International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)

Volume 138 – No.12, March 2016

Vehicle Monitoring and Routing System

Mit K. Shah Parshva N. Shah Khyati M. Thakkar
K.J. Somaiya College of K.J. Somaiya College of K.J. Somaiya College of
Engineering Engineering Engineering
Marine Lines, Mumbai-02 Ghatkopar, Mumbai-86 Ghatkopar, Mumbai-75
Maharashtra India Maharashtra India Maharashtra India

Smita R. Sankhe
Assistant Professor
K.J. Somaiya College of
Engineering

ABSTRACT through SMS (Short Message Service). Immediate attention

In this paper, a vehicle monitoring and routing system has will be provided to the victim through the proposed system.
been proposed which allows a vehicle administrator to
monitor the vehicle in real-time using a GPS-based device
2. LITERATURE SURVEY
possessed by its driver. This system can continuously track a S. Sivakumar and Dr. C.Chandrasekar formulated a real-time
vehicle and show its exact position using GPS. The proposed algorithm called Modified Dijkstra’s algorithm whose basic
system is also capable of finding the shortest route to reach idea was to modify the Dijkstra’s algorithm to make it
the destination which uses the proposed algorithm to find the suitably useful for finding shortest route between source and
same. This system also possesses the facility of speed destination considering other real-time factors like traffic
monitoring and giving alerts to the driver if he over speeds his congestion, time and distance. They developed a tool using
vehicle. Also, the system gives accident alerts to the vehicle Java and compared the proposed Modified Dijkstra’s
admin. algorithm with the existing algorithms like DKA( (Dijkstra’s
algorithm with Approximate Buckets) on Jaipur database.
General Terms Comparisons were made based on number of nodes visited
Vehicle monitoring, Routing system, GPS tracking. and time taken to reach the solution [1].
Another author Liang Dai made a comparison between
Keywords Dijkstra’s algorithm and A* algorithm by implementing both
Real-time monitoring, routing, speed monitoring and alerts, of them on Ottawa city road network. He compared the
accident alerts. running times of both the algorithms and concluded that A*
can have better running time than Dijkstra’s if it uses
1. INTRODUCTION Eucledian distance as its heuristic function. Though, their time
In today's world GPS (Global positioning system) is the most complexities are almost same, they may be chosen depending
widely used technology in vehicle monitoring and routing on the road network chosen [2].
system. Security of public and private vehicles like school
buses is of prime importance. There are various cases A.Renugambal and V.Adilakshmi Kameswari made an
encountered in recent times where the children don’t reach android application which can be run on GPS-driven mobile
home in time or the vehicles loaded with goods are hijacked. phones equipped by the taxi drivers. These phones send their
Because of which the parents or the vehicle owners get location via GPS which also has the capacity of finding an
worried. GPS technology can be used to solve this problem. optimal route by using min-max algorithm [3].
Using GPS and GIS (Global information system) we can find Paul Benjamin Et Al designed a GPS-based vehicle
the exact location of the vehicle. monitoring and alert system. They included a management
Time is an important factor considered while travelling. system, fuel usage monitor and an onboard location display
Reaching on destination as soon as possible is always along with an accident and robbery alert system. Their project
admirable. Google Maps provides all the routes from a source used Google Maps API, SMS gateway server which triggers
to destination. The routes provided by Google Maps may not sending SMS to nearby hospital when the inbuilt air-bags
be the shortest/fastest route available. There needs to be a open, a panic button that can be pressed by the driver which is
system devised which can help a person to reach from source easily accessible to him that sends an SMS to a nearby police
to destination in minimal amount of time. An efficient station. They formulated a C# code for sending location
algorithm is devised for these purposes. through GPS to the database [4].

