Building Arduino based GPS Tracker | Full Tutorial with Code

The Arduino-based GPS tracker system functions by using the NEO-6M GPS module to receive radio signals transmitted by orbiting global positioning satellites. Because these satellites constantly broadcast their precise orbital data and timestamps, the GPS module can calculate its exact geographical coordinates, including latitude, longitude, and altitude, through trilateration. The module outputs these coordinate calculations as raw data sentences formatted in the NMEA standard. To read this stream of data, the Arduino Uno uses the SoftwareSerial library to establish a secondary serial communication channel via jumper wires, freeing up the hardware pins for other uses like debugging via the USB C adapter. Once the Arduino reads the incoming NMEA data strings using the Arduino IDE environment, it parses the sentences to extract the real-time location metrics. This allows the system to continuously update and display the physical position of the tracker whenever it has a clear line of sight to the open sky.