Homemade tracking parcels, or there and back
Surely many who ordered goods from abroad, wondered: what happens with the packages from export to import? In what otherworldly space do they sometimes spend the months of their journey? What planes do departures fly to Novosibirsk by airmail to Moscow?
See how the parcels from abroad move to Moscow, in more detail than the official track. To do this, send a device capable of communicating your coordinates.
A friend of mine sent by post to another friend of mine ...
')
It is necessary to choose a device capable of reporting its coordinates on a schedule and having autonomous power for at least a month of such work.
The most obvious solution.
Pros: you can program almost any behavior, for example, use precise positioning on satellites, measure acceleration, light, temperature, and what else, and immediately report to Twitter.
Cons: without an external battery will not live and the delivery time of international mail , and with it weighs a lot and attracts attention. What if it lingers on the way?
What if you take a battery from a laptop (or car, depending on the projected delivery time), GSM module, ARM processor, GPS chip,put Ivan Kuzmich on the nose ... Such a device has all the advantages of a smartphone, and of the minuses only unusual the appearance (will they be received at the post office?) and the likely price of development and production. Perhaps this will be the next experiment, but for now we have decided to limit ourselves to a simpler version.
Pros: all the advantages of a smartphone, a long battery life, the possibility of disguise, for example, under a brick.
Disadvantages: unusual appearance (will they be received at the post office?) And, probably, price + development and production time.
It should be noted that the included devices with inserted batteries are generally reluctant to receive the shipment. Although all tablets and other iPhones are just such devices.
Same as the last item, but already someone designed and manufactured.
Pros: ready-made special device.
Cons: price bites . If the parcel does not reach, it is useless.
UPD: There is a cheaper option: dx.com/p/168496 .
+ Small
+ You can connect an external source, and will work forever
+ Send SMS immediately with a link to google card
How much to reduce battery capacity requirements? To communicate less often (being in a deep sleep most of the trip), and use less accurate positioning (over the cellular network, without using GPS / Glonass satellites).
Pros: geolocation on the honeycomb, even inside an iron car or hangar inaccessible to GPS, long life with a small battery.
Disadvantages: low positioning accuracy compared to GPS, low measurement frequency.
And there is such a device that does not attract too much attention!
There was a “traveling” Philips E102 phone in the table, honored, not working for a long time, but satisfying all the requirements: a super-capacious 650mAh battery, the ability to work with one SIM card, and also to turn on or off up to four times a day. This key feature is rarely found in the description of the device.
We chose the mode: two communication sessions per day for fifteen minutes (with a margin for network search). If just in standby mode, the phone worked for five days, then the maximum could be expected 48 times longer, or eight months. These figures will be different due to poor reception, the cost of switching on and searching for the network, possible frosts, as well as battery self-discharge (about 3% per month on Wikipedia). In general, there was a good chance that the batteries would last for the duration of the journey.
As part of preparing the phone for launch, it was disassembled and reanimated - the contacts of the power button were cleaned in it, which oxidized and did not allow it to turn on.
If the phone could write to the LAC and Cell ID logs of the connection in order to subsequently process and obtain the location of the cells by their identifiers, thenit would be a grandfather, we could build a displacement map after arrival (if this happens). The phone could not do this, and it was decided to use an external service to control its location. Yes, and online tracking adds interest.
At the station, a SIM card was purchased, which was added to the trusted list of the MTS search for another number from which the tracking took place. MTS-locator is able to determine the location of the subscriber on a schedule - what is needed for this project! The only drawback is that the service operates only in Russia, so the overseas part of the way cannot be traced.
Similar services of Beeline-Locator and Megafon-Locator have other cellular operators
Right before sending the phone was charged and checked silently on and off on a schedule twice a day. Included also the most economical mode. All settings:
The phone in the opaque box could only be unmasked by a non-time SMS or a call (assuming that the enemy does not know how to find us on the radio). This phone model does not know how to turn off all signals, either a vibrating alert or a melody remains, but there are several ways:
One fine day (hereinafter - day 1) in one resort town the phone was packed in a box, the postal workers, upon request to remove the battery, received assurances that it was turned off (true) and discharged (not true), and sent by air mail to Moscow.
