Are We There Yet? Low-cost Parcel Tracking System

There is a persistent discrepancy in the logistics industry between the physical location of parcels and their digital tracking status. While commercial solutions exist, their high costs limit their deployment. This thesis investigates the feasibility of developing a low-cost RF-based parcel tracking system using off-the-shelf components within a budget constraint of 3 to 5 EUR. Nine hardware configurations were implemented and evaluated, combining three RF technologies (433 MHz, 2.4 GHz nRF24L01+, and Bluetooth Low Energy) with three microcontroller platforms (ATtiny85, ESP8266, and ESP32-C3). The evaluation focused on power consumption, communication reliability, communication distances, and scalability with multiple devices in a simulated logistics scenario. The results show that the cost target can be achieved with the lowest configuration, costing only 3.13 EUR. However, battery life proved to be the biggest challenge, with empirical measurements revealing significant power consumption inefficiencies compared to the theoretical calculations.