Project Information

As the leader of Team TrixMatics, I led our team through the IEEE Innovation Nation 2021 competition, where we engineered a specialized GPS tracker for business assets. The project aimed to provide small and medium scale businesses with a streamlined method for asset tracking, route playback, and alerts.
I designed the PCB layout using Autodesk EAGLE and soldered the boards with a hot air gun. I selected the cost-effective ATMEGA8A microcontroller and integrated it with a SIM800L module for cellular connectivity and a uBlox NEO 6M module for GPS. Both modules communicated with the microcontroller using UART. Given that the ATMEGA8A had only one available UART bus, I employed the SoftwareSerial library to emulate an additional UART, although this led to some challenges with high baud rates that were mitigated by selecting an optimal baud rate. I wrote the microcontroller code in C++ (Arduino) and set up HTTP communication between the device and a remote Firebase server. My team mate Savindu developed a mobile application using React Native, using Google Maps as the maps provider.
Our innovation earned us the honor of being an All Island Finalist at IEEE Innovation Nation 2021, placing us among the top 10 teams in the national competition. The project was a practical application of our technical skill sets on a real-world solution.