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Car Alarm Detection Device

Conference Paper · May 2016

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 Car Alarm Detection Device
Y. Faridah1, W M Amir Asyraf W Abdul Rahman2
UniKL Malaysian Institute of Information Technology
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
[email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract — Number of break-ins either in cars or houses are In [2] the car control system was designed using PIC
rising at an alarming rate. This cause problems to society in microcontroller and GSM technology. The system used the
terms of loss of belongings or precious items and damages of same method for current car alarm system and owner are
the properties. This system is designed to help car users to called by the operator to inform of breakins. The use of
protect their cars from such incidents with the use of alarm phone is seen as a problem as information disseminate might
and GSM module. It focused on detection of movement inside not be heard correctly or miscommunicate. The system
the vehicle with sensor. An SMS is send to the owner with no ability to shut down the engine might cause another problem
sound of alarm to notify on the intrusion. After receiving the of car break down due to wiring fault.
notification, only the owner can unlock the car as the system as
The proposed system in this paper used the SMS instead
it used a remote controlled switch key.
of phone, to inform car owner of any unexpected
Keywords-component; GSM; SMS; Car; Sensor occurrences to their vehicle.
III. PROPOSED SYSTEM
I. INTRODUCTION
Statistics from Vehicle Theft Reduction Council of A. Architecture of the Proposed System
Malaysia (VTREC) Berhad stated that, 5073 units of cars Figure 1 below shows the block diagram of Car Alarm
were stolen in 2012 and in 2013, 4776 units of cars also went Detection Device System.
missing [1][3]. These numbers showed that car theft is
becoming an issue and current car alarm systems cannot
solved the problem.
Currently, the existing car alarm systems uses flashing
light techniques with sensors such as motion detection,
shock, door sensors and others, which comes with an alarm
sound. The sound can only be heard within the surrounding
areas and owners are not being alerted.
The proposed system used motion detection sensor
system which used Arduino Nano, GSM Siemen Module and
PIR (Passive Infra-Red) sensor [4].
Most current standard of mobile phones around the world
uses Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),
with the use of this technology, the system enable to
communicate with users using the short messaging system
(SMS).
The prototype system will detect any movement or
motion inside the vehicle and informed the owner by sending
an SMS alert message. It make owners more on guard on any
intrusions and can avoid unwanted incidents occurred.
II. EXISTING SYSTEMS Figure 1: Block Diagram for Car Alarm Detection
As number of cars increasing, so does car theft incidents Device System
occurrences. The conventional method of alarm system
widely available in the market make use of the flashing like When an intruder enters the vehicle, PIR sensor will
techniques. detect the movement and this data is transmitted by the
Thieves are clever innovators with good skills of stealing Arduino Nano microcontroller. Data is submitted and both
techniques. Therefore, there is a need for new invention or LED and GSM module are activated.
method that will make the owners keep abreast on the real An SMS is send to the owner registered mobile phone
time situation or preventing the incidents from occurring. number by communication line service provider.
B. Flowchart Table 1 showed the comparison between PIC16F877A
Figure 2 shows the flow of the Car Alarm Detection and Arduino microcontrollers.
Device system. It showed that ATmega328 provided much better PWM
output pins, more flash memory and SRAM. This
microcontroller also support 12C and SPI communication.
The board has its own software called Arduino software
which includes serial monitor which allows simple textual
data to be sent to and from the Arduino board.
It also comes preburned with abootloader that allows user
to upload new code without the use of an external hardware
programmer. It communicates using the
original STK500 protocol.
B. GSM Siemens TC35 SMS Module
GSM TC35 module is an AT command controlled GSM
modem via serial port RS232/TTL communication. It features
GSM network frequency of 900MHz and 1800MHz.
It can directly connect to the computer via COM port (serial
port) and using the HyperTerminal (UART) to communicate by
making call, accept call, send and receive SMS.
C. PIR Sensor Module
Passive Infra-Red (PIR) sensor is a pyroelectric devices motion
by measuring changes in the infrared levels emitted by surrounding
objects. The motion is detected by checking for a high signal on a
single I/O pin. Usually used as a security device in a monitored
area such as a security device in a monitored area such as a room
or hall to detect appearance of intruder.
D. RF Wireless Remote Control Switch System
It is a wireless remote-control switch is an electric switch
which is controlled by a radio or other signal and does not
Figure 2 : Flowchart of Car Alarm Detection Device require an operator to touch the switch. The remote-control
device, if electrically operated, uses batteries with a low,
safe, voltage. This type of switch avoids the risk of electric
IV. MODULES USED shock if a user touches a switch with wet hands, and allows
switching apparatus form a location without a wired switch.
A. Microcontroller
Arduino Nano is a microcontroller board based on the E. Schematic Diagram of System
ATmega328. It has 14 digital input/output pins including 6 Figure 3 showed the schematic diagram of the system
PWM outputs capable pin and 8 analog inputs. The Arduino proposed. It showed all of the ports and necessary connection
Nano can be powered via the Mini-B USB connection .The to make the hardware work
reasons why Arduino Nano is chosen over other
microcontroller are that it offers more flexibility and easy to
program and understand with vast of support on web.

