Student Projects
Contact Information
University: R.V College of Engineering
Team Member(s): Aritra Paul, Jagriti R, Nischit Bharadwaj, Sameera S
Faculty Advisors:Prof S Venkatesh
Email Address: nischit.b@gmail.com
Project Information
Title: Simulation of a Real-Time Bus Arrival Predictor using RFID and LabVIEW
(RFID – Radio Frequency Identification)
Description:
Most college and office goers in India use the public buses for daily commuting.The bus network caters to the need of thousands who find it an affordable means of transport.However, the absence of real-time updates in the system poses some very serious problems during the exit period. Large cohorts leave the workplace at the same time, leading to over-crowding, chaos and accidents at local bus stops. To address this issue, we have designed an RFID based system that alerts the commuter at periodic intervals as his desired bus approaches the stop.
Products:
LabVIEW 2010
The Challenge:
The commuter has to send his preferred destination by SMS, and the real-time location of relevant buses approaching the stop is sent to the commuter. Also, an LED display at the local bus stop will display real-time information (route, destination etc.) about all approaching buses, within a radius of 6km. Such a system needs a central server to record and sort updates, and distribute them as per request.The server for each local stop is to be installed in the college/workplace itself, so that it can be monitored and updated by the students/workers with a basic knowledge of LabVIEW.
The concept is modular, in the way that it can be developed for individual colleges and offices, and then interfaced and extended if necessary. To start with, we have automated our college bus stand. Before we began work with long-range RFID onreal buses and the bus stop, we decided to develop a scaled-down for concept validation.
The Solution:
The proposed model is illustrated 
Let us consider each block in detail.
1. RFID Tag: These are installed on-board each bus. Every RFID tag has a unique id: this corresponds to the bus number. The tag id and bus number are equated in a Look-Up-Table in the server. We are using long-range,Gen-2 RFID tags for the model (operation at 900 MHz). These tags have a read range of 8m. For the concept validation stage, we used short range tags (125Khz) that had read range of 5 cm.
2. RFID Reader: These are installed at periodic intervals before our college bus stand (5km, 3km, 1km). The operational model is a long-range reader that can intercept tag data from buses that are passing by.
3. GSM Module 1: The RFID reader is interfaced to a GSM module through a PIC microcontroller. The microcontroller is programmed to send relevant AT commands to the GSM module every time a new tag is read.
4. GSM Module 2: The GSM module 1 sends tag data to the GSM Module 2.This module is serially connected to the LabVIEW enabled server. Also, this module receives requests from commuters and sends them relevant updates.
5. LabVIEW enabled server: This is the central unit of the system. It assigns tag ids to bus numbers, sorts them as per routes, identifies and interprets commuter requests, and sends the commuter updates via the attached GSM module.The uploaded LabVIEW code illustrates its operation.
6. LED Module: Due to paucity of funds, we have not been able to erect an LCD module at college. However, we have developed a VI that displays real-time updates of all buses approaching the bus stop. The VI runs on a public computer in each department of the college.
Benefits of using LabVIEW
- Reduction in code complexity.
- Coding in LabVIEW is intuitive, and the server program can be generated much quicker and more efficiently than writing conventional code
- Interfacing RFID and GSM modules to the server is simplified by use of Sub- VIs
Images and Snapshots
The model buses have white RFID tags attached to their roofs. The tunnel shown behind the Kengeri bus stop banner contains the RFID reader
Our table - top working prototype
LabVIEW Frontpanel
Closeup of the software display which shows [DateCurrent_time Bus_number Previous_stop Destination Expected_arrival_time]
Block Diagram
The model buses have white RFID tags attached to their roofs. The tunnel shown behind the Kengeri bus stop banner contains the RFID reader
Our table - top working prototype
LabVIEW Frontpanel
Closeup of the software display which shows [DateCurrent_time Bus_number Previous_stop Destination Expected_arrival_time]
