GPS and GSM based School bus tracking system

Published on 14 Jun 2021. Written by Vasanth Vidyakar

The proposed project provides an effective solution to the most widely addressed concern, about the safety of school students. It is one of the most worrying concern among the individuals where a lot of students are being kidnapped, inability to track the bus real-time, monitoring the location of the bus when there are only less number of students in the bus etc. Even it will effectively provide solution to find out the best possible route to reach all the pickup/drop points efficiently.

This project solves exactly this problem where the system continuously monitors the longitude/latitude of the system real-time and sends a text message to all the users for monitoring purposes. Upon receiving the sms, the user can use the google map to track the bus movements.

The project also provides other effective solution like tracking the total distance travelled by the bus on the given duration by routing and scheduling process. It can also provide valuable insights like the number of stops where the students are being picked up, time it takes to arrive at a particular destination and even the number of students that is left on the bus currently. This enhances the operational efficiency and reduces the cost significantly.

This particular GPS and GSM based tracking device is a compact device that merges both GPS & GSM to facilitate the real-time tracking and monitoring. It come with a single piece hardware and easier installation is among the other advantages of using this.

Project Description:

GPS Modem: GPS modem get connected with the required satellites. Then it calculates co-ordinates of location. Then Microcontroller receives data from GPS modem.
Microcontroller: Microcontroller communicates with Liquid crystal display. It also sends data to GSM module. 8051 communicates with input devices and output devices
AT89S52: The AT89S52 is a low power, high performance CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with 8k bytes of in-system programmable flash memory. This is a powerful microcontroller which provides high flexibility and cost effective solution to many embedded control applications. It has the following standard features: 8K bytes of flash, 256 bytes of RAM, 32 I/O lines, watchdog timer, 2 data pointers, 3 16-bit timers/counters, on-chip oscillator and clock circuitry.
LCD Display: Longitude and latitude is shown on LCD display
GSM Modem: GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is a standard developed to describe protocols for second generation digital cellular networks used by mobile phones. SIM-900 GSM module will be used for this project. It is a type of modem that accepts a SIM card and operates over a subscription to a mobile operator, just like a mobile phone. It will be capable of sending and receiving SMS & MMS messages.
MAX232: MAX232 is required since the communication level of 8051 and GSM modem is different
Keypad: User can send emergency message using keypad

Interfacing GPS with 8051 Microcontroller:

GPS – Global Positioning System is generally used to determine the location of a vehicle or a person from a remote location. These GPS modules are generally used to provide the location, position and navigation services to the users from anywhere on earth. There are about 24 to 32 satellites which facilitates the seamless working of GPS.

The main application for the GPS involves mapping, tracking and surveillance. The GPS module calculates the position of any user, by recognizing the signals that are transmitted by the satellites. GPS receiver calculates the distance to each satellite and the raw data is converted to latitude, longitude, altitude, speed and time.

Further Project Implementation:

The proposed project can then be further modified by mounting a wireless camera onto the system which then can be used to monitor the activity happening within the bus by any remote user

To achieve more accuracy, GPS + GLONASS module can be used. This combination provides accuracy of the system to less than 1m.

Software requirements:

Keil Uvision 3: Keil Software makes C compilers, macro assemblers, real-time kernels, debuggers, simulators, integrated environments and evaluation boards for the 8051, 251, ARM and XC16x/C16x/ST10 microcontroller families
Programming language: Embedded C language

Kit required to develop GPS and GSM based School bus tracking system:

Technologies you will learn by working on GPS and GSM based School bus tracking system:

GPS and GSM based School bus tracking system

Project Description:

Interfacing GPS with 8051 Microcontroller:

Further Project Implementation:

Software requirements:

Any Questions?

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