In recent times, the rate of road accidents has increased M. A. Hannanet Et Al implemented a bus monitoring system
considerably. For helping the victims of road accidents, a which used radio frequency identification tag (RFID) along
quick service should be provided. An alert system module is with GPS, GPRS and GIS to monitor bus. They used an RFID
incorporated for this purpose. This module is based on GPS, reader which continuously sends an operating energy or
GPRS/GSM technology. A GSM mobile device with active isotropic radiated power to the RFID tag. Based on the
GPRS connection is installed in the vehicle. The position of calculated distance between the tag and the reader, it is
the vehicle which is received through GPS is sent to the decided whether to obtain the data from the tag or not and
concerned person and to the ambulance hotline number whether to send data to the control center or not. The time of
the arrivals of the readings can be recorded too along with

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 138 – No.12, March 2016

other processed data which is saved in the database. Then, this VMARS is a project that covers most important and rare
data is shown to the bus drivers [5]. feature of alerts. Succinctly put, the developed system will be
able to (1) Provide real-time tracking and monitoring of the
Fleischer Et Al developed a GPS/GSM based vehicle alert and vehicle. (2) Show the shortest path to the driver by applying
tracking system for inter-city buses and goods transportation. the proposed algorithm considering all the real-time factors.
They provided real time tracking and alert mechanisms for (3) Alerting the driver whenever he exceeds the safe speed.
accident and robbery. Google maps APIs where used to show (4) Proving quick and timely alert to the vehicle admin to take
maps. Airbag sensing mechanism would help to provide actions in case of an accident.
information related to accident. In case of robbery, they gave
alert button, that when pressed will send SMS to nearby 4. PROPOSED SYSTEM DESIGN AND
police station. All these was done with the help of C# code
[6]. METHODOLOGY
The proposed system consists of GPS module, GSM modem,
3. PROBLEM DEFINITION SMS Server and GPRS Server. The System continuously
Daily, drivers face problems while travelling on highways, tracks the vehicle through a GSM device with GPS enabled in
unknown routes and different terrains. Some more problems the device. The management system receives information
might be of spare settlement, carjacking or accidents. When from the vehicle via a SMS gateway server which is installed
the vehicle leaves from its source for its journey, until he at the server side i.e. vehicle monitoring admin. The SMS is
reaches its destination, an analyst may rely completely on the sent through VPN (Virtual Private Network). SMS is used to
previous reports or logs that were generated. No real time inform clients about any delay or other important
information regarding the state of vehicle can ever be notifications. Driver sends an SMS to vehicle monitoring
transmitted to the analyst. So real time tracking of the vehicle admin requesting for alternate route in case of a rally or
is necessary for safety and security purpose. unexpected blockage of a road or if any accident has occurred
blocking the road.
Real time monitoring of the vehicle is important these days
due to an increasing number of accidents and robbery. The System architecture and how the various components of
Whenever such an incident takes place, the vehicle admin if the system interact with each other are shown in the diagram
monitoring on real time basis, can immediately notify nearby below:
hospitals or police stations according to the situation he will
be notified with. Also, the parents of school going kids can be
informed so that they can take a sigh or for the owner of the
good being travelled via transport vehicle.

Fig 1: Proposed system design and architecture.

5. PROPOSED ALGORITHM this purpose, a modified Dijkstra’s algorithm can be

The vehicle routing problem is a different from normal formulated which considers other factors too which are
shortest path problem, which are having links that will mandatory for finding shortest path in real-time road network.
represent road maps with its junctions. The available time to provide an alternate path must be
If a graph is considered as an analogy to the road network limited due to road network constraints. It should take very
where junctions are nodes and roads are edges, and if only less time to provide an alternate path.
distance is considered as a factor for finding the shortest path
between two nodes, normal Dijkstra’s algorithm is proven to
5.1 Modified Dijkstra’s Shortest Path
be the best algorithm for this purpose. But when real-time Algorithm (MDSP)
road network is considered, some other factors like road This algorithm shows better results than the existing
congestion, time of travel, etc. have to be considered too. For Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm on real time road network.