Three days after sending, the parcel disappeared from the Ukrainian trekking (in the direction of the international mailing service of Ukraine for the interiors of Ukraine. Dyakoumo, scored by our servants), and soon appeared on the radar!
“Locator” does not work in roaming, there is little chance of catching an airplane in the air, so this is the expected first point
This ended the first, and probably the last segment of the flight airmail. It seemed that a couple more days - and the journey would end, as predicted by all the friends who did not believe in miracles. But ahead of the little brave phone, there were still many adventures!
Already on the ninth day, the phone suddenly moved, but not to its destination, but began to steadily move away from Moscow, judging by the points - the airmail gave way to the railway mail, and on the 13th day - the post tortoise did. At first, we thought that the point near Vladimir was a positioning error (how this service works), then that sorting in the neighboring region is cheaper than in Moscow, finally they were betting whether the package would reach Baikal, the Pacific Ocean, or go home to China.
A major stop happened in Novosibirsk, where the phone had lain for up to 29 days, regularly communicating twice a day. However, this is not a record delivery time, and we hoped that the batteries would last until the end. Only one communication session did not take place (did the postal pigeon eat up or was there no cellular coverage?), The configured schedule on the search ended once, and once the “locator” service was paid.
Perhaps during this time the phone made several more flights by airmail ?
On the thirtieth day, the first record of Russian tracking appeared (Import 630982 Novosibirsk PI-2) , the parcel successfully passed customs, and on the thirty-fifth - Processing 630982 Novosibirsk PI-2 left the place of international exchange - the phone went back home. Five more days later, he ended up at the Kazan railway station, and never left Moscow again.
After the Kazansky railway station, the parcel turned out to be at a sorting station in the south of Moscow ( Moscow, the intersection of the Varshavskoye highways and Dorozhnaya St., area of ​​the metro station Yuzhnaya for MTS geocoding). From there, she would finally head to the right post office, but the postman seemed to have fallen asleep on the subway on the way:
At least five points were recorded in each place, so it does not look like an error. Moreover, both places are on the official track: 111948 Moscow MSP-3 Mpko-Sever and 111987 Moscow MSP-3 Mpko-South .
Our answer to this video
In the morning of the forty-eighth day a long-awaited event happened, the parcel left the South and arrived at the place of delivery. For the purity of the experiment, we waited for the notice (bringing the delivery time to the anniversary 50 days) and got a sturdy tin soldier:
Remaining battery charge. Enough for traveling around the world!
During the journey from the parcel, the barcode almost flown around, so the woman at the issuance had to drive it in with her hands. Seeing the end of UA, she grunted and said, “Ukraine ...” So a dialogue ensued about how it turned out that the package was delivered by air mail for almost 2 months. The woman said that first of all the recent changes in the customs system, which now can not cope with the flow of parcels, should be thanked, and they go to distant cities in orderly rows to lie in warehouses waiting for customs, to go through customs, and then in most cases return back to Moscow.
Some statistics: the phone spent 48 days on the road, having traveled more than seven thousand kilometers from the required 1300 km with an average speed of at least six kilometers per hour. True, if you count 48 days for 1,300 km, generally 1.3 km / h.
Part of the money returned in the form of the phone and the balance in his account, so I think these costs are zero.
Phone for a thousand rubles can a month and a half to get in touch and entertain the owner.
Offer in the comments an interesting direction, where else to send this well-deserved phone. However, the experiment is easy to repeat and independently.
UPD : meet on Habré co-author of the experiment, VValentin !
UPD2 : Added a more visual image than the GIF
UPD3 :Who can confirm that the lenovo p700i “has the function of turning on and off the power on a schedule. Is there one switch on / off per day and cannot be added anymore? ” The option is, as well as some other Fly smartphones, program access to it is questionable.
UPD4 : Minute of fame on TV: www.m24.ru/videos/23489 .
Idea
See how the parcels from abroad move to Moscow, in more detail than the official track. To do this, send a device capable of communicating your coordinates.
