Unmanned Ground Vehicle Using a GSM Network

A lot of research is being carried out in the development of USVs (Unmanned
surface vehicles), UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) etc. Now in case of USVs generally, we
have seen that wireless controlled vehicles use RF circuits which suffer from many drawbacks
such as limited working range, limited frequency range and limited control. Moreover shooting
infrared outdoors on a bright sunny day is often problematic, since sunlight can interfere with
the infrared signal. Use of a GSM network (in the form of a mobile phone, a cordless phone)
for robotic control can overcome these limitations. It provides the advantages of robust control,
working range as large as the coverage area of the service provider in comparison with that of
an IR system, no interference with other controllers. This paper presents a Global System for
Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) network based system which can be used to remotely send
streams of 4 bit data for control of USVs. Furthermore, this paper describes the usage of the
Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) function of the phone, and builds a microcontroller based
circuit to control the vehicle to demonstrate wireless data communication. Practical result
obtained showed an appreciable degree of accuracy of the system and friendliness through the
use of microcontroller.