The initial idea for this Gizmo came from an incident while surfing. One of our team members lost his surf board and we couldn't find it after that. So the idea was to create a small device that could track objects which are in the near proximity of 1km or less and with the help of an on board compass and GPS to locate the lost item.

This is exactly what iSeeYou is intended for. The unit includes the Hand held device that contains an on board Graphical LCD, GPS receiver, Compass and an RF Transceiver. Also included is one transmitter (the object to be tracked) which is enclosed inside a KeyFob casing with a single button for activation and other operations. The transmitter includes a GPS receiver, External Flash memory for backup and an RF Transceiver. Combining the two together you get a very powerful tracking solution for a range of 1600m without the need of a GSM device.

You might think that a device as small as this would probably have a pretty weak GPS signal. Well this is why we haven't posted it when we initially developed it. Initially we tested it with a Chip-Scale antenna and the results were very poor. The signal was low and it wasn't useful in the application intended. So we paused the design until we found some nice little Active GPS antennas that we currently have in the shop. When we tested the device with them the signal was impressively stronger, you can check it out for your self from the GPSdiag test we took on the image below.

The device can also be used as a Compass and that can also be seen from the pictures. Other than that this is a Micro controller with a strong GPS reception and a strong RF Transceiver. So it can be used for almost any application. We have programmed a Boot loader into the devices so updating the firmware or reprogramming it is a breeze. All you need is a 3.3v -> 5v Level translator and you are set.

Main Features

-PIC16LF877A with Boot loader Preinstalled on the Hand held Unit
-PIC16LF88 with Boot loader Preinstalled on the Transmitter Unit
-XBee Pro 60mW Chip Antenna on both units
-25db Active Ultra Small GPS antenna on both units
-110mA Li-Po battery
-Li-Po battery charging circuit on both units
-HMC6352 Compass on the Hand held unit
-128x64 Graphical Monochrome LCD on the Hand held unit
-MN5010HS GPS Receiver on both units
-Side Navigation switch on the Hand held unit
-External DataFlash 4K x 512 on the Transmitter unit
-Transmitter Dimensions: 36mm x 57mm x 15mm
-Hand Held Dimensions: 68mm x 59mm x 11mm

Additional Information

iSeeYou Project - The project section of this Gizmo
iSeeYou Group - This is the official community Group for the Gizmo
iSeeYou General Description - A general description about this Gizmo.
iSeeYou Software - Description about the software features of this Gizmo.

You can find more information about this Gizmo in our Projects and Blog sections of the website as well as the Forums, where we have descriptions and the workflow we went through for finishing this device.