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 138 – No.12, March 2016

This algorithm considers multiple parameters like time, FOR each v in remaining vertices
distance and congestion for finding possible shortest route IF ShortestDistance[v] <
from the source to destination. The algorithm’s pseudo code is MinimumDistance
as below: MinimumDistance =
ShortestDistance[v]
// Let source be the origin vertex and initialize Visited and w := v
ShortestDistance[u] as END IF
Visited := {source} END FOR
ShortestDistance[source] := 0
// Let user choose any preference among Distance, Time and // Add w to Visited list
Congestion factors Visited:= Visited union {w}

ACCEPT Choice // Update the minimum distance to vertices in

// Update distance between every nodes as per their remaining vertices
corresponding factors FOR each u in remaining vertices
FOR each vertex pair [u,v] ShortestDistance[u] :=
Case Distance: //Do nothing Minimum of
Case Time: //Update according to time factor (ShortestDistance[u],ShortestDistance[w]
Distance[u,v] := Distance[u,v] * time + Distance[w,u])
factor END FOR
Case Congestion: //Update according to congestion
factor END WHILE
Distance[u,v] := Distance[u,v] *
congestion factor 5.2 Heuristic Algorithms (HA)
END FOR When all the heuristic algorithms are concerned, A* algorithm
can provide better results than the others when it comes to
FOR each vertex in V - {source} implementing them on real-time road network as A*
ShortestDistance[u] := Distance[source,u] algorithm uses a heuristic for searching best optimal route.
The selection of node is done on the basis of calculation of
END FOR cost from start node plus an estimate of cost to the destination.
This project uses Euclidean distance as estimated distance to
//Add vertices to Visited until Visited includes all vertices in V the destination.
WHILE Visited not equal to V The proposed strategy is a hybrid approach which takes full
advantage of both Modified Dijkstra’s Shortest Path (MDSP)
algorithm and Heuristic algorithm (A* Search Method) and
// Find the vertex w among remaining vertices closest to the meets the requirements of dynamic time constraints of real
source road traffic scenarios.
MinimumDistance := INFINITE

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 138 – No.12, March 2016

Fig 2: Proposed system flow diagram

• It’s a strategy which uses a hybrid approach and takes 6.1 Location Module
full advantage of both MDSP and Heuristic algorithms Google Map APIs are available for accessing the location
(A* Search Method) and meets the requirements of from the device. These APIs are integrated within the
dynamic time constraints of real road traffic scenarios. software which allows one to access Google’s Location
Services. The device location is extracted in terms of latitude
• Initially, the shortest path is found using Modified
and longitude. The location module will trace the current
Dijkstra’s Algorithm. On receiving any new updates like
location from the GPS enabled device without the need of
new route, or change in congestion, or blockage of a road
user specifically entering it. The obtained latitude and
segment, an alternate route is calculated using A* Search
longitude are converted into a specific location by GIS
Method and travel time of both the approaches are
(Global Information System). After mapping this Location
compared.
service, one can easily see the visual display of the road map
• The route with lower travel time period is chosen and with provided location.
route is updated accordingly.
6.2 Routing Module
• This process is repeated till the destination road segment Routing Module is the most important module of this project.
is reached. It provides the driver with the path from the extracted location
from location module to the destination which is supposed to
6. SCOPE OF WORK be entered by the user. The main task of routing is not just to
The system is made up of four main modules and they are: give the path, but to show the shortest possible distance from
 Location Module source to destination. For initial routing MDSP (Modified
Dijkstra’s shortest path) algorithm is used. The routing from a
 Routing Module source to destination depends on various factors such as
congestion, distance, time etc. If there is any disturbance in
 Speed Alerts
normal course of travel, there will be frequent update of
 Accident Alerts routes. The route gets updated dynamically by applying the
algorithm giving better results among MDSP and A*
algorithms.