A friend of mine sent by post to another friend of mine ...
')
Implementation
It is necessary to choose a device capable of reporting its coordinates on a schedule and having autonomous power for at least a month of such work.
Smartphone
The most obvious solution.
Pros: you can program almost any behavior, for example, use precise positioning on satellites, measure acceleration, light, temperature, and what else, and immediately report to Twitter.
Cons: without an external battery will not live and the delivery time of international mail , and with it weighs a lot and attracts attention. What if it lingers on the way?
Homemade “smartphone”
What if you take a battery from a laptop (or car, depending on the projected delivery time), GSM module, ARM processor, GPS chip,
Pros: all the advantages of a smartphone, a long battery life, the possibility of disguise, for example, under a brick.
Disadvantages: unusual appearance (will they be received at the post office?) And, probably, price + development and production time.
It should be noted that the included devices with inserted batteries are generally reluctant to receive the shipment. Although all tablets and other iPhones are just such devices.
Special trackers
Same as the last item, but already someone designed and manufactured.
Pros: ready-made special device.
Cons: price bites . If the parcel does not reach, it is useless.
UPD: There is a cheaper option: dx.com/p/168496 .
+ Small
+ You can connect an external source, and will work forever
+ Send SMS immediately with a link to google card
The best option
How much to reduce battery capacity requirements? To communicate less often (being in a deep sleep most of the trip), and use less accurate positioning (over the cellular network, without using GPS / Glonass satellites).
Pros: geolocation on the honeycomb, even inside an iron car or hangar inaccessible to GPS, long life with a small battery.
Disadvantages: low positioning accuracy compared to GPS, low measurement frequency.
And there is such a device that does not attract too much attention!
On your marks!
There was a “traveling” Philips E102 phone in the table, honored, not working for a long time, but satisfying all the requirements: a super-capacious 650mAh battery, the ability to work with one SIM card, and also to turn on or off up to four times a day. This key feature is rarely found in the description of the device.
We chose the mode: two communication sessions per day for fifteen minutes (with a margin for network search). If just in standby mode, the phone worked for five days, then the maximum could be expected 48 times longer, or eight months. These figures will be different due to poor reception, the cost of switching on and searching for the network, possible frosts, as well as battery self-discharge (about 3% per month on Wikipedia). In general, there was a good chance that the batteries would last for the duration of the journey.
As part of preparing the phone for launch, it was disassembled and reanimated - the contacts of the power button were cleaned in it, which oxidized and did not allow it to turn on.
If the phone could write to the LAC and Cell ID logs of the connection in order to subsequently process and obtain the location of the cells by their identifiers, then
At the station, a SIM card was purchased, which was added to the trusted list of the MTS search for another number from which the tracking took place. MTS-locator is able to determine the location of the subscriber on a schedule - what is needed for this project! The only drawback is that the service operates only in Russia, so the overseas part of the way cannot be traced.
Similar services of Beeline-Locator and Megafon-Locator have other cellular operators
Right before sending the phone was charged and checked silently on and off on a schedule twice a day. Included also the most economical mode. All settings:
- inclusion at 7:50 and 19:50
- shutdown at 8:05 and 20:05
- minimum ring volume, no vibration
- minimum backlight brightness
- backlight time is five seconds
- disabled greeting sounds
The phone in the opaque box could only be unmasked by a non-time SMS or a call (assuming that the enemy does not know how to find us on the radio). This phone model does not know how to turn off all signals, either a vibrating alert or a melody remains, but there are several ways:
- A admin: enable SMS ban and incoming operator
- W a damn: send without turning off the signals, which was done
- On the ordinary: download a silent mp3 or midi signal via wap
- Iron: unsolder vibrating alert or pull out the speaker (for this Philips it is not soldered and can be easily removed when disassembling)
One fine day (hereinafter - day 1) in one resort town the phone was packed in a box, the postal workers, upon request to remove the battery, received assurances that it was turned off (true) and discharged (not true), and sent by air mail to Moscow.
