ITRM960198A1 - SYSTEM FOR LOCALIZATION OF VEHICLES OR MOBILE OBJECTS - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention entitled:

"System for locating vehicles or moving objects"

The present invention relates to a system for locating vehicles or moving objects.

Pi? in particular, the present invention relates to a system of the aforementioned type which comprises an apparatus on board the vehicle or object whose position is to be determined in a geographical area, and a localization apparatus located near a person carrying out the search, for example example aboard a "seeker" or "pursuer" vehicle.

In principle, systems for locating objects, vehicles, people at a distance using radio means for aeronautical, naval and terrestrial use are known.

Navigation systems for aeronautical, naval and terrestrial use aboard motor vehicles for the continuous determination of the "geographical point" are also known.

The purpose of the present invention? that of providing a system of the aforementioned type, suitable in particular for locating vehicles stolen from the control of the owner, which allows the owner or whoever for him to track and locate the stolen vehicle within a certain geographical area.

For convenience of description, the vehicle on which? placed a first part of the equipment, and what? susceptible of being subtracted or in any case to assume a geographic location not known a priori, verr? called "target" and the vehicle including the rest of the equipment, launched at the location of the target, will come? identified for short as a "seeker".

According to the present invention it is envisaged to have on board the target a system for determining the geographical position such as an apparatus known as Global Positioning System (GPS); a secondary target position determination system based on a gyroscope arrangement; a remote communication system such as a cellular telephone system (GSM); a unit? computer coupled by modem to the remote communication system; And

have on board the finder a system for determining the geographical position such as a Global Positioning System (GPS); a secondary position determination system based on a gyroscope system; ima unit? of calculation; a display system for providing the seeker with search information; an archive of pre-established geographic positions (geographic map), associated with the unit? and a remote communication system such as a cellular telephone system (GSM).

The present invention will come now described with reference to a currently preferred embodiment thereof, given for illustrative and non-limiting purposes, and on the basis of the figures of the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows the general block diagram of the arrangement of the piece of equipment on board the target;

Figure 2 shows the general block diagram of the piece of equipment on board the finder;

Figures 3A and 3B schematically show a possible structure of the device on board the finder vehicle;

Figure 4 schematically shows the flow diagram of the software residing in the unit? calculation on board the target;

Figure 5 schematically shows the flow diagram of the software residing in the unit? calculation on board the "finder";

Figure 6 shows an example of a graphic display on a display available to the finder; And

Figure 7 shows an example of viewing angle of detection of the finder with respect to the target in reference to a representative geographical map.

With reference to the drawings and in particular to Figure 1, on the target? arranged a system comprising an alarm device 1 such as for example an anti-theft system in the case in which the target is a motor vehicle.

The alarm device 1? connected to a unit? of calculation (UDC) 2, which? set up for restarting the entire system following the detection of an alarm condition such as theft or unauthorized use of the vehicle.

To the unit? calculation 2? connected to an equipment for locating the geographic point on the ground such as a "Global Positioning System" or GPS equipment indicated in 3.

These GPS devices born for military purposes are now very widespread in the civilian field and are based on the reception of signals from a certain number of satellites that are part of a constellation of satellites orbiting the earth. These devices can provide the absolute geographic point and also the absolute altitude above sea level with medium to high accuracy for civil use.

The accuracy of the determination of the geographical point can? be increased enormously when the GPS is operated in the mode? "relative", how? well known to one skilled in the art.

Their only drawback? that the data acquisition for the determination of the position? relatively slow.

The unit? 1 calculation 2? also associated with a gyroscopic system (GYRO) 4 for the immediate detection of changes in the direction of travel of the target vehicle which are communicated to the unit? calculation 2. Preferably, the gyroscopic system 4? equipped with a solid state "rate gyro" based on the Coriolis effect and marketed by the Japanese firm MURATA.

The unit calculation 2? moreover connected via a modem 5, to a remote communication system 6, the system 6 can? be a simple radio transceiver or a mobile phone. In the latter case, do you prefer a cellular telephone system of the GSM type for ease? interface between GSM mobile phone and modem 5.

The system now described? constantly connected to the vehicle battery and? equipped with its own emergency power supply which guarantees its operation.

In normal conditions are active both the subsystems GPS 3 and GYRO 4 and the unit? calculation 2.