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 138 – No.12, March 2016

6.3 Speed Alerts Table 2. Record:2 (Borivali - Kandivali)

Providing speed alerts helps in maintaining security and safety Algorithm Distance Travel Time
of the kids as well as driver. This module has predefined
threshold values depending on the road type. Whenever the Dijkstra’s 5.8 km 26 minutes
driver exceeds the speed and crosses this threshold value, MDSP 5.9 km 24 minutes
speed alert in terms of alarm notification is given in his cell
A* 6.1 km 25 minutes
phone. This notifies the driver that he needs to slow down the
Proposed Algorithm 5.9 km 24 minutes
vehicle which has crossed the permissible speed limit.
The speed alert module comprises of various thresholds. Table 3. Record:3 (Mumbai - Mahad)
These thresholds vary according to the various factors. Like
highways have higher values as the roads are broader and Algorithm Distance Travel Time
congestion free; whereas the local streets have more
congestion, so the threshold needs to be low. This improves Dijkstra’s 156 km 3 hours 42
the safety measure of the vehicles. minutes
MDSP 169 km 3 hours 27
6.4 Accident Alerts minutes
If the system detects a high probability of the occurrence of an A* 171 km 3 hours 24
accident, SMS is sent on urgent basis to the Vehicle Admin minutes
with the current location of the vehicle. Then, the vehicle Proposed Algorithm 171 km 3 hours 24
admin is expected to find out the cause by contacting the minutes
driver and taking appropriate actions.
8. CONCLUSION
The occurrence of an accident can be noticed by the vehicle After successful implementation of the proposed project and
admin as the admin is watching over the complete journey of deployment in the form of an android application, it will be
bus. The moment a vehicle stops moving for certain period, much beneficial for the parents of school-going students.
admin is expected to follow up about it as there is a chance of Right from the factors like safety of the students to the
accident. satisfaction of their parents, this system can be used by a
Also if accident occurs, driver is supposed to contact the school for giving assurance to the parents as it can monitor
admin regarding incident if he is able to. The admin will get real-time position of the buses and even ensure that the driver
the location of the place where the accident took place and does not over-speed. Also, the proposed system detects the
then, he can take appropriate actions depending on the occurrence of an accident with high probability so that
circumstances present. immediate actions can be taken by the vehicle admin by
looking into its details.
7. RESULTS ANALYSIS
For this result analysis, an Android application was developed 9. REFERENCES
which took source and destination as inputs. By using [1] S. Sivakumar, Dr. C.Chandrasekar, “Modified Dijkstra’s
different algorithms viz. Dijkstra’s algorithm, MDSP, A* Shortest Path Algorithm ” Ijir In Computer And
algorithm and the proposed algorithm, incorporated in the Communication Engineering (An Iso 3297: 2007
same application, shortest route statistics like distance and Certified Organization)
travel time were recorded using each of these algorithms as [2] Liang Dai, “Fast Shortest Path Algorithm For Road
shown below: Network And Implementation” Carleton University
Table 1. Record:1 (Charni Road-Ghatkopar) School Of Computer Science Honours Project Fall
Term, 2005 Comp 4905
Algorithm Distance Travel Time
[3] A.Renugambal , V.Adilakshmi Kameswari ,“Finding
Dijkstra’s 20 km 51 minutes Optimal Vehicular Route Based On Gps ” ,Ijcsit, Vol. 5
(2) , 2014
MDSP 23 km 44 minutes
A* 21 km 49 minutes [4] Paul Benjamin Et Al,“Design And Development Of
Proposed Algorithm 23 km 44 minutes Gps/Gsm Based Vehicle Tracking And Alert System For
Commercial Inter-City Buses”
[5] M. A. Hannanet.Et Al,“Intelligent Bus Monitoring And
Management System”,Proceedings Of The World
Congress On Engineering And Computer Science 2012
[6] Fleisher, Et Al,“Design And Development Of GPS/GSM
Based Vehicle Tracking And Alert System For
Commercial Inter-City Buses”, Ijcsea.

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