Table 1 : Comparison Between ATmega328 Micro and

PIC16F877A

Microcontroller ATmega328 PIC16F877A

Operating 5V 2V
Voltage
Input Voltage 7 - 12 V 2-5.5V
Digital I/O Pins 14 ( 6 provide 33 (2 provide PWM
PWM output) output)
Flash Memory 32 kB 14 kB
SRAM 2 kB 368 B Figure 3 : System Schematic Diagram
EEPROM 1 kB 256 B
Clock Speed 16 MHz 5 MHz
 V. TESTING B. Using Arduino and Serial Monitor
The proposed system was tested on the input and output 1. SIM card is installed on GSM module and switch on.
modules. It was identified that PIR sensor acted as the input 2. Red LED will light up once per second to search for
module and GSM module with the LED as the output. network availability.
Two methods of testing was done for the purpose of 3. Once the network is connected and SIM card is
testing on the function of both input and output. First method registered, the LED will light up one per three
is done through Calling and second method is by using second.
Arduino and Serial Monitor. 4. GMS module and Arduino is connected as shown in
Figure 7.
A. Calling
1. SIM card is installed on GSM module as shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4 : Locating SIM on GSM Module Figure 7: Connection

5. On the computer monitor, Arduino IDE software
2. GSM module is powered up. with Serial Monitor screen will pop up as shown in
3. Red LED blink once per second to search for Figure 8.
network as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 : Red LED location

4. Once SIM registration is done, the LED will light up Figure 8 : Arduino IDE Software Screen
once per three second.
5. A dialing screen as in Figure 6, will pop up in the 6. A series of AT command is run to check the
phone. A call is made by the network to ensure that connection between SIM and network as shown in
the GSM module is able to receive and transmit the Figure 9.
signal.

Figure 6 : Dialing Figure 9 : AT commands

 VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Results of the prototype testing is shown in Figure 11.
The results of the prototype system is as shown in Figure
10.

Figure 10 : Prototype system

Figure 11 : Testing of the prototype system

 VII. CONCLUSION
The proposed system worked as expected. The device is
able to detect and an SMS alert is send to the vehicle owner.
Testing was done near neighbourhood area and most of the
time, the network signal is good.
The system can be further enhanced by adding more
sensors such as temperature and GPS module. This could
help user track the location of their car whenever they forget
where they park their vehicle such as in huge parking lots.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to acknowledge the ISCAIE 2016
committee for allowing us to amend the template giving the
opportunity to participate in the conference.
REFERENCES
[1] Statistics. (n.d.). http://www.vtrec.net/?page_id=455 Retrieved on
April 6, 2015
[2] J Abdullah, The Design of Mobile Control Car Security, IACSIT
International Journal of Egineering and Technology, 3(3), 254-262,
2011
[3] 3rd Quarter Updates Report, An Analysis of Claims Cost for Motor
Insurance, (7), 5-6, No Author, 2013.
[4] N M Z Hashim et al., Child Car Alarm System Using Various
Sensors, ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vol 9,
9, 1653-1658, Sept 2014

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