The GPS 3 and GYRO 4 subsystems continuously calculate the geographical position of the target vehicle on which they are installed and communicate it to the unit? calculation 2 updating it, for example, once per second.

The unit calculation 2 stores the new position data every second, constantly checking on the input of the alarm device 1 if the conditions that require the transmission of the position data to the finder device exist. described below.

The remote communication system 6 to which the UDC 2? associated, is waiting for calls. The unit of calculation 2 also has a non-volatile memory device in which more? telephone numbers.

Upon the occurrence of an alarm condition, the UDC 2 cyclically calls the telephone numbers contained in the non-volatile memory until? it does not establish a connection with any of them.

At this point it sends an alarm message and the pi? recent information he has on the position of the vehicle.

At the end of the alarm message, the UDC 2 waits for a confirmation message for a programmable time X, when the "Time out" conditions occur, the alarm message is repeated. If communications are interrupted before the confirmation message is received, the call sequence is repeated.

Upon receipt of the confirmation message, the target device interrupts communications and waits for a call, continuing the calculation of the position, as already? described.

With reference to Figure 2, the device on board the finder comprises: a GPS system 7 similar to that mentioned in reference to Figure 1; a unit? calculation 8 connected to a display 9; a gyroscopic device 10 similar to that mentioned with reference to Figure 1; an archive of known positions 11 preferably realized in the form of an interchangeable memory module; a modem 12 and a remote communication system such as GSM equipment as shown with reference to Figure 1.

Given the similarity between the target device and the finder device, a detailed description of the latter is left out.

The operation of the localization system according to the invention in a search operation is described below.

The finder device can? locate any target device as long as? know the telephone number. Under normal conditions such a device? activated as soon as it is removed from a car charging cradle, per se? well known, while it remains active when? inserted in the charging cradle located in the fixed location where? placed the finder in a condition of rest or waiting for intervention.

If the vehicle is abandoned by the driver with the finder on board, a loud warning signal sounds.

Similarly, a loud acoustic signal is emitted even if the car is abandoned by the owner in an area where the GPS signal, or GSM, is missing.

In the event that the seeker receives a call from the target, then it activates its position determination devices, receives and stores the position of the target vehicle and, when? sure of the reliability? of the received data, sends the confirmation message to the called target.

When your GPS device has calculated the finder's position, the direction relative to true north (bearing) to take to reach the target is calculated and highlighted in the form of an analog compass. The same information? provided and highlighted in degrees.

It is also consulted by the GPS device its internal archive and indicates the position of the target with respect to the Municipality pi? near (distance and bearing), or to the nearest neighborhood? close if it is a city.

At this point, the manager of the seeker obtains the means suitable for the pursuit and localization of the target and, starting the pursuit, will call? the target via the seeker.

When the two devices are again in communication with each other, the seeker receives the positional data of the target every second and therefore has the possibility? to calculate and highlight the following information using your position and the archive of known positions 11:

on the analog satellite compass created via software, the finder and the vehicle carrying it are considered respectively oriented in the direction of travel on the upper quadrant, in which an asterisk is shown at 12 o'clock to indicate the direction of movement of the finder itself. True north is then also shown on the dial and the bearing of the target in the form of an arrow which in the search movement always indicates the direction of the target with respect to the seeker;

are found the updated position with respect to the municipality or the district pi? Neighbor;

the distance in meters from the target is calculated and kept constantly updated (Orthodromy); And

the visual and acoustic indication of the target approaching, the target moving away and the target aligned in front is highlighted.

The beep? programmable, being able to adjust: for the target

last date and time received by the target,

number of satellites visible to the target,

geographical position in degrees, minutes and seconds of the target, altitude of the target,

speed of the target,

course of the target,

status: Navigation / Acquisition / Gyro;

for the seeker

current date and time on the finder,

number of satellites visible to the finder,

geographic position in degrees, minutes and seconds of the seeker, altitude of the seeker,

speed of the seeker,

route of the seeker,

status: Navigation / Acquisition / Gyro.

The state of radio communications? equally monitored and controlled.

The fall of the connection d? automatically repeated calls until regular communications are restored.

In Figures 3A and 3B? schematically shown a possible external aspect of the finder device.

This finding device is presented as a "Lap Top" type computer 20 comprising a provision for a mass memory module 21 which stores the positions relating to the municipalities of Italy, both on a global scale and on a reduced scale, depending on needs.

