Integrated Railways Information System

Project Idea
At present there is no method by which a passenger can be informed of the next approaching station. This results in lack of information with the passenger and creates anxiety especially during night hours.

Solution.. . . .

The GPS based Passenger Information System addresses this problem by automatically indicating the next arriving station on a moving train along with distance remaining, present time and train speed.

Landmarks
This project is then later modified to meet the need of any public Transport Corporation This project is also displayed at the 3rd International Exhibition and Seminar, organized by The Institute of Telecommunication Engineers (IRSTE) whose theme is s Adoption of appropriate technologies for
capacity enhancement augmentation, and reliability safety Excellencet

Overview
This system has following components:

GPS Receiver

Software Interface

LED Display Board

GPS Receiver


A GPS receiver's job is to locate four or more satellites, figure out the distance to each, and use this information to deduce its own location. This operation is based on a simple mathematical principle called trilateration.

Software Interface


Software is used for interfacing between GPS receiver and LED board. It processes the data received from GPS receiver and transfers it to display board.

LED Board
There are two display boards: 

Indoor Outdoor These are used to display information which is intended to them.

GPS Module

GPS Module
GPS Module consist of an inbuilt GPS receiver chip and an inbuilt antenna is connected to the computer through the db9 (9 pin socket) through the rs232 connecting cable. The GPS module consists of the Gramin receiver .

GPS Module

Contd.....

Extra Antenna is also added to increase the strength of the signals. This GPS module is directly connected the GPS satellite. This module transfers the information to the computer in the NMEA 0183 protocol.

NMEA Protocol
The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) has developed a specification that defines the interface between various pieces of marine electronic equipment. The standard permits marine electronics to send information to computers and to other marine equipment.

NMEA Protocol

(Contd....)

This data includes the complete PVT (position, velocity, time) solution computed by the GPS receiver. The idea of NMEA is to send a line of data called a sentence that is totally self contained and independent from other sentences.

NMEA Protocol
Sample Streams

(Contd....)

This streams will be modified when a route is active with the inclusion of route specific data. $GPRMC,183729,A,3907.356,N,12102.482,W,00 0.0,360.0,080301,015.5,E*6F

Software Interface
This software interface is connected to the GPS module through the use of a prop. Dynamic Linking Library. This software is created in Visual Basic and Oracle Database or Microsoft Access as the back end for the software. This software interface receives the raw data from the DB 9 port of the computer in NMEA 0183 format at specific setting with an update rate of 1 second.

Software Interface

Contd...

After the raw data is received from the GPS Module this software then retrieves the information regarding the Latitute, Longitute, Magnetic Flux, Speed of the moving train ,universally coordinated time and other useful information regarding the train The retrieved information from the raw data is then used to find the current location of the train.

Software Interface

Contd...

After the current location of the train is found then this software is connected to the backend database which stores the location of each and every route station. The trains location is then compared with the location of each and every route station stored in the backend database.

Software Interface

Contd...

After this comparison, the distance of train from each and every route station is stored in another database. The Information regarding the Current universally coordinated time, distance from the next station, time required to reach the next station, Expected time of arrival to the next station, current speed of the train along with the commercial advertisement are stored in a text file which is updated at an update rate of 1 millisecond to almost 10 second.

Software Interface

Contd...

This updated file is then send to the LED Panels of each and every coach of the train to display the current information and commercial advertisements through Ethernet connection. This text file stores the information regarding the train number, Source station, Destination station, Coach Number, and commercial advertisements. This text file is displayed at all the LED Panels outside the coaches i.e. outdoor display.

IRIS Advantages.......
It can be easily implemented in a limited cost. As the high quality LED's are used , it is also possible to show commercial Advertisement , which in turn make this project more beneficial for the State Transport authorities which are in running in LOSS. This is capable enough to replace DTC LED + Central GPS tracking system .

IRIS Disadvantages.......
Nothing can be perfect everything has some disadvantages if it has some advantages. Though real times updates are available from time to time even in the extreme of the whether conditions , but transmitting crucial data from centralized Server is still a problem in remote areas because we still have to rely on the third party about that....

IRIS Extensions.......
This project can be modified and plugged in the local digital maps to trace the route of the vehicles. The main tracking room communicate with the device but reverse is not possible , if this device can be modified to to the reverse communication then it can also replaces the traditional railways tracking system

Questions....

Thank You