According to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC), 836,131 persons were reported missing in 2006. About 80% of those were juveniles (persons under 18 years of age), the overwhelming majority of which were girls. While most missing persons return home safely, that statistic shows that 2,290 times per day, parents or primary care givers felt the disappearance was serious enough to warrant calling law enforcement. Even more troubling, the number of missing persons reported to law enforcement has increased almost 500% in the past 20 years.

First, a quick primer on the different technologies involved: A-GPS, or Assisted GPS leverages both cellular and GPS technology. A-GPS devices determine their position using traditional GPS technology, but upload this information back to you via cellular technology. A-GPS devices are essentially GPS-enabled cellular devices, and therefore are subjected to mobile data chargers. This could be in the form of pre-paid or post-paid chargers.

RF tracking devices don’t use GPS at all, and instead rely on Radio Frequencies to determine positioning information. RF devices are well suited to indoor tracking and are aimed at helping parents keep track of kids at the mall, playground, supermarket, or any other short distance.

GPS and RF devices serve slightly different functions; GPS is great for pinpointing your child’s general position on the map, but it does little to help you find a child who’s wandered off at the mall. Short range, indoor RF tracking systems like Loc8tor and Ion Kids’ Child Monitoring System advertise the ability to zero-in on a homing beacon placed on your child’s pocket.

What if, instead of sitting at home in a terrified panic that harm has come to your child, you could instantly locate him or her on a map, pinpointing their exact whereabouts? That’s the promise behind a new wave of GPS and RF (Radio Frequency) tracking devices aimed at helping parents keep electronic tabs on their children.

Here is a review of one GPS tracker specifically designed for children and old people.

Child GPS Tracker – GSM/GPRS/SMS is an indispensable device when your family’s safety is your number one priority. This version operates on the GSM frequencies of 900MHz and 1800MHz.

Child and Elderly GPS Tracker with cellphone and SOS function

Child GPS Tracker

This compact GPS Tracker offers peace of mind to families and others wanting to take care of their loved ones or sentimental belongings. Place one in your child’s backpack or school bag in case they become lost or worse, and you’ll always know where they are. It’s especially useful when your children go on school trips and you can’t be there to watch over them. This device also offers reassurance when you have older children and you need to confirm that they are indeed at the library doing research and not at the mall hanging out with their friends. Adult will find use for this device too, as it allows them to keep track of elderly parents who might wander.

The GPS tracker’s innovative loop design means it can also be worn on a lanyard or key ring making it easy to carry or it can also hang from a pet collar so you’ll never have to spend hours searching the neighborhood for your family pet. Some users even activate the continuous transmission feature so they can track their pet’s movements throughout the day. Another practical use for the Family GPS Tracker is to hang it off your belt when you’re hiking or trekking in a remote location. By transmitting your co-ordinates at regular intervals to a friend, you’ll ensure your own safety and can focus on enjoying the great outdoors.

The Family GPS Tracker is easy to setup and use. Simply insert a SIM card into the unit and power it on. Next, register your cell phone with the unit by sending a text message to the telephone number associated with the SIM card. Immediately, the GPS tracker replies with an SMS message to confirm your cell phone has been linked and also provides longitude, latitude, and speed data for the unit. Subsequently all commands to the GPS tracker are facilitated by SMS text messages from your cell phone and all tracking data is sent via SMS text messages as well to your mobile phone.

All this is possible as a result of the sophisticated GPS microchip embedded into the heart of the tracker which continually reads its own location from low orbiting global satellites and then utilizes the GSM/GPRS infrastructure operated by major cellular network providers via the SIM card to transmit its current location to you.

Besides this, the unit allows 2-way communication to pre-selected numbers.

You child can trigger a call for help by simply pressing the “SOS” button. Distress calls will be sent to 3 pre-programmed numbers in sequence until someone picks up a phone. If the calls are unanswered or rejected the unit will re-attempt calls again.

The unit can also be used as a regular phone with restricted numbers. There are 2 pre-programmed numbers (may be separate from the SOS numbers) in which you child can call. These are activated with just a press of a button. Because of this, you can provide your child with the convenience of a cell-phone but without the risk of high charges due to unauthorized calls.

The advanced functions built in to the unit includes

1. Password protection. Only people using the authorized numbers and password will be notified of your child’s location.

2. Geo-fencing, notifying you once the unit goes outside a specified zone.

3. Speed triggered notification. For example your teenage child drives the car beyond 100km.

4. Remote listen function. Allows you to dial in to listen in to the conversation and ambient noises covertly without alerting anyone.

5. Low battery alert. You will not be caught off guard with the low-batter SMS alert.

6. Usage of GPRS instead of SMS messaging.

Tags: Child safety, Child tracking, Elderly tracking, GPS advances, GPS Gadgets, GPS Positioning, GPS technologies, GPS trackers

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 11:28 pm and is filed under New Products, New Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.