The screen 22 of the computer 20 presents information as indicated above. organic in figure 6. It must be understood that the modalities? of presentation of the information are given exclusively by way of example for a better understanding of the present invention and do not constitute an element of patent rights.

Considerations will now be made on the advantages of the system according to the present invention.

Provide valuable vehicles (or vehicles that carry valuables), with a means that allows them to be quickly found in the event of undue theft? the goal that many have set in more times? or older.

The activation of the system known as GPS did s? that many companies have studied and developed various devices based on this system. There? despite many difficulties arise? in the creation and management of systems of this type. They can be traced back to considerations on management costs, cartography and communications.

The systems currently in use in fact use an operations center equipped with 24-hour personnel who monitor the occurrence of an alarm on a computer monitor. This computer must be equipped with electronic maps to allow the identification of the position of the vehicle from which? furthermore, once the alarm has been triggered, the surveillance personnel must be able to place a vehicle, their own or that of the police, in search of the stolen vehicle by guiding the recovery operations via radio or mobile phone.

? It is immediately evident that this system currently in use foresees, from the moment in which it assists the first vehicle, the installation of the operations center and the use of digital cartography. Furthermore, the plant of the operations center involves very high costs for personnel, machines, logistic arrangements, etc., and the adoption of digital cartography implies, in addition to intrinsic inaccuracies, high purchase and maintenance costs.

Also, don't you? still available, and it won't be? for a long time, cartography of many cities? large, medium and small not to mention the countries.

Another problem connected with the national cartography currently available derives from its non-compliance with the reference system WGS 84 (World Geodetic System 1984) used by the GPS satellite system.

The system described above obviates the aforementioned drawbacks, that is to say the costs due to the operations center and to the cartography, as it does not require n? one n? the other one.

Indeed the finder device? of very low cost which, considering the economies of scale of mass production, can? get to a few hundred dollars. This device also allows an autonomous search by the owner of the vehicle or assisted by the P.S.

It should also be noted that the finder device provides data directly related to the target vehicle in real time, such as the distance in meters, the direction, the speed, the exact geographic position, the nearest municipality. neighbor, etc. The position data can, if desired, be transferred to common cartography allowing further visualization.

It should also be noted that the orthodromic distance data (shortest distance between two points on the earth's surface), the bearing angle or direction, etc. provided by the system according to the invention, are to be considered exact since both the finder device and the target device use the same reference system WGS 84.

For further clarity, hardware characteristics of the sub-assemblies constituting the system according to the present invention will now be illustrated.

The GPS system? a system that allows you to calculate the position of any point on the surface of the earth with great precision. The average approximation? usually between 25 and 50 meters but can? be reduced if appropriate calculation techniques are used. It is believed that this precision is sufficient in the application of the system according to the invention.

Position calculation is done using three or four satellites, each of which provides a distance value. By applying a system of equations with four unknowns, three for the coordinates?,?,? and the fourth C for the clock and solving with Taylor's method, the required position solution is obtained. Corrections for relativistic effects, ionospheric and tropospheric distortion are then applied in a known way. The position ? provided by the processor installed on the GPS Board usually more? formats such as Cartesian coordinates in meters from the center of the earth and geographic coordinates, ie latitude and longitude in radians.

Numerous other information is also obtained from the same processor such as:

date and time UTC (Coordinated Universal Time equivalent to GMT Greenwich Mean Time),

altitude in meters,

number and identification of the satellites used,

accuracy data,

various correction factors,

receiver status.

This information? useful as it allows you to decide if and when to switch from the main position determination system, ie the one based on GPS, to the secondary one (GYRO).

It is appropriate to specify at this point that the system provides the values of Cartesian or geographic coordinates referred to the ellipsoid WGS-84 which? the model adopted by the United States.

All the information deduced by calculating the UDC and those supplied directly by the GPS system are therefore also referred to WGS-84.

The device described above in a currently preferred embodiment thereof uses the latest version of Board GPS produced by Rockwell U.S.A., which? able to provide the first position after about 60 seconds from ignition.

The information ? presented on one of the serial ports of the unit? of calculation.

Does the GYRO subsystem intervene at the request of the unit? calculation as a rescue device for determining the position when for various reasons the GPS loses its capacity? to navigate and enters a state defined as "acquisition", which can? occur essentially why? the antenna? obscured by tunnels, other buildings, foliage, etc.

