Project Proposal Title Automatic Bill Computing System for Taxicabs Abstract

Taxies are the common mean of transportation in the modern society. The amounts to be paid for the taxi are decided according to the demand of the driver and the customer. Due to the demand made by the both parties sometimes there will be dissatisfaction between them. A prototype microcontroller circuit is proposed by the design project to overcome this problem faced by the both parties. It is a computerized mechanism which will automate the billing in taxi. The billing in taxi which is a computerized system in which an external wheel revolution sensor will be used and will be automated to generate an interrupt to microcontroller each time when the wheel make a single revolution in this design. With the help of this interrupting, distant travelled will be reduced by the wheel dimension. The time duration of the journey is obtained in the microcontroller from an internal timer which is set to overflow after every two seconds. Hiring time of the journey is obtained for billing purposes from the aid of the interrupt. The predetermined billing rate is used by the microcontroller based on parameters of cost per 100metres distance and cost per 1 minute time of the journey. The verified amount will be displayed on the LCD screen after calculated and incurred the cost by the customer.

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Introduction
Automatic bill computing system for taxicab is a computerized electronic billing system for a hired private taxi cabs for transporting services. Those are found in urban areas and also in rural areas. Nowadays microcontrollers are found almost in most digital electronic devices that give a free functionality to its users at the office, industry and home. For an example we can find microcontrollers in electronic items such as television, fridges, micro-ovens, computers and printers.

Aims and Objectives

Due to the above mentioned problems at the present situation, this design project will address and overcome the situation. So to achieve the under given specific objectives, proposing of an automatic bill computing system for taxicab is beneficial which has the main objective is to computerize and thus automate the billing system of rented transportation services of the taxicab. Designing a microcontroller circuit that is capable of measuring time and distance. Designing a microcontroller circuit that calculates the cost by using time and distance as the billing parameters. Designing a microcontroller circuit that displays the measured distance, time and cost on the alphanumeric LCD screen. This Project Aims are to A. Study the requirement for a Pic micro controller based automatic bill computing system for taxi B. Program a Pic microcontroller and design & develop suitable interface circuit in order to measure the time and distance C. Check & Evaluate the complete automatic bill computing system for taxi.

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To Meet This Aims I will have to A1. Define the features of the present taxi meter requirements A2. Obtain the related information on the existing taxi meter systems use by taxi drivers A3. Produce a specification for the Pic micro controller based automatic bill computing system for taxi B1. Identify a suitable pic microcontroller and a language to program it. B2. Produce design of suitable interface and circuits such as sensor unit, display unit and power supply unit etc. B3. Implement these designs as a whole circuit. C1. Builds a location and tests the sensor unit and display unit. C2. Check the distance from the sensor part and manually. C3. Preview the procedure by which the mechanism was developed and more recommendation for the future world.

Expected Outcome
Upon the completion, the distance travelled and the hiring time of the journey will be able to be measured with the coming up project with the circuits and then the fare will be calculated automatically. The taxicab billing will be standardized with the aid of circuit and it is fair for both parties (customer and driver).

System Overview
The situation is found in urban and rural areas where the billing for rented transportation is done verbally between the driver and the customer .The journey will begin only after the amount is verified between both parties. There is no any possible way in the billing structure rather than bargaining of the parties to arrive at the cost. This shortage can be overcome by with the help of this design project which will Page | 4

address the microcontroller based taxi meter. The billing structure in determining the cost is based on the measured distance and time taken to travel.

Block Diagram
Below given figure shows the block diagrams of the automatic bill computing system for taxicab. This system has implemented using picmicrocontroller16F877A, LCD Display, keypad and push button for revolution sensor. Designing is usually done by analyzing the requirement. It includes stability, modularity and cost. So designing should totally up to mark the wanted output to be obtained.

KEY PAD

MICRO CONTROLLER

DISPLAY

REVOLUTION SENSOR

Figure 3.0.1: System Block Diagram The system will include the specific building blocks, Keypad: User settings captured by these components. Wheel Revolution Sensor: This is a digital switch that triggers a wheel revolution interrupt to a microcontroller each time it is triggered by a wheel revolution. LCD Screen: This is used to display the measured travelled distance, cost and elapsed time. Microcontroller: This is the main heart of the mechanism and all the decisions & calculations would be done with this.

