Vehicle Tracking and Control

Systems
 Major Components
• Pilot Project at Koyambedu , Chennai
• Develop Specifications, Standards
• Develop replication models
• Project Start: September 2006
• Estimated for launch of Pilot project :
January 2007
• Final Delivery of open architecture,
standards, software application, replicable
package design March 2008
 Pilot Project on Telematics
at Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT)
Koyambedu, Chennai

Public Transportation
Project under

CAR Programme of GOI

 Background

• CAR Programme – Telematics Subcommittee

• Initiated by Department of Science and Technology

and Department of Heavy Industries

• Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore

(IIITB) is the Principal Co-ordinator

• Public Transportation Fleet Management Pilot project

 Partners
• Pallavan Transport Consulting Services
• Ashok Leyland
• Harita Infoserve Ltd
• HCL
• MobiApps(TMT)
• IBM
• HP
• CMC
• Spinfo
• Others
 Objective

• Promote a Pre-competitive Research Project

and to demonstrate Telematics in Public
Transportation

• Promote Academic and Industry collaboration.

• Establish Open Standards

• Develop Cost effective solution and scalable

model
 Fleet Management – Key Drivers
• Breakdown
Safety &
Convenience • Over speed
• Emergency
• Passenger convenience

Schedule Control in real

Adherence time

• Location
• Starting time
• Driver communication
• Arrival time
• Parking guidance
• Stoppage

Cost effective
• Bay Utilization
operation • Productivity
• Efficiency
 Why CMBT, Koyambedu?

• Asia’s Largest Bus Terminus

• Strategically situated to connect NH4, NH5 and NH45
• 180 Bus Bays in 6 Platforms
• > 2500 bus trips handled per day
• Chennai is the largest Metropolis in South India
• Strength of Transport Corporations of Tamil Nadu
• TeleTrans 2004 in Chennai
 Technology - Overview
It enables communication of location data from the device
fitted in the vehicle to Koyambedu using GSM/CDMA, GPS,
SMS technology

Real-Time Tracking
Step
Step 1:
1: Location
Location information
information of
of the
the
Bus
Bus is
is received
received byby the
the device
device from
from
the
the GPS
GPS Satellites
Satellites
Step
Step 2:
2: The
The device
device sends
sends the
the
location
location information
information through
through SMS
SMS to
to
CMBT.
CMBT.
Step
Step 3:3: The
The Control
Control Center
Center receives
receives
the
the location
location information
information ,, processes
processes
data
data and
and provides
provides information
information
Step
Step 4:
4: The
The control
control station
station
software
software plots
plots the
the vehicle’s
vehicle’s location
location
on
on the
the map
map
Step
Step 5:
5: The
The infrastructure
infrastructure enables
enables
communication
communication to to vehicle
vehicle in
in Real
Real
Time
Time
 Technology - Map

Location Route Info

 Target Customers

• Metropolitan Transport
Corporation (MTC)

• State Express Transport

Corporation (SETC)

• Ground Traffic Control CMDA

 Project details - MTC

Tambaram – Avadi Koyambedu –

Route No. 70 Parrys
• 32 buses Route No. 15B
• 38.5 Km • 18 buses
• 70 min (avg) • 11.5 Km
• 45 min (avg)
• Cut Serv– 18.2 Km
• Extn -14.2Km
• ORDY/LSS/EXPR
• Time – ARR/DEP
• Vehicle Status
• Time Keeper
Automation
 IRS Image

Koyambedu
Bus Terminus
Project details - SETC

Chennai – Madurai • Emergency Commn

• Lost Property Info
• 60 buses • Passenger Emergency
• 450 Km
• 9Hrs (avg)
Driver Info
• Passenger Info • Road Block
• Seat Availability • Gate Status
• Vehicle Status • Alternate Route
•Time Keeper
•Automation Possible Linkages
• Kiosk – Ticket • Road Safety Patrol
Vending • Accident relief centres
• Restaurants
 Ground traffic control CMDA
• Bus bay allocation
• Centralized server room for vehicle info
control
• Information display
– Central
– Platform
– Bay
• Kiosks
• Flexibility
Displays
 Benefits
Stake
Holders

Passengers Crew Corporation CMDA

• Real Time Info • Convenience • Real Time Info • Customer

• Convenience • Guidance Satisfaction
• Better Fleet
• Comfort • Confidence Mgmt • Improved
Image
• Satisfaction • Satisfaction • Improved
Productivity
• Planning • Productivity
• Customer
Satisfaction
• Improved
Revenue
• Better
planning

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction, Productivity and Profitability

 ITS Standards
• VTCS – Intelligent transport system
• electronics, communications, or information technology
(IT) processing, applied to transportation operations that
result in improved transportation efficiency and safety
• ITS standards are developed by Standards Development
Organizations (SDOs) in order to assure interoperability,
interconnectivity, compatibility, interchangeability and
expandability.
 Example from USA
• The National ITS Architecture (NA), maintained by the
U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), provides a
nationwide common framework and template for
planning and designing ITS projects for interoperability.
The key components of the NA are:
• User Services
• Logical Architecture
• Physical Architecture
• Market Packages
• Equipment Packages
• ITS Standards
Interconnected Presentation

National ITS Architecture Relationships

 Components
• User services provide improvements in transportation
safety and efficiency. After a thorough study by the NA
task force, 33 user services have been identified as ITS
activities. eg: Route guidance, Incident management
• Logical Architecture guides the development of
functional requirements for new systems and
improvements.
• The Physical Architecture takes the processes identified
in the logical architecture and assigns them to physical
entities known as subsystems in the NA.It also
determines who should communicate with whom and
mode of communication.
 Components
• A Market Package is a service-oriented perspective of
applications that are tailored to fit real world
transportation problems and needs.

