Make a GPS for your UAV from a cell phone.
An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) is an aircraft flown by a navigator or pilot from the ground. It does not carry a human operator and it is largely used in military operations. If you have built your own and would like to track it to keep a record of the area that it has flown over, then you can put a global positioning system (GPS) onboard. This can be done fairly cheaply by using a free piece of software and a mobile phone.
Instructions
1. Buy a cell phone that can access the Internet. You can use an extra phone or buy a new one. If you plan on using it as a GPS often, then purchase an unlimited data plan. This will keep your bills manageable. As of 2010 you can purchase one for about $30 per month from your mobile phone service provider.
2. Choose a GPS tracking software for your cell phone. A few that you can think about using are AmazeGPS, Mologogo, or Buddyway. As of 2010 these programs are all free to use, but do require you to register.
3. Using your phone's web browser download and install the application and once it is complete, restart your phone.
4. Go to the "Menu" on your phone then to "Applications" and open up the GPS program. Once it is open it will begin sending out a signal with it's location to the Internet.
5. Log in to the GPS tracking site that you have registered with using another mobile phone or a computer. A map will appear and on top of it will be a red blinking dot shown on the map. That is the location of the phone.
6. Buy a cell phone mount for motorcycles. You can purchase one online for about $35 as of 2010.
7. Using the motorcycle mounting kit mount the cell phone onto the UAV. You can attach it on a metal bar. If there isn't one then you can also use a magnetic GPS weather case, which will attach to the body of the UAV. This costs about $50 as of 2010.
8. Fly your UAV and you can now track it anywhere that it goes.
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