tile – CatTrack

CatTrack 3.0?! It’s August 2023!

It’s been over 2 years since CatTrack 2.0 was “on it’s way”….

Well… umm… it hasn’t progressed much since the previous post. I’ve had some good email chats with a good guy called Robert, who has been working on something very similar over in the Czech Republic. He has made many prototypes and has shared his thoughts with me around getting decent GPS reception. In the end he has settled on a Quectel LC86L GPS module and engineered the box such that the antenna sticks out a little, drastically improving reception.

I was having some reception issues with the u-blox GPS module I was using for CatTrack 2.0, which caused me to think about making a slightly different device…

Posts 3

First Design Thoughts

I’ve pretty much ruled out any kind of design that requires a continuous connection via cellular modem.

The advantage of a continuous cellular connection is that I would be able to remotely send a query to the collar (either via SMS or a data connection) and get it to report its location back to me, from anywhere in the world.

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Posts 5

Why not just buy a GPS cat tracker?

The simple answer is battery life.

My requirements for a cat tracker are:

Very long battery life (around 3 months). I don’t want to be changing batteries all the time. The one day I forget to change the battery will be the day when Buttons decides to go an investigate next door’s shed, I know it.
GPS-level accuracy.
The ability to remotely find out where your cat currently is, allowing you to find him if he’s lost.
Small enough and light enough for a cat to carry around (obviously!).

Continue Reading “Why not just buy a GPS cat tracker?”