The GYRO subsystem provides the unit? of calculation only variations of speed? corner of the alley on which? place. These data are easily obtained from a miniaturized instrument whose trade name? Gyrostar? produced by the company? Japanese MURATA.

The Gyrostar? ? connected to an A / D converter (analog / digital) which in turn downloads the speed variation data? corner on the door of the unit calculation with a sampling rate of, for example, 50 data per second.

In the absence of position data provided by the GPS? Is it then possible to calculate new positions with the Gyrostar data? self ? the speed value is also available.

This last datum can? be obtained directly from the car on which? placed the target device, implying however a complication in the mounting of the target device on the vehicle, in addition to the fact that the information on the speed? Not ? obtainable from all types of cars in the same way and that the finder device can not? in turn, have direct information on the speed.

In consideration of what has just been said and of the fact that the intervention of the GYRO system must be limited in time since? dead reckoning navigation techniques are inherently imprecise; the value of speed? used in the calculation of the position is provided by the software that always has the speed? average of the last 60 seconds.

The position calculated by the GYRO system must therefore be considered indicative to maintain an acceptable spatial-temporal correlation between the target and the seeker during GPS blackouts.

Anyway, what if the blackout of the GPS should exceed two / three minutes? It is recommended that the finder go to an open location to allow their GPS to provide good position values again.

What if the blackout of GPS? on the target, the seeker will receive? this information showing the GYRO status on the display ".

Sar? care of the operator assigned to search for the stolen vehicle to evaluate the situation and, according to the distance of the target and its direction, it will regulate? your own behavior.

According to a favorite realization, the unit? calculation method adopted by the target device? consisting of ?? INTEL 286/386 or equivalent equipped with the necessary circuitry to manage three RS232-C serial ports and two Centronics parallel ports, without other particularities.

The unit The calculation method adopted by the finder device also provides a driver for flash memory cards of the PCMCIA type and a driver for a backlit liquid crystal display of the 1/4 VGA type. The functioning of the units? of calculation? described in the on-board software specifications.

In Figures 4 and 5, the flow diagrams respectively of the software resident in the unit are schematically illustrated. of calculation on board the target and the software resident in the unit? of calculation on board the finder.

The characteristics of these two software are explained below without entering into the detailed description of the individual blocks representing the flow diagrams, as their concatenation? immediately inferable by an expert in the art.

The software subsystem respects the same division into two components already? examined in detail for hardware.

There is in fact a seeker side software and its target counterpart.

Before examining in detail the functional analysis I had, it will come? made a macro description of the operations? that characterize the system.

The target continuously calculates its position, keeping track of the last reliable position, the speed? average of the last minute, of the last quarter of the hour and of the last hour. In its continuous "giving back" it operates some checks such as:

1) the presence of incoming calls;

2) the presence of the alarm system (in the broadest sense); 3) approaching "dangerous" areas.

The occurrence of one or more? of the above events allows the target to send data relating to its position to the seeker, which operates only if called by a target or if the call function of a target is activated.

In both cases the data received from the target is compared by the finder with that received by its GPS subsystem and the results of this comparison, both in digital and analog form, are highlighted in the finder display.

It should also be noted that as regards the target, the following specifications are respected:

in the case of incoming calls, the target will verify, by sending a ten-digit keyword by the seeker, which constitutes the authorization by the latter to communicate, in order to prevent other seekers or other users of a finder can use the system. The key word? preferably composed of a 5-digit prefix characteristic of the finder hardware system and of a 5-digit suffix characteristic of the operator;

by activation of the alarm system we mean that the unit? calculation of the target can? interface with one or more? communication channels (parallel / serial ports, I / O interfaces) dedicated to the alarm system (or systems);

by approximation to dangerous areas we mean the comparison between positions occupied by the target for more? of 5 minutes, which fall within areas recorded in the non-volatile memories of the target itself. These positions are foreseen in number of 64 and in a neighborhood of 5 km each of these points is considered a "dangerous area". By way of example, border crossings, ports or airports can be considered as such; And

the data that are transmitted (and received) still travel in encrypted form, whose algorithm? known only to the manufacturer.

Are both the GPS system and the modem used to transmit / receive data connected to a serial port (RS232c) of the unit? of calculation.

The communication mechanism between the processor and the units? connected on serial ports? to interrupt: the examination of the state of the ports is not? therefore sequential but, in every moment, the unit? of calculation can? be interrupted in its processing to meet the requests coming from the serial ports.

