. The first category is disappearance, which includes solved by proposing an application “Locating Friends and
running away from home. The other category is abduction or Family Using Mobile Phones with Global Positioning System
kidnapping. Statistics reveal that since 2004, a total of 5,996 (GPS)”. The architecture of the system is based on client-
children under the age of 18 went missing from their homes. server approach. The client phone registers and login into the
Fortunately, around 4092 children returned home or found by server. Then, the client periodically sends his coordinate
the police. However, the other 1,904 children are still missing. location updates to the server which stores it in a database.
Those children are boys and girls with ages between 14 years Thus, any client wishes to learn the location of another client
and 17 years. Moreover, when parents want to go family trip, will have to register and login to the server to request the
they always concern about their children’s safety. This location. This application was developed to helps locate
worrying may affects negatively on the parent to enjoy their family member and friends. The mobile application was
family trip. Even worst, parents can lose sight of their children implemented using J2ME. As for the server, it uses MySQL
and fear the possibly of kidnaping or worst for them. Database along with PHP to guarantees that the server would
Consequently, this project is designed to be used by parents not be overloaded. This proposed solution makes each client
has same control and command privileges as the other which
A. Al-Mazloum is with the Faculty of Information Science & Technology, is not convenient for use in child tracking application where
Multimedia University, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia (phone: +606-25223381; only the parent should have the control and command
fax: +606-2318840; e-mail: [email protected]).
E. Omer and M. F. A. Abdullah are with Faculty of Information Science &
privileges. A limitation of this solution is that in order for the
Technology, Multimedia University, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia (e-mail: system to work there must be internet connectivity in both
[email protected], [email protected]).

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(2) 2013 238
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:7, No:2, 2013

cllient and serveer sides. SM

MS only.
In the paper by Almomanni, Alkhalil, Ahmad A and Joddeh [4],
a “Ubiquitous GPS Vehicle Tracking g and Manaagement IIII. APPLICATTION DEVELOPPMENT
Syystem” is prooposed. This systems architeecture designned in a
A. Requiremeents
w
way so that it offers maxximum accesssibility for thhe user
annytime and annywhere by pproviding twoo types of ennd user This work is designed for parents and children. Bothh must
appplications, a web applicatiion and a mobbile applicatioon. The haave a smart phone that supports GP PS and SMS S as a
arrchitecture off the system is based on client-server. In the miinimum. SMS S is a basic sservice on an ny smart phonnes but
seerver side, it contains a G GPRS, a web and an SMS S server GP PS can be fouund on new smart s phones. The applicaation is
allong with dataabase to storee user details and data. As for the moostly to be used
u by pareents to track k down the child’s
cllient, it is a box
b that conttains a GPS tracker and a GSM loccation. In a later
l phase fofor implementtation purposees, the
m
modem. When users requestt location from m the web or mobile sysstem will be developed ussing Android SDK tools [7] [ and
appplication afteer registering and logging into the web server, Ecclipse [8] suppporting Andrroid. The maain reason why w the
ann SMS request will be sent to the GS SM modem inn client Anndroid OS was chosen for thhe implementtation of this work
w is
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:7, No:2, 2013 waset.org/Publication/9996929

