Worried about your child? Track this…
Bangalore: Be it a strike or violence in some parts of the city, anxious parents need not get hyper. They can now not only track their children but also warn them if they are in a danger zone.
The child tracking device developed by the Centre of Electronics, Design and Technology (CEDT) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bangalore is going to be the size of a sleek mobile and can be fitted into the child's shoe, belt or worn like a wristwatch, Dr Pavan Nuggehalli and T V Prabhakar, of CEDT, who led the project, said.
Since there is no voice communication, the device can be easily allowed in schools, Prabhakar added.
The child carrying the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) device in the form of activated mobile phone can be easily tracked by the parent. Information from this device is periodically transferred to the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) linked to a central server.
"Parents sitting at home, can see on the website, the map of the locality in which the child is expected to move around and mark the areas on the map which, according to them are danger areas as far as the child is concerned. It could even be pubs or discotheques," Prabhakar said.
"In our implementation of the prototype, every five minutes, position information was updated," Nuggehalli said.
However, for the GPS technology to work, there needs to be a line of sight path between the GPS receiver and the GPS satellites, which is often not possible in the indoor environment, Nuggehalli added.