A Vehicle Tracking System Using Greedy Forwarding Algorithms for Public Transportation in Urban Arterial

Abstract

A vehicle tracking system assists public transportation users in their movements by providing real-time information on the locations of vehicles in transit. Public transportation in parts of developing nations, especially Nigeria is ineffective. The system is chaotic and frustrating, especially at peak traffic periods. In a bid to address the problem, a vehicle tracking system was developed as a component of an Advanced Public Transportation System to improve commuting in an urban arterial. The developed system is based on wireless technologies of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile Communication module. It records and displays real-time vehicle location using a GPS-based greedy forwarding algorithm, computes route distance information using distance-time based algorithm and radar range sensor (RRS). A pseudo-range mathematical model using the Haversine formula was adopted in determining the accurate position of an object during signal transmission from GPS satellites to the receiver message module. The minimum inversion matrix method was used for the GPS-based geometric dilution of precision (GDoP) selection of satellite approximation and distance. Atmega328P controller chip was used as the logical control unit for processing activities in the tracking system and programming in Arduino IDE using C-language. The system was deployed to a university transportation system in Nigeria: a journey to and from the Bosso and Gidan Kwano Campuses route in the Federal University of Technology, Minna. The vehicle tracking system was tested with 11 tracked satellite and minor dilution error (PDoP error = 1.9, HDoP=0.9, and VDOP=1.7) was recorded. The system is efficient and accurate in distance and time information display with a minor delay. The system would enhance fleet management schemes for urban arterial and can be adopted universally.