deevice. Then thet client devvice responds using GPRS S which to target more users.
u Statisticcs shows that the
t market shhare for
w be receiveed by the GPR
will RS server andd forwarded back b to thee Android OS S is 48.8 [9].. This makes it the highesst over
thhe SMS serverr. Finally the SMS S server foorwards the reesponse othhers smartphoones operatingg systems currently in the market.
m
too the web servver. This project was designned for fleet opperators B. Applicationn Architecturee
inn monitoring driving behhavior of em mployees or parents We propose a solution to solve the prooblem based mainly m
m
monitoring theiir teen drivers. onn GPS and GS SM technologiies. It takes advantage
a of the two
Chandra, Jaiin and Qadeeer [5] used a simple webb server maain rich featuures that is offfered in advaanced smart mobile
appproach alongg with SMS S to solve thhe problem. It was plaatforms nowaadays. Thosee features aree location seervices,
immplemented foor JAVA enabbled mobile deevices equipped with maainly GPS, annd basic telephony servicess, mainly SM MS. The
G
GPS receptor. A client can either send his h location to t other sollution propossed will be im mplemented to support Android
A
cllients directly by SMS or share it by seending it to thhe web plaatforms in a later
l work. Thhe system prooposed is baseed on a
seerver’s databaase via interneet. Clients cann view the loocations sim
mple idea thatt is the use of SMS for com mmunicating beetween
onn the Google maps. The aim m of this application is to enables thee parties invoolved, parentt and child. It I is designed in a
thhe user to shaare his locatioon with their friends or eveen who sim
mple way so thatt it will invvolve few eleements and less user
usses the same solution.
s intteraction. This way it will result in a syystem that is simple
Anderson, Lustig,
L Brunnette, Borrielllo and Kollko [6] annd easy to implement and usse, making it morem user-frieendly.
prroposed soluttion for” traansportation information
i s
system”
ussing only GPS S and SMS. On O the client side,
s a device (a box)
coontaining a GSM
G modem and a a GPS unnit. On the baack end
side, a databaase server stores the deetails and loocations
coonnected to a basic GSM pphone for SMS S capability. When
W a
usser wants to request
r a locaation of a clieent, it sends ana SMS
reequest to the server’s GSM phone, the serrver then replay with
thhe latest locatiion acquired from the cliennt to the userr issued
thhe request. A unique
u featuree of the solutiion is that it does
d not
reequire internett connectivity on both sides for it to workk.
As it can be establishhed from thhe literature review
coonducted, theere are manyy exiting sollutions for locating l
m
missing or loost children. Some of thhe above disscussed
soolutions requirre internet coonnectivity onn both sides of o client
annd server whicch is not convvenient for som me cases wherre there
is no internet connectivity
c aat any of the child
c or parennt sides.
A
Additionally, thhe relationshiip between thhe child and parents
deevices should be controlled by parent sidde. A child sho ould not Fig. 1 Architecture of the Proposed System
bee able to deelete or moddify his detaiils without parent’s p
The architectture of the sysstem proposed, illustrated in Fig.
peermission. Hence
H accorrdingly, we have asssembled
wo sides. Firstt is the parent side which accts as a
1, consists of tw
suuggestions off approaches to solve chilld locating problem p
serrver for the system
s thoughh it is not acttually a serveer. It is
w
which led to prropose a soluttion designed for any smartt phone
baasically an Anndroid phone owned by thee parent of the child
thhat supports Location
L Basedd Services inccluding GPS. Unlike
to be located. The
T parent’s siide uses SMS S for communnicating
m
most of the systems
s discuussed, the main
m feature of the
wiith the child and
a maps to viiew the locatiion of the chilld on a
prroposed application is to gget the child location withhout the
maap. Thus, it requires
r telephhony and inteernet servicess to be
chhild’s interacttion in the prrocess and with w simple an nd cost
ennabled in the parent’s
p phone for the systtem to functioon. The
efffective’s methhods. This is done throughh the use of GPS G and

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(2) 2013 239
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:7, No:2, 2013

Second is the child side which acts as a client for the system. system. So, when a parent sends a location request via SMS to
The child side is also another Android smart phone but owned the child side, the Listener at the child side will automatically
by the child to be located. The child side uses SMS for reply to a location request SMS with the latest location update
communicating with the parent side and location services, received from the location service. Afterwards, the parent’s
GPS or Network, to get the location of the child in form of Listener will receive the location details from the child via
coordinates. On the child side, telephony and location services SMS and processes it for viewing on a convenient map on the
must be enabled and up running on the child side for the UI.
system to work. Where else the parent side might need internet For The Listener to work, it listens for a specific string of
connectivity only for the map to show. characters that is predetermined between the parent and child
sides. If an SMS message received starting with that
predetermined string then the application will handle event. In
this work, the string “$getUpdate$” will be used by the SMS
sent by parent side for location request. Where else, the string
“$update$Coord” will be used by SMS sent by the child side
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:7, No:2, 2013 waset.org/Publication/9996929

for updating the location. Note that the “Coordinate” in the

string refers to the location coordinates decimals in the actual
system.

