7 ms·

I'm actually really interested in the technical details of the tracking devices. They had to have batteries that lasted months and they had to be designed to wo

by shrike 10y ago

I'm actually really interested in the technical details of the tracking devices. They had to have batteries that lasted months and they had to be designed to work with the cellular networks in basically any country on Earth. (I'm assuming they weren't satellite based, maybe they were.) Does anybody have any details on the devices themselves?

toomuchtodo 10y ago
Ask away! Devices can either use cellular networks or satellite networks. The amount of data sent is extremely small, so bandwidth isn't an issue. The device can wake up, get a fix, store it, and then sleep again for a set duration of time. They're off the shelf, or you can build a custom device using an Ardunio board (or any microcontroller really). Your endurance is limited only by the size of the battery you use (and if you use solar somehow, infinite).
- shrike 10y ago
  Do you have a link to the off the shelf product they used for this project?
  - toomuchtodo 10y ago
    Sorry about that! I'm not OP, but someone who has deployed similar tracking devices for marine-related purposes.
  - elbigbad 10y ago
    I don't know what they used for this project, but I have built similar things with the recently-released Particle Electron that I got on Kickstarter, though now I believe it's released widely. Works really great, I was using the Spark Core before, same company and concept but with wifi instead of cellular. https://www.particle.io/cellular https://www.particle.io/cellular
  - haser_au 10y ago
    Details are here, on page 105. It was a custom GPS solution. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disconnect+-+Goodwill+and+Dell+Exporting+the+Publics+E-waste+to+Developing+Countries+Report+-+Web+Version.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disc...
jhallenworld 10y ago
They have them for cats- there seems to be a race to develop the best one: http://www.appcessories.co.uk/wheres-that-darn-cat-the-best-gps-cat-tracker/ http://www.appcessories.co.uk/wheres-that-darn-cat-the-best-... "Pawtrack needs to be able to be working in a compatible country, and in addition needs to have GPRS (2g) connectivity to allow live updates. The cat tracking collar will work in 171 countries, including USA/ Canada, the EU, UK as well as Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the cat GPS collar will transmit via home Wifi." "The Pawtrack cat GPS collar takes about 4 hours to be fully recharged, and once charged will last up to 3 days once the Wifi modules and Intelligent Power Control settings are switched on." Maybe you could wire in a larger battery.
rcheu 10y ago
I learned about this through a classmate doing a presentation on his work for this project (at MIT). Iirc, they used modified android devices with larger batteries. The devices mostly slept and occasionally woke up to check in so they lasted awhile. I don't remember the specifics of how they communicated unfortunately. I'm somewhat surprised this article is out. When I heard about it (~1 year ago), I thought they weren't going to release the data because it technically acquired illegally with the tracking devices.
- deckar01 10y ago
  What laws did they violate? Just to disambiguate my tone, I don't doubt they could have violated laws, I'm just not very knowledgable in this area of the law and would like to learn more.
  - jhallenworld 10y ago
    My guess: shipping a lithium ion battery improperly.
    - Scoundreller 10y ago
      Naw, lithium ion batteries have a high self-discharge rate. Not a good idea for this kind of project. Since we're talking eWaste, my guess is a bunch of 6V alkaline batteries strung together in an old CRT monitor.
      - jhallenworld 10y ago
        It's a good idea to use primary cells for this case, but did they?
        Scoundreller 10y ago
        They seem to be vague about the device and its batteries, but they do say they utilized an external battery. With no mode of recharging, why bother with rechargeables?
haser_au 10y ago
If you have a look at the first link in the text, it will take you to the full "e-Trash Transparency" report (http://www.ban.org/trash-transparency http://www.ban.org/trash-transparency). When you download the 'Report', on page 105 it describes, in detail, the methodology used. Extracts from the report: "In order to determine and procure the best equipment for the e-Trash Transparency Project, BAN tested several different subscription-based tracking systems. Based on the findings, it was determined that BAN’s case scenario was better served by a customized solution, but one that made use of “off-the-shelf” GSM/GPRS tracking hardware." Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disconnect+-+Goodwill+and+Dell+Exporting+the+Publics+E-waste+to+Developing+Countries+Report+-+Web+Version.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disc... "The combined cost of a single tracker, external battery, the SIM card, the M2M service rates package was approximately $175 (including shipping and taxes). The project, funded in large part by a grant from the Body Shop Foundation, included the purchase of over 200 trackers." "Free and open source software called OpenGTS was used to collect and display data in a user-friendly manner...software included integration with Google Maps" "The trackers that were used usually had at least a 9-month battery life, with some trackers still communicating after 12 months. The battery life varies depending on many factors including signal strength, temperature and sleep mode settings. Prolonged battery life is primarily attributed to the tracker possessing a sleep mode function, which allows the device to hibernate in a power-saving mode for a preset time. Typically, each tracker was set to “wake up” every 24 hours, calculate its position based on the satellite signals it received, send the data to BAN’s server via local GSM networks and then reenter sleep mode function."
- Scoundreller 10y ago
  > Prolonged battery life is primarily attributed to the tracker possessing a sleep mode function, which allows the device to hibernate in a power-saving mode for a preset time. It would be cool if the time between wakeups could increase dramatically towards the end of the life of the battery. Or only wake up when temperature conditions are favourable toward having enough power to go through a cycle.
- shrike 10y ago
  That was what I was looking for, thanks!

