1. RFID Based Embedded System
for Vehicle Tracking
and
Prevention of Road Accidents
1
Ronson Calvin Fernandes
110919053
Manipal Institute of Technology - Manipal
11/19/2013

2. 2
Contents
 Introduction
 What is RFID ?
 RFID Applications
 RFID System
 RFID Tag , RFID Reader , GSM
 How V.T works ?
 Design and Implementation
 Benefits of V.T
 Future Work
 Conclusion
 References
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Introduction
 For today’s transportation professionals, traffic management, safety and
security initiatives are an increasing priority.
 State and local agencies are searching for solutions to improve mobility,
efficiency and safety of their operations and for the driving public.
 Current Transport facility is suffering with many issues.
 Accident risk management
 Environment alert
 Traffic rule violation control
 Vehicle theft identification
 Traffic signal management
 RFID technology can be effectively used to solve some of them.
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What is RFID ?

Technology to electronically identify vehicles and validate the identity, status and
authenticity of vehicle data.

RFID Tech. has been in use for over 60 years.

Industry and public interest in RFID technology took a major leap in 2003.

Transmits the identity of an object using radio waves.

Identification is transmitted in the form of a serial number that
distinguishes each object from the other.

RFID system composed of a RFID Reader and a RFID Tag .
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RFID Applications
 Traffic Analysis/Management
 E-Tolling
 Security Access Control (e.g., Airports, Govt Facilities, etc.)
 Vehicle Registration and Insurance Compliance
 Border Crossing and
 Trade Corridor Efficiency
 Commercial Vehicle Monitoring
 E-Commerce
 Fleet/Asset Management
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RFID System
 RFID system composed of a RFID Reader and a RFID Tag .
return
RFID Tag
Mobile Phones
RFID
Reader
Impact
Sensor
Microcontroller
Unit
Camera
GSM
Module
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RFID Tag
 The RFID tag houses a unique identification code, typically 64 bits in length.
 A secure, unique identification code is transmitted to a reader/antenna
upon activation of the tag by an appropriate radio frequency signal.
 RFID tags contains two parts.
 Integrated circuit for storing and processing the data.
 Antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal.
 These tags can operate on many levels of frequency ranging from 125
KHz until 915 MHz.
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RFID Reader

A device used to communicate with RFID Tag.

The reader has one or more antennas , which emits radio waves and
receive signals back , from the RFID Tag.

Also called Interrogator because it interrogates the RFID Tag.

Data retrieval - RFID Reader – Device - Emits radio waves - Received
by the RFID Tag - Activates the microchip - data get transmitted.
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GSM
 GSM ( Global system for mobile communication ).
 Globally accepted standard for digital cellular communication.
 GSM is a common European mobile telephone standard for a mobile
cellular radio system operating at 900 MHz.
 In the current work, SIM300 GSM module is used.
 It delivers voice, data and fax in a small form factor with low power
consumption.
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Vehicle Tracking . . . How it works ?
 One RFID is placed in vehicle with owner info, RC book, insurance
details, service details etc. to send vehicle identification to traffic
information database.
 RFID reader will be placed with embedded controller in Secure
access points , Toll Gates, Parking areas and also in traffic signal
areas.
 We used GSM module with embedded unit in the moving vehicle
to transmit accident information to different points.
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How it works ? ( Continued . . )
 Whenever vehicle meets with an accident, the system reads area
information from RFID Readers/Tags placed on the road and
transfers this information to embedded module.
 The details are transmitted to the specific numbers stored in
database (Police station, Owner and Hospital).
 Whenever the vehicle crosses the particular road area, the data
from Vehicle tag is read and based on the location, an SMS
regarding location of the vehicle will be sent to the owner.
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RFID Tag types
 Passive Tags
 No internal power supply;
 Microchip is in sleep mode, until the tag is in the range of the reader,
 Reader sends electromagnetic waves - wake up the microchip
 converts the waves into digital data using modulators and send it to the reader.
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RFID Tag types ( Continued . . . )
 Active Tags
 Own internal power supply
 Used to power the integrated circuits and to transmit the data to the reader.
 Communication with readers is typically much more reliable.
 Can have on- board electronics such as sensors, I/O ports
 The read range of the tag can reach 100 meters.
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RFID Tag types ( Continued . . . )
 Semi-Passive Tags