The priorities of the two devices are identical but neither of the two can? interrupt the other if currently running in other words, the processing connected to the modem must be terminated before any request from the GPS can be satisfied and vice versa.

As regards the target and its initialization, the internal database is read, consisting of the data relating to the dangerous areas, the "time out" for the seeker's calls, the telephone numbers to be selected, the seeker codes and operators enabled to communicate with the target, modem configurations and maximum time spent in dangerous areas.

The unit calculation performs the GPS test by sending a specific message (message code 202 for the request to the GPS and message 101 for the response regarding the test results).

If the test result? negative, the procedure for communicating with a finder is immediately activated. As soon as the communication channel is activated, a special GPS operation failure message 27 is sent. After sending this message and receiving the reply message 07, the GPS is deactivated and the system remains on hold.

If the result? positive, the processing continues and the configuration of the modem is carried out, together with the test on the correct functioning of the modem itself. If the result? negative, in fact it becomes impossible to communicate, from this moment on the unit? of calculation terr? track on file of the occupied positions up to fill the availabilities? of the units? memory devices, discarding the data pi? old, registering the pi? recent, provided that they are reliable and are characterized by a speed? greater than 5 km / h, i.e. when the vehicle is in motion.

So, the cycler target? continuously until one of the following conditions is determined:

1) the presence of incoming calls;

2) activation of the alarm system;

3) approaching "dangerous" areas.

In the first case, the module that deals with communications takes control of the unit? of calculation after having ascertained the presence of the telephone that rings, d? order to pick up the handset and establish handshaking.

Once the communication is connected, is admissibility checked? of the incoming call: the target waits for data and in particular for message 01. This message contains the machine code of the finder and that of the operator.

Does the code check? positive, communication can? continue: in this case message 21 is sent.

Otherwise the unit? calculation d? order to the modem to hang up the handset, interrupting the communication.

In the second case, if the signal on the parallel port becomes ON and remains ON for 10 seconds, the communication procedure is activated.

In the third case, to determine access to dangerous areas, a counter is activated whenever the point calculated by the GPS subsystem is within a radius of 5 km from one of the points loaded in the initialization phase.

If the counter reaches the value defined in the initialization phase, for example currently defined in 5 minutes, the procedure for communicating with the finder is automatically activated.

If the order to activate the communication procedure starts from the target there will not be? no control or exchange of acknowledgment messages via software.

The communication procedure consists in dialing in order, cos? as listed in the initialization phase, the stored numbers; at each telephone number it will be? associated with the number of attempts to make before moving on to the next. With the first seeker with whom you are able to establish communication, will it happen? data exchange.

However, the seeker by sending the message 02 can? order the target to communicate only with a particular telephone number; having received this message, the target confirms receipt by sending the message 22.

Before starting to transmit position data, the target transmits message 21 relating to its identification data, in addition to the available UTC time with an indication whether it is a valid time or not.

Normally the communication takes place with the message 23 which contains the data relating to position, UTC time, speed, course, altitude, status of the GPS receiver.

The seeker responds by sending in turn a message 03 what else is not? if not a confirmation of receipt of the message 23.

After sending message 23 and receiving acknowledgment of receipt, the target suspends communications, upon receipt of message 04 and awaits other calls, in turn sending a message 24 for confirmation.

In case of receipt of message 05 will you answer? with the sending of the message 25 relative to average data on the speed? calculated in the last minute, quarter of an hour and hour.

As regards the finder and its initialization, first of all the internal database is read, consisting in the loading of the positions of the municipalities, of one's own finder code, of the modem configurations; the password is then requested from the operator assigned to use the finder.

The unit of calculation performs the GPS test by sending a specific message (message code 202 for the request to the GPS and message 101 for the response regarding the test results).

If the test result? negative, the operator is immediately notified via a message on the display that the inoperability? of the GPS.

If the result? positive continues the processing and the configuration of the modem is carried out, together with the test on the correct functioning of the modem itself. If the result? negative, for which in fact it becomes impossible to communicate, the operator is immediately notified by a message on the display. of the modem.

The operator can? activate the system to communicate with a target or wait for a call to arrive.

In the first case, the operator is asked for the number of the target to call: once the number has been entered, the unit? calculation d? order the modem to dial the number to try to establish the connection.

Since this is an incoming call, the target will wait? the arrival of the message 01 then, after verifying the active connection, the seeker will have to? send, by means of the aforementioned message, the own machine code and that of the active operator.

