IoT-based child tracking using RFID and GPS

Abstract

With growing concerns about their children’s safety and security, parents have shown an increasing interest in creating a dependable system that allows them to track and monitor their children in outdoor environments. The number of children who have gone missing, particularly in public areas, has risen, making it even more necessary to develop efficient solutions. This study focused on designing and implementing an affordable Internet of Things-based system that enables parents to track their children’s movement while they are in outdoor environments. The system described in this study relies on the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) readers installed in multiple locations to detect the presence of a child within a designated area of interest. To connect parents with this system, an Android smartphone application was developed and connected to the Thinger.io platform. The application displays the child’s location on a map using global positioning system technology and sends an alert message through the global system for mobile networks via 3G as soon as the RFID reader detects the child’s mobile tag. The system was tested within the designated area of interest to evaluate its performance. The results revealed that the RFID reader was able to detect the child’s movement within a range of approximately 4.5 meters from each RFID device and 9 meters between two RFID devices. Furthermore, the system was able to accurately determine the child’s real-time geolocation, both with and without Internet access. The system was also found to be lightweight and cost effective.