Automatic Packet Reporting System is a digital protocol used to transmit GPS position reports, telemetry, weather reports and text messages between APRS compatible devices and software.
The APRS system consists of the following components:
- Trackers, small microcontroller-based devices which, when connected to a GPS receiver and a transmitter, transmit their location regularly over radio. Some trackers feature integrated GPS and radio modules. Trackers are available as kits, ready-made, and they're also relatively easy to build from parts.
- Radio transceivers implementing the APRS protocol, such as Kenwood and Yaesu commercial offerings, which can act as trackers and normal voice radios at the same time, and implement text messaging and other APRS features
- APRS applications for computers and mobile devices, typically having a tactical real-time map view of APRS stations
- APRS web database sites, which provide real-time map views and historical APRS data lookup functions
- APRS-IS, the APRS Internet System is a network of servers connecting radio-based APRS networks together over the Internet
- The protocol itself, defining how the pieces of the system communicate
Questions concerning the APRS system or any of its components should have the aprs tag.