After that? you ask? waiting for a message 21 unless the communication is not dropped by will? of the target.

Once you have received message 21, you ask? while waiting for the subsequent type 23 messages, the comparison between these data and those obtained directly from your GPS subsystem will allow? all? unit? to highlight the distance and bearing information on the display.

In the second case, the processing will proceed? as soon as the modem will notify? all? unit? calculation the presence of an incoming call, which will follow? instruct the modem to pick up the handset and establish communication.

From this moment on, the behavior will be? identical to the one described above.

The finder synchronizes what is received through the message 23 with the information received from its GPS subsystem which will refer to the same UTC time.

The finder stores two sets of plotted points. The first series? the set of pairs of synchronized points c target (t), seeker ^^ meaning by t the generic instant in which both coordinates are available; the frequency of recordings? of a point every 30 seconds and? relating to the last 30 minutes of navigation.

The second series? instead relative to the only path of the finder, however, a point is memorized every 10 seconds as long as? reliable.

Both series can be highlighted in vector form on the display in order to provide useful information to the operator on the path followed and / or to follow.

In phase d? display will also show the positions and distances from the localities? pi? close, after having made a comparison with the positions recorded in the database.

If the link fails, what about it? is determined by the lack of confirmation of receipt sent by the seeker to the target, the communication is re-established by the same system that had activated it.

The seeker can? determine in the target a particular configuration of its GPS subsystem, can? that is? indicate which satellites to use or which altitude to use and to do this use the message 06. The target d? confirm with message 26.

The position information is normally received by a multi-channel GPS-type circuit, however it sometimes happens that particular local conditions, such as buildings, foliage, mountains, do not allow visibility. of an adequate number of satellites to calculate a position. Therefore, both the target system and the finder system have a piezoelectric or fiber optic gyroscopic circuit that allows, as mentioned, to calculate the position even if with the passage of time the effect of precession makes the data obtained in this way less precise. .

However, it must be borne in mind that the intervention of this circuit? to be considered necessary only for short time intervals of the order that? a few minutes, which keeps Precession Terror within acceptable limits.

Anyway the seeker? informed about the status of all the target and own position calculation circuits.

One push of a button on the finder allows plotting of target and finder paths to be shown on the display.

The presentation ? in variable scale in accordance with the order of magnitude of the distances and with true north at 12 o'clock. By pressing the same button again, it returns to the previous display. The accuracy of the location determination? variable but you can? consider constant with an error between 25 and 50 meters.

To find the vehicles, the finder manager follows the directions of the satellite compass and constantly checks that the value of the distance to the target is reduced. Arrived at a distance of about 100 meters from the vehicle, if not? still spotted, the finder manager presses a button on the finder that activates the target with a violent audible alarm that signals the vehicle. Finally, for system security, the data can be transmitted from the target only after sending a password that allows the seeker to be uniquely identified.

The present invention? has been described with reference to a currently preferred embodiment thereof, but it will be understood? that variations and modifications can be made in practice by an expert in the art without departing from the scope of protection of the present industrial patent.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS 1. System for the localization of vehicles or mobile objects characterized by the fact of comprising on board the "target" a system for determining the geographical position such as an apparatus known as Global Positioning System (GPS); a secondary target position determination system based on a gyroscope arrangement; a remote communication system such as a cellular telephone system (GSM); a unit? computer coupled by modem to the remote communication system; and arranging on board the "finder" a system for determining the geographical position such as a Global Positioning System (GPS); a secondary position determination system based on a gyroscope system; ima unit? of calculation; a display system for providing the seeker with search information; an archive of pre-established geographic positions (geographic map), a remote communication system such as a cellular telephone system (GSM). 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the equipment on board the target is activated, in the case of installation on board a motor vehicle, following the triggering of an anti-theft alarm device or of a detection system of non-use. authorized vehicle. 3. System according to one or more? of the previous claims, characterized by the fact that the unit? of calculation on board the target vehicle? arranged to operate with software substantially as explained in the flow chart shown in Figure 4. 4. System according to one or more? of the previous claims, characterized by the fact that the unit? of calculation on board the finder? arranged to operate with software substantially as explained in the flow chart shown in Figure 5. 5. System for locating vehicles or moving objects according to one or more? of the preceding claims and substantially as described and illustrated with reference to the figures of the attached drawings.