Journey
Arrival at Sheremetyevo
Three days after sending, the parcel disappeared from the Ukrainian trekking (in the direction of the international mailing service of Ukraine for the interiors of Ukraine. Dyakoumo, scored by our servants), and soon appeared on the radar!
“Locator” does not work in roaming, there is little chance of catching an airplane in the air, so this is the expected first point
This ended the first, and probably the last segment of the flight airmail. It seemed that a couple more days - and the journey would end, as predicted by all the friends who did not believe in miracles. But ahead of the little brave phone, there were still many adventures!
Tour of Russia
Already on the ninth day, the phone suddenly moved, but not to its destination, but began to steadily move away from Moscow, judging by the points - the airmail gave way to the railway mail, and on the 13th day - the post tortoise did. At first, we thought that the point near Vladimir was a positioning error (how this service works), then that sorting in the neighboring region is cheaper than in Moscow, finally they were betting whether the package would reach Baikal, the Pacific Ocean, or go home to China.
A major stop happened in Novosibirsk, where the phone had lain for up to 29 days, regularly communicating twice a day. However, this is not a record delivery time, and we hoped that the batteries would last until the end. Only one communication session did not take place (did the postal pigeon eat up or was there no cellular coverage?), The configured schedule on the search ended once, and once the “locator” service was paid.
Perhaps during this time the phone made several more flights by airmail ?
On the thirtieth day, the first record of Russian tracking appeared (Import 630982 Novosibirsk PI-2) , the parcel successfully passed customs, and on the thirty-fifth - Processing 630982 Novosibirsk PI-2 left the place of international exchange - the phone went back home. Five more days later, he ended up at the Kazan railway station, and never left Moscow again.
Moscow tour
After the Kazansky railway station, the parcel turned out to be at a sorting station in the south of Moscow ( Moscow, the intersection of the Varshavskoye highways and Dorozhnaya St., area of ​​the metro station Yuzhnaya for MTS geocoding). From there, she would finally head to the right post office, but the postman seemed to have fallen asleep on the subway on the way:
| Day | Location |
|---|---|
| 40 | South |
| 43 | South |
| 44 | Altufevo |
| 45 | Altufevo |
| 46 | South |
| 47 | South |
At least five points were recorded in each place, so it does not look like an error. Moreover, both places are on the official track: 111948 Moscow MSP-3 Mpko-Sever and 111987 Moscow MSP-3 Mpko-South .
Our answer to this video
We arrived!
In the morning of the forty-eighth day a long-awaited event happened, the parcel left the South and arrived at the place of delivery. For the purity of the experiment, we waited for the notice (bringing the delivery time to the anniversary 50 days) and got a sturdy tin soldier:
Remaining battery charge. Enough for traveling around the world!
During the journey from the parcel, the barcode almost flown around, so the woman at the issuance had to drive it in with her hands. Seeing the end of UA, she grunted and said, “Ukraine ...” So a dialogue ensued about how it turned out that the package was delivered by air mail for almost 2 months. The woman said that first of all the recent changes in the customs system, which now can not cope with the flow of parcels, should be thanked, and they go to distant cities in orderly rows to lie in warehouses waiting for customs, to go through customs, and then in most cases return back to Moscow.
Some statistics: the phone spent 48 days on the road, having traveled more than seven thousand kilometers from the required 1300 km with an average speed of at least six kilometers per hour. True, if you count 48 days for 1,300 km, generally 1.3 km / h.
Costs
Part of the money returned in the form of the phone and the balance in his account, so I think these costs are zero.
| Philips E102 Phone | 1120p | 0p |
| Sim card with 250r in the account | 300r | 250r |
| Parcel shipment | 200r | 200r |
| MTS-Locator | 200r | 200r |
| Total | 450r |
findings
Phone for a thousand rubles can a month and a half to get in touch and entertain the owner.
Offer in the comments an interesting direction, where else to send this well-deserved phone. However, the experiment is easy to repeat and independently.
UPD : meet on Habré co-author of the experiment, VValentin !
UPD2 : Added a more visual image than the GIF
UPD3 :
UPD4 : Minute of fame on TV: www.m24.ru/videos/23489 .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/185510/
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