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Scope and Limitations

This project is performed in partial fulfillment for the award of Bachelor of electrical and Electronics Engineering and this is an under-graduated final year project. Microcontroller, revolution sensor, LCD display is being used in this design to implement based project in order to build a circuit that will be used to measure the distance covered and the hiring time to calculate the cost automatically. A computing mechanism for billing system in the automatic bill computing system for taxicab is being provided by the dedicated processor of the microcontroller which is being used by these systems. Optical sensors or Hall Effect sensors are very expensive and they are not available to us. Optical sensors or Hall Effect sensors are being used for the rotation detection by the real world commercial taxi meters. In this technique push button switch has been used. Angular displacement of a wheel is used in this design with the help of the push button. We can easily calculate the actual distance moved by knowing the wheel dimensions (circumference). This is a simple technique but it can take no account of wheel slippage or inaccuracies in wheel dimension. This is because of the change in the tire pressure or other parts of the measurement chain.

Research Methodology
An embedded electronic application is the system to be designed. Both the principles of hardware and software design methodologies are being adopted to complete the intended design and then the following development approach will be used. Literature review of the design, interfacing, practical restrictions & microcontroller systems challenges. Functional requirements elicitation from the users of the proposed system. Identify the requirement of the System. Simulation of the circuit and design of the system plan. Implementation and circuit on a breadboard (prototype). Page | 6

The current situation has been outlined together with its associated problem in this project. A design methodology has been identified as an approach to achieve the design goals and to solve the present problem. Literature review of the different implementation of the automatic bill computing system for taxis related technologies reach an effective and valuable design in this project.

Project Evaluation
To evaluate this system I proposed to use a log book tactic, so that the users can describe their problem when they using this system and then we can solve any clarification about this. I will use a questionnaire to identify out this system. This will help to improve the system in more ways and find any drawbacks about this system.

Risk Analysis & Contingency Planning

1. The given time was not enough: - To complete and submission of the report and log book, 8 weeks of time was given by the project supervisor. Upto the submission date, the actions taken to carry out this project has been recorded in the log book. The system has been designed after planning to work capably and reliably affecting the economy of the system at least as possible. 2. The program development problems: - The required programming knowledge turns out to be too difficult for me. In this case I have tried in Microc and Mplab to prepare the program and to complete the reports. This would be a key problem, so I was needed to leave sufficient of time to finish the programming well. 3. The cost and completely designed by the system: - It is an undergraduate final year project for the award of bachelor of electrical and electronic Engineering. This project is performed in partial fulfillment. Prototype Model will be finished successfully generally for the proof of the idea. At this level industrialized application may not be achievable.

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Resources
In the restricted environment of a microcontroller the memory requirements needs to be taken into consideration early from the design stage so that a microcontroller with sufficient resources for the design can be selected. Real time clock Display Keypad User setting Stack Local variables Interrupt service routine And I used some Journal articles, Reference books, data sheets and net resources for referencing and study.

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References
Ball, S.R (2006),Embedded Microprocessor systems - real world design, Newness press, New York, 2nd edition. Di Jasio et al (2008); PIC Microcontrollers (know it all), Newness press, Burlington, M.A, Gardner Nigel (1998); An introduction to programming the microchip PIC in C, Character Press Ltd, U.K Hitachi cooperation (2000);LMO41L display datasheet Ibrahim, Dogan (2006); Microcontroller Based Digital Control. John Wiley and Sons. Iovine, John (2000); PIC Microcontroller Project Book. McGraw Hill, Inc. Sanchez, Julio, and Maria P Canton (2007);Microcontroller Programming. CRC press CRC press Nagy, C. (2003);Embedded Systems Design using the TI MSP 430 series, Newness press, Burlington M.A MikroElektronika cooperation (2006);mikroC Users Manual Microchip technology (2001);PIC16F87XA datasheet Microchip technology (2001);PIC Microcontrollers midrange MCU Family Reference Manual Microchip technology incorporated (2009);Microchip Compiled Tips N Tricks Guide Steiner Jack (1980);Taximeter US Patent 4205388 Wilmshurst, T. (2001).An Introduction to the Design of Small-Scale Embedded Systems. Palgrave (n. d.) [online] available from <http://www.microchip.com> [04 Feb 2013] (n. d.) [online] available from <http://www.multitech.com> [04 Feb 2013] (n. d.) [online] available from <http://www.beyondlogic.org> [04 Feb 2013] (n. d.) [online] available from <http://www.chiptechnologies.com> [04 Feb 2013]

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Time Plan
Task Name Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

Planning

Proposal Literature Review Requirement Identification System Design Final Design

Implementation Testing Final Report

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