Market packages relate to 8 major type of activities

1. Traffic Management
2. Public Transportation
3. Traveler Information
4. Vehicle Safety
5. Commercial Vehicles
6. Emergency Management
7. Archived Data Management
8. Maintenance and Construction Management
 Components
• Equipment Packages are the building blocks of the
Physical Architecture. They grouped similar data
processes together into an “implementable” Market
Package.
• Standards identify and specify the way information will
be exchanged between logical components of
transportation systems. The ITS standards are being
developed by Standards Development Organizations
(SDOs).
 SDOs
List of SDOs:
• AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials)
• ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
• ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials
• IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
• ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers)
• NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association)
• SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)
 NTCIP
• The National Transportation Communications for ITS
Protocol (NTCIP) - a family of communications protocols
and data definition standards that have been designed to
accommodate the diverse needs of various subsystems
and user services of the National ITS Architecture.

• handles both Center to Field (C2F) and Center to

Center (C2C) communications.
 Modular Approach
• NTCIP uses a layered or modular approach to communications
standards
• Layers are called levels to distinguish it from the OSI layers.

Different levels are

• Information Level
• Application Level
• Transport Level
• Subnetwork Level
• Plant Level
OSI Layer to NTCIP level mapping
 Levels
• Information level - data elements,objects and messages to be
transmitted. e.g: TCIP, NTCIP 1200
• Application level - data packet structure and session
management. e.g: SNMP, STMP, DATEXASN,CORBA, FTP.
• Transport level - data packet subdivision,packet reassembly
and routing when needed. e.g: TCP, UDP, IP.
• Subnetwork level - physical interface, e.g modem, network
interface card, CSU/DSU, and the data packet transmission
method, for example, HDLC, PPP, Ethernet, ATM.
• Plant level - physical transmission media used for
communications, e.g, copper wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic
cable, wireless.
 Our tasks
• Develop specifications for onboard units,
display systems, software applications,
servers and communication equipment
• Implement these at the pilot project
• Get industry and user views
• Develop open architecture, specifications
and standards based on pilot project and
feedback from Industry
 System Requirements

Main system requirements of a typical Vehicle Tracking

and Control System are
• In-vehicle units
• Main Control Server
• Display System
• Map and attribute data base
 Functionalities
• Vehicle tracking.
• Estimated time of arrival (ETA).
• Platform and Bay allocation
• Log Reports for vehicle maintenance and driver
performance information.
• Emergency call.
• Real time congestion information
• Route guidance
 In-Vehicle Unit
• In-Vehicle Unit
1. User friendly driver interface/ display (May not be
needed) and a speaker for making emergency calls
2. Location Estimation Unit
(Global Positioning System – GPS)
3. Transceiver
(GSM/GPRS for communication betw. Center and Vehicle)
4. Data Storage
 Architecture

Transceiver Unit SME

(GSM/GPRS)

Driver Interface Location Estimation

/Display Unit
with speaker (GPS)

Data Storage
 In-Vehicle Unit
Specification
• Power Supply 12 – 24 V
• Rechargeable Backup Battery for atleast 4 hrs and a
lifetime of 18 months
• Human Interface – at least 4 push buttons and sufficient
number of LEDs, Buzzer with a sound level > 85dB
• Antennas: integrated GPS & GSM antennas
• SIM-Card Interface: electronic seal or equivalent feature
to guard against removal of the SIM cards and provision
to raise an alert on removal of the SIM card.
 In-Vehicle Unit
• Voice Communication: built-in speaker and sensitive
microphone to enable two-way voice communication
with an audibility level of 90 dB
• Processor 32 bit RISC microcontroller.64MB Flash and
32 MB RAM
• RS232 serial interfaces and an USB 1.1 interface
• 12 channel highly sensitive GPS receiver with internal
antenna for position accuracy better than 10m E80
• GSM/GPRS: Unit shall have dual-band GSM/GPRS
module with EDGE capability which can operate in the
900 MHz and 1800 MHz band.
 Main control Server
• Data storage
Highly available
Huge amount of data received simultaneously
• Data Format
The data should be stored in a way that can be easily
accessed
• Architecture needed
Can be a hierarchical data storage
• Secure storage and transmission
 Main control Server
• Specification
1. Rack-mounted
2. Windows 2003 Data Center Edition
3. 500 GB Hard Disk
4. 8GB RAM
5. 2Mbps Wireless Connection
 Display System
• Four types of display
1. Central Display for the whole terminal
Displaying the platform and the route details
2. Platform Display
Displaying the bay allocation details
3. Bay Display
Displaying the destination and time of Arrival/departure
4. Bus stop display
Displaying the bus no., Destination and ETA