This is an excerpt from H. McDonald and M. Lee, " GTS: GPS Tracking System," ECE 4542: Design II, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mississippi State University, Fall 2003:

Car theft is a crime that leaves the owner of a stolen vehicle in a seemingly helpless situation where they feel that all they can do is wait to see if they ever find out what has happened to their vehicle. Each year, approximately 1.2 million vehicles are stolen in the United States alone, with a recovery rate of approximately sixty-five percent. The problem is that, once a vehicle is stolen, it can be hidden fairly easily and searching for a stolen vehicle can be time consuming since it could be moved over great distances. The GPS Tracking System (GTS) will greatly reduce the time it takes to locate a stolen vehicle by having it automatically report its position.