A device attached to a mobile phone could prevent your automobile from being stolen, thanks to the innovative thinking of a BCA student in Faizabad.

Vehicle theft has become a common event these days. Companies are trying to implement various smart solutions to counter the threat of vehicle thieves, but the crooks often find their way around those ‘solutions’. However, they might have found their match in Harkirat Singh Gaur. A second year BCA student of Ramswaroop Memorial College of Engineering, Faizabad, he has developed a remote device that renders a stolen vehicle absolutely motionless.

The device looks like a small-sized torch and is attached to a mobile phone. “I have covered this device in a black box that can be connected to the ignition system or the electric fuel motor controller of the pump of the vehicle, depending on the type of the vehicle,” says Gaur.

Remotely ‘switching off’ stolen cars!

{quotes}When a miscreant steals a vehicle equipped with Gaur’s device, all the owner has to do is to give a missed call to the mobile phone fitted in the vehicle, and the engine switches off immediately.{/quotes}“As soon as the owner calls on the mobile, the engine gets jammed and will not restart even if

the ignition is turned on,” says Gaur.

The device is a compact handy circuit comprising a few relays, wires and a mobile phone. “Basically, it is a triggering device but free from all capacitors, integrated circuits, resistors, diodes, condensers and transistors,” explains Gaur. It is fitted with a mobile phone charger connected directly to the battery of the vehicle, thus preventing the possibility of a switch off due to complete battery discharge. The phone is charged every time the ignition is switched on.

When the owner of the stolen car makes a call to the cell phone attached with the unit, it sends out signals, which in turn trigger the relays in the unit. Once the relays are triggered, the engine of the vehicle stops and a loud alarm is raised. In cars with an automatic door lock system, the doors get jammed.

The relay is an electromechanical device. When triggered, it breaks the contact of the engine with the pump motor or electronic fuel injection system, i.e., the processor of the car, also known as the MPFI system. What happens is that the wire emerging out of the CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition) of the car gets disconnected from the earth wire of the vehicle. Thus the HT coil in the car fails to forward sufficient current to the spark plug, thereby stopping the car. The miscreants will not be able to start the vehicle, even if they find the black box and disconnect it. What’s more, the owner can now track the exact location of the vehicle with the help of the IMEI number of the cell phone and the phone number of the SIM.

But can the vehicle be restarted? Can another missed call to the same number turn the ignition on? “No, neither a missed call nor joining wires directly with the battery and engine can restart the vehicle. It can only be done with the password-protected reset switch provided along with the circuit,” Gaur asserts. Of course, since the device is fully dependent on the mobile phone for triggering sensitivity, it might just fail to work in an area where there is no network connectivity.