Lay between the passive and the active tags
 Because they have a battery to power the integrated
circuit
 However they use the power from the electromagnetic
waves that the reader sends in order to retrieve the data
present on the tag.
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RFID Tag Types ( Mode of Operation )
 The tags can be distinguished by their mode of operation as
follows:
 Read Only Tags .
 Read/Write Tags
 WORM Tags
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Design and Implementation
 The current design has following 3 operating points.
 Road unit
 Vehicle unit
 Alert receiver unit.
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Figure 2. Vehicle tracking and Accident alert system
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On Road Unit
 ‘N’ number of RFID tags to transmit general area information and alert on
special zones like school, hospital, weak bridges and zigzag bends etc.
 UHF Semi passive tag is used in our application.
 Its coverage is a maximum of 50 Meters.
 The location information and driver alert information are stored in this tag.
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Vehicle Unit
 These units consist of RFID reader, vehicle information RFID Tag, 8051
embedded module and GSM module.
 Here we have used SIM 300 GSM module to transmit alert data to the
mobile receivers already configured.
 RFID reader and GSM are connected to receive and transmit of the serial
port in embedded module.
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Alert Receiver Unit
 This unit is nothing but alert receiving mobile phones programmed in
the embedded module.
 It may be owner of the vehicle, the hospital emergency care and
the police station information number.
 Short script message or voice message will be sent to the receivers.
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Implementation
 Let's go to RFID System to understand better
 Special zones like School, Hospital, Zig Zag bends and weak bridge etc.,
are programmed in the RFID tag.
 Whenever vehicles crossing that area, embedded module will alert the
driver to reduce acceleration. This will control accident ratio.
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Implementation ( Contd . . )
 RFID Tag is placed inside vehicle to transmit vehicle information.
 In the traffic signal management system RFID reader and display informer
unit are connected with serial port of the microcontroller.
 If vehicle insurance, pollution test, FC is not proper, the alert system will
produce beep sound and vehicle number is displayed.
 Then the traffic police can easily alert the driver / owner.
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Implementation Scenario
 CHALLENGE
 Municipality of Pendik in Istanbul, Turkey, operates a highly
trafficked parking area - owned fleet of1,000 vehicles.
 The lot has four gates, far away from each other.
 The municipality did not want to hire four parking lot attendants.
 Use RFID to efficiently track vehicles going in and out of a parking
lot.
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Implementation Scenario ( Contd ..)
 SOLUTION
 Municipality of Pendik worked with STS technology, a Turkish RFID
solutions firm, to develop vehicle tracking solution.
 Each vehicle has an Alien M tag, which is applied inside the windshield.
 On gates, STS deploys Alien reader for the entrance and exit to monitor
the parking lot traffic.
 Each reader can detect the vehicle tags from approximately five to six
meters.
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Implementation Scenario ( Contd ..)
 RESULTS
 STS’s RFID solution for the municipality was able to overcome the
challenges of monitoring the fleet.
 Collect the data automatically and without/reduced human
action.
 The municipality gets reports from its IT system, and it can easily
track the employee’s vehicles and parking lot status.
 Drivers are not busy opening the gates — they are only driving their
vehicles.
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Benefits of Vehicle Tracking
 Better Fleet Management
 Better, more accurate information
 Increased safety and security
 Parking Lot Access Control
 Reduced operating costs
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Future work
 OCR (Optical Character Recognition) s/w with RFID
System/module.
 RFID defense technologies and applications and the use of RFID to monitor and track
items safely and securely in the military supply chain.
 RFID is playing at Boeing, Airbus, commercial airlines and the U.S. Department of
Defense, as well as in tracking assets and ensuring homeland security.
 RFID retail technologies, applications, which allow retailers to improve on-shelf
availability, increase sales, cut labor costs and improve customer service.
 Healthcare , logistics , manufacturing , Pharmaceautical etc…
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Conclusion
 Designed as a system to give complete solution for transport related
problems such as accident alert, Vehicle surveillance.
 Extended with small changes for Toll gate control, traffic signal control,
traffic rules violation control, parking management, vehicle theft and
special zone alert using the latest RFID technology.
 Low cost optimized solution using RFID and GSM mobile technology. This is
in line with the developed countries like USA, England, German and Japan,
where RFID, GPS and GSM technologies are widely used for traffic
management.
 No automated system for transport management in India due to prohibitive
cost. Keeping this in mind , this is the proposed system at low cost.
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References
 [1] Kumar Chaturvedula .U.P , “RFID Based Embedded System for Vehicle
Tracking and Prevention of Road Accidents” Vol. 1 Issue 6, August – 2012.
 [2] Manish Buhptani, Shahram Moradpour, "RFID Field Guide - Developing
Radio Frequency Identification Systems", Prentice Hall,2005, pp 7-9, 16-225,
160, 231
 [3] Sewon Oh, Joosang Park, Yongioon Lee, "RFID-based Middleware
System for Automatic Identification", IEEE International Conference on
Service Operations and Logistics, and Information, 2005
 [4] RFID Journal , ” http://www.rfidjournal.com/RFID “
 [5] Alien Technology Corporation, “Turkish Municipality Gives Green Light to
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RFID VEHICLE TRACKING” , Field Guide , October 2007.

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