WaitLess Bus Tracking Device (Electronics Project)

The WaitLess bus tracking device is a standalone system designed to display the real-time location(s) of the buses on Georgia Tech’s campus. The system will consist of a solar panel and backup battery, wireless module, PSoC microprocessor, and a LED embedded map of the Georgia Tech bus transportation routes.

Assembly of these components will enable the tracking device to connect to the internet to obtain GPS data of the bus locations, which it will depict by activating LEDs in the approximate geographic positions of the buses on the route map. In addition, the device will be portable and sustainable; it will not require an external power source, which will eliminate long-term energy costs.

NextBus, the tracking company that Georgia Tech employs to retain the GPS location of the campus buses, currently provides a $3600 scrolling LED panel installed at three of the bus stops on campus. The display panel provides a rough text-based time estimate of the next arrival of a bus at the particular stop. In a recent survey, conducted by the design team, 75% of the survey correspondents attributed that waiting for the bus has often caused them to be late to a destination. Furthermore, 96% affirmed that if they had an easy way to see each bus’s actual location, in real-time, they could make a more accurate, informed decision of whether or not to wait.

The WaitLess bus tracking device will serve as a viable alternative notification system that will be more effective than the LED scrolling panel but for a quarter of the cost. A system prototype can be designed and assembled for approximately $6,724.10, when accounting for labor and component costs. If, subsequently, 40 of these systems were produced to be installed at each of the bus stops on the Georgia Tech campus; each device could be individually sold for $933 dollars, resulting in a 33% profit margin.
Source: Georgia Tech
Author: Matthew Brooks |Chris Chidi | Josh Mauldin | Daniel Nadeau

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