Fig. 2 Child’s Location at Parent Side

On the parent side, the application by minimum runs the

user interface, mostly for map tracking, as well as a service
(Listener) that runs in the background of the smart phone. On
the child side, the application is mostly a service or Listener
that runs in the background of the smart phone. A user, parent, Fig. 3 Child’s Side Main Interface
will use the interface to send a location request SMS to child.
The Listener at the parent side employs one main function and The design of this proposed solution offers many
that is to listen for the child’s reply for the location request. advantages over many exiting solutions. First, the application
However, the Listener at child side employs two main operates automatically upon parent location request without
functions. One of these functions is periodically listens and the need for user interaction at the child side. This is
gets location coordinates updates from GPS satellite or considered as a big advantage for the system because usually a
Network provider whichever more accurate. The other main child cannot handle a complex mobile application and too
function is listening and waiting for a location request from many user interactions. Another advantage is that the system
the parent side. uses SMS for data transfer thus eliminating the need for
A Listener is a service runs in the background and keeps internet connectivity. The system will only require location
listening to all SMS incoming but only will only reply to services and telephony connectivity. This is suitable for
location requests or update coming from the other side of the situations where the users might not have internet access. The

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(2) 2013 240
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Vol:7, No:2, 2013

third advantage this solution offers is that it can perfectly [8] The Eclipse Foundation, available at: http://www.eclipse.org.
[9] Mobithinking, “Global mobile statistics 2012 Part A: Mobile
function indoors as well. It is done by using both GPS and subscribers, handset market share, mobile operators,” available at:
Network provider for location determination. The application http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-
will always get coordinates from both, compare them and use stats/a#smartphone-shipments.
the most accurate. In cases where there is no GPS satellite
signal received, for example indoors, the application will use
the only other source available which is the Network provider.
It should be noted that Network provider location detection is
based on the Cellular ID. Lastly, the system uses a master-
slave relation between parent and child sides where the parent
controls all the functions of the system and the child has very
little control over the system.
Fig. 2 shows the parent’s side application. The yellow area
is the geo-fencing area where the child is allowed to roam
Digital Open Science Index, Electronics and Communication Engineering Vol:7, No:2, 2013 waset.org/Publication/9996929

within. If the child passes the limit of the area, the parent will
be notified. Fig. 3 shows the interface of the child’s side
application.

IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

In conclusion, this project was developed to aid locating
missing or lost children. The solution proposed in this paper
takes advantage of the rich features offered in Androids smart
phones. The architecture of system built on two main
component, GPS satellite, and GSM telephony services.
Developing this project would not have been possible without
studying related and existing works. Some of these works
relies on internet connectivity or a server that has to be up
running. The proposed system relies only on two main
services, telephony and location, thus eliminating the need for
internet connection or a dedicated server. Finally, like any
software product or design, there is still room for
enhancement. Features can be added to enhance the system
such as Geo-fencing, emergency alerts and many others. The
proposed system will be implemented, continued, reviewed
and improved in a later work.

REFERENCES
[1] Anson Alexander, “Smartphone Usage Statistics 2012,”, available at:
http://ansonalex.com/infographics/smartphone-usage-statistics-2012-
infographic/
[2] Cyber Travel Tips, “Statistics of Missing Child In Malaysia”, available
at: http://www.thecavellgroup.com/downloads/Kidnapping-
TheGlobalEpidemic.pdf
[3] Ghaith Bader Al-Suwaidi, Mohamed Jamal Zemerly, “Locating friends
and family using mobile phones with global positioning system (GPS),”
IEEE/ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and
Applications, 2009.
[4] Almomani, I.M., Alkhalil, N.Y., Ahmad, E.M., Jodeh, R.M.,
“Ubiquitous GPS vehicle tracking and management system,” 2011 IEEE
Jordan Conference on Applied Electrical Engineering and Computing
Technologies (AEECT), pp.1-6, 6-8 Dec. 2011.
[5] Chandra, A., Jain, S., Qadeer, M.A., “GPS Locator: An Application for
Location Tracking and Sharing Using GPS for Java Enabled
Handhelds,” 2011 International Conference on Computational
Intelligence and Communication Networks (CICN), pp.406-410, 7-9 Oct.
2011.
[6] Anderson, Ruth E., et al., “Building a transportation information system
using only GPS and basic SMS infrastructure,” 2009 International
Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and
Development (ICTD), IEEE, 2009.
[7] Android Developers, available at: http://developer.android.com/sdk/
index.html.

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 7(2) 2013 241