Date:10/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/10/stories/2006071017040200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Tracking the movement of children using GPS

Staff Reporter

Device enabling parents to keep track of their children using Internet developed

The device has been tested on 300 children

The system can be configured to be wirelessly monitored

BANGALORE: Parents worried about the whereabouts of their children can find solace in global positioning system technology.

Using the technology, students at the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology (CEDT) at the Indian Institute of Technology have come up with a device that will enable parents to keep track of their children's movements using the Internet.

The system helps keep track of the child's latitude and longitude and sends the information by GPRS to a remote server that the parents can then access. The product, developed by A.H. Shanavas and Gaurav S. Kasbekar, is sponsored by Wipro. It helps parents track the movements of school children and has an emergency button. "The children can put it in their school bags or wear it on their belts," said Mr. Shanavas. The team has tested the device on 300 children.

The device costs Rs. 25,000 but Wipro officials said that was because it was a prototype. "We have got the technolog. We will now work on it and develop it to make it economical."