by shrike 10y ago

toomuchtodo 10y ago

Ask away! Devices can either use cellular networks or satellite networks. The amount of data sent is extremely small, so bandwidth isn't an issue. The device can wake up, get a fix, store it, and then sleep again for a set duration of time. They're off the shelf, or you can build a custom device using an Ardunio board (or any microcontroller really). Your endurance is limited only by the size of the battery you use (and if you use solar somehow, infinite).

shrike 10y ago
Do you have a link to the off the shelf product they used for this project?
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  Sorry about that! I'm not OP, but someone who has deployed similar tracking devices for marine-related purposes.
- elbigbad 10y ago
  I don't know what they used for this project, but I have built similar things with the recently-released Particle Electron that I got on Kickstarter, though now I believe it's released widely. Works really great, I was using the Spark Core before, same company and concept but with wifi instead of cellular. https://www.particle.io/cellular https://www.particle.io/cellular
- haser_au 10y ago
  Details are here, on page 105. It was a custom GPS solution. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disconnect+-+Goodwill+and+Dell+Exporting+the+Publics+E-waste+to+Developing+Countries+Report+-+Web+Version.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disc...

jhallenworld 10y ago

They have them for cats- there seems to be a race to develop the best one: http://www.appcessories.co.uk/wheres-that-darn-cat-the-best-gps-cat-tracker/ http://www.appcessories.co.uk/wheres-that-darn-cat-the-best-... "Pawtrack needs to be able to be working in a compatible country, and in addition needs to have GPRS (2g) connectivity to allow live updates. The cat tracking collar will work in 171 countries, including USA/ Canada, the EU, UK as well as Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the cat GPS collar will transmit via home Wifi." "The Pawtrack cat GPS collar takes about 4 hours to be fully recharged, and once charged will last up to 3 days once the Wifi modules and Intelligent Power Control settings are switched on." Maybe you could wire in a larger battery.

rcheu 10y ago

I learned about this through a classmate doing a presentation on his work for this project (at MIT). Iirc, they used modified android devices with larger batteries. The devices mostly slept and occasionally woke up to check in so they lasted awhile. I don't remember the specifics of how they communicated unfortunately. I'm somewhat surprised this article is out. When I heard about it (~1 year ago), I thought they weren't going to release the data because it technically acquired illegally with the tracking devices.

deckar01 10y ago
What laws did they violate? Just to disambiguate my tone, I don't doubt they could have violated laws, I'm just not very knowledgable in this area of the law and would like to learn more.
- jhallenworld 10y ago
  My guess: shipping a lithium ion battery improperly.
  - Scoundreller 10y ago
    Naw, lithium ion batteries have a high self-discharge rate. Not a good idea for this kind of project. Since we're talking eWaste, my guess is a bunch of 6V alkaline batteries strung together in an old CRT monitor.
    - jhallenworld 10y ago
      It's a good idea to use primary cells for this case, but did they?
      - Scoundreller 10y ago
        They seem to be vague about the device and its batteries, but they do say they utilized an external battery. With no mode of recharging, why bother with rechargeables?

haser_au 10y ago

If you have a look at the first link in the text, it will take you to the full "e-Trash Transparency" report (http://www.ban.org/trash-transparency http://www.ban.org/trash-transparency). When you download the 'Report', on page 105 it describes, in detail, the methodology used. Extracts from the report: "In order to determine and procure the best equipment for the e-Trash Transparency Project, BAN tested several different subscription-based tracking systems. Based on the findings, it was determined that BAN’s case scenario was better served by a customized solution, but one that made use of “off-the-shelf” GSM/GPRS tracking hardware." Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disconnect+-+Goodwill+and+Dell+Exporting+the+Publics+E-waste+to+Developing+Countries+Report+-+Web+Version.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/ban-reports/Trash+Transparency/Disc... "The combined cost of a single tracker, external battery, the SIM card, the M2M service rates package was approximately $175 (including shipping and taxes). The project, funded in large part by a grant from the Body Shop Foundation, included the purchase of over 200 trackers." "Free and open source software called OpenGTS was used to collect and display data in a user-friendly manner...software included integration with Google Maps" "The trackers that were used usually had at least a 9-month battery life, with some trackers still communicating after 12 months. The battery life varies depending on many factors including signal strength, temperature and sleep mode settings. Prolonged battery life is primarily attributed to the tracker possessing a sleep mode function, which allows the device to hibernate in a power-saving mode for a preset time. Typically, each tracker was set to “wake up” every 24 hours, calculate its position based on the satellite signals it received, send the data to BAN’s server via local GSM networks and then reenter sleep mode function."

Scoundreller 10y ago
> Prolonged battery life is primarily attributed to the tracker possessing a sleep mode function, which allows the device to hibernate in a power-saving mode for a preset time. It would be cool if the time between wakeups could increase dramatically towards the end of the life of the battery. Or only wake up when temperature conditions are favourable toward having enough power to go through a cycle.
shrike 10y ago
That was what I was looking for, thanks!