Monitoring System for Intelligent Transportation

System Based in ZigBee

Calle Heredia Xavier Ezequiel Heredia Barriga Christian Jorge D. Iturralde
Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica
Universidad del Azuay Universidad del Azuay Universidad del Azuay
Cuenca, Ecuador Cuenca, Ecuador Cuenca, Ecuador
xaviercalle@es.uazuay.edu.ec cristianhj93@es.uazuay.edu.ec diturralde@uazuay.edu.ec

Delgado Oleas Gabriel Alfonso Cabrera Flor Andrés Patricio

Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica
Universidad del Azuay Universidad del Azuay
Cuenca, Ecuador Cuenca, Ecuador
gabrieldelgado@uazuay.edu.ec apcabrera@uazuay.edu.ec

Abstract— This research work analyzes the urban
transportation system, which is one of the problems attempted
to solve by means of digital cities. A system is designed through
the use of a wireless sensor network (WSN) where each unit
has a ZigBee communication module and a global positioning
system (GPS). This allows to obtain the position and speed of
each transport unit and to transmit that information to the
central station, where a software is developed to analyze and
monitor the obtained information through a server and a
database.
Keywords— Digital Cities, Intelligent Transportation System
(ITS), ZigBee.
I. INTRODUCTION
Population growth in the cities implies a proportional
increment in the number of vehicles leading to one of the
biggest urban problems: traffic congestion. The search for
citizens to satisfy their transportation needs has led to an
increase in the use of public transportation, which has not
been satisfactory for users due to related problems such as
insecurity, discomfort, delays, etc. In addition to these
problems, situations such as road maintenance cause the
change of the usual routes, so the user has uncertainty about
where they should take their usual transportation.
Furthermore, the citizen has uncertainty about whether the
transportation that is waiting for has spaces available. One
of the most common complaints is the long wait at bus
stops, wasting user's time. As a result, the transportation
system has been ignored and not able to satisfy citizen’s
transportation needs [1].
Based on these needs, an Intelligent Transport System is
proposed such as the one analyzed in [2] to monitor urban
transport using a wireless sensor network (WSN) with a
technology that has not been used to its full potential such as
ZigBee, which will be used to establish a data network with a
server, so a user would be able to visualize and monitor the
information about each transport unit. All of this being a
contribution to the proposal to turn a city into a digital city.
The rest of the paper is organized as it follows. Section
II is dedicated to the analysis of the state of the art, section
III establishes the implementation of the WSN system,
section IV shows the tests and results of the monitoring
system. Finally, section V is dedicated to conclusions based
on the results obtained.
II. STATE OF THE ART
In this section, prior work about intelligent transport
systems is overviewed. These works were implemented with
different technologies such as Bluetooth, GSM, RFID and
ZigBee.
A. Bluetooth:
The system presented in [3] consists in Bluetooth low
energy (BLE) devices installed on buses, an application for
smartphone and a server in the cloud. The BLE has a GPS
device, and it activates the app when the user with the
smartphone is on the bus. The app sends the location
obtained by the GPS to the cloud. Finally, the user can
download the information from the server through another
application.
In [4] a system is presented where the inner sensors from
a smartphone (gyroscope) and from the vehicle are used in
addition to a GPS. The fusion between inner sensors is
achieved through a Bluetooth-CAN adapter to communicate
the smartphone with the vehicle. Then, the data is merged
using a Kalman filter. The result allows to obtain an accurate
system.
The research presented in [5] consists in the use of
Bluetooth devices to share information from each bus. An
interesting result from this paper is the use of a fuzzy logic
model created from information previously obtained about
the state of buses such as arrival times to each bus stop,
average speed, etc. to obtain a prediction about future arrival
times. Also, the system consists in a Bluetooth device
installed on buses and Bluetooth detectors at bus stops, so
when a bus gets closer to a bus stop, the detector records the
MAC address of the device on the bus and measures how
much time the communication between the Bluetooth
devices lasts. The information is sent to a data center so the
users can access to it through an app. Finally, to unify the
system, an IP network is created.

XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE

B. GSM
The system proposed by [6] consists in a network which
uses GSM and GPS technologies to locate a bus and know
the times and delays in each bus stop. Three modules are
used by the system: a transmitter on the bus, a receptor at the
bus stop and a smartphone. The GPS located on the bus
transmits its coordinates via GSM to bus stops where the
approximate arrival times are estimated, then the user can
access to the information through a smartphone.
The system in [7] allows to obtain the bus location
through GPS and retransmit it to bus stops via GSM, where
is visualized in a screen. The GSM device sends the
information continuously to a microprocessor located at the
bus stop. The system may be improved if the information is
sent to a server which would take care of estimations and
then retransmit it to bus stops.
In [8] a GSM network consisting in cellular base stations
and each cell associated to a base station is used so a
cellphone may be located. Location accuracy depends of
each cell’s coverage and environmental conditions. The bus
trajectory is drawn considering each cell division. Then, a
cellphone may obtain the information of a cell and know
when a cell change has occurred. The bus speed has to be
considerate and it can be obtained by an average between the
velocity zero and the maximum velocity allowed in the city.
An important aspect is the time it takes for a bus to go
through a cell. With these considerations a model is proposed
to predict the bus arrival time to each bus stop, with the
consideration that in each cell only one bus stop is located.
C. RFID
A RFID system designed in [9] consists in tags which
use radio frequency signals to transmit its location to a
RFID module which usually retransmits the information to a
server. In this system, tags are installed on buses and
modules are installed at each bus stop. The server is located
in any part of the city and receives the information and
notifies to next bus stops the location of a bus. It is required
to identify every bus route and save them in a data base.
The system proposed in [10] consists in the introduction
of microprocessors on each bus and bus stop. RFID
technology is used for the communication. When a bus gets
closer to a bus stop, it receives an answer generated by the
microprocessor’s inner clock from the bus stop. Then,
arrival time of the bus to the bus stop is registered.
Likewise, the time that a bus stays at the bus stop is
measured. All this information is sent to a data center, where
estimations about the arrival time to the other bus stops is
calculated.
D. Wi-Fi
The investigation made in [11] is based on the growth of
wireless Wi-Fi networks; many of the bus stops in the
United States have Wi-Fi. Internet of Things (IoT) devices
collect traffic and passenger data from each bus station,
which are stored on a server in the cloud. At the same time,
data can be analyzed to suggest new routes, bus stops, etc.
In [12], the use of Wi-Fi and GPS technologies is
proposed to know any bus location. The GPS is installed on
the bus to obtain its location. Likewise, a smartphone
uploads information through an application to a webserver.
The server hosts a web site where estimations are made
about bus location and also has a map where current
position is marked. It is important to consider that the bus
will send its information when it approaches to a stop.
Similarly, the approximate time that it takes to the bus to get
away from the stop should be taken into account. Thus, the
Wi-Fi communication is made to determine the proximity
between the bus and the bus stop, which also helps to
determine the location of the bus through a network
identifier unique for each stop.
The system in [13] consists in a monitoring system for
buses inside urban areas where the only use of GPS isn’t
enough. The research is based in a tool known as SVD
(Signal Voronoi Diagram) to partition the Wi-Fi’s RF signal
from the access point, and then these are converted into a
“finer” signal, thus resolving the interference problem
produced in urban areas. An application known as
WiLocator has been implemented to track the bus, estimate
times and design a map of the zone.
E. ZigBee
The work in [14] uses ZigBee modules to establish
communication between vehicles, stops and the monitoring
station. An application requires that buses can package its
information status to get transmitted to the stops. This
system provides information such as: number of passengers,
bus speed, stop reports, etc.
The work in [15] agrees that the implementation of a
system based only in a GPS network is expensive and
inefficient. Detailed knowledge about a bus may be
uncertain due many variables such as: traffic, accelerations
and decelerations, waiting times of a bus at the stop due the
high number of passengers or even the bus may skip a stop
without passengers. To improve the system, it is necessary
that the vehicle transmits data continuously to a monitoring
center, and the center has to retransmit data to the stops.
Once data has been transmitted to the center, crossed
information is processed and compared by different priority
levels.
In [16] ZigBee and GPS features are applied in buses,
monitoring stations and a monitoring center. At stations,
signals form each bus are received wirelessly, then the
station detects the bus indicator number. Thereby, the
station sends the information about the bus arriving time to
the station directly to the center trough a GPRS network,
then the station sends back its own ID number to the bus, so
the bus can access to the required information.
After the analysis of publications about Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS), the conclusion is that it may
be implemented in base of three methodologies: V2V
(vehicle to vehicle), being this the simplest, where the
vehicles communicate with each other; I2V (infrastructure
to vehicle) where a structure such as a data center or a server
sends information to the vehicles, and V2I (vehicle to
infrastructure) where the vehicle sends information to a data
center or a server. The use of wireless technologies is
essential to implement an ITS. However, these technologies
have features that may hinder the implementation of an ITS
such as: coverage rates, energy consumption, cost, etc.
Therefore, the right choice of a technology is vital for the
successful implementation of an intelligent transport system.
III. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The building blocks involved in the proposed system are
represented in Figure 1.
Fig. 1. Proposed Monitoring System.
Different wireless technologies were analyzed to
establish which of them is more convenient to be
implemented with this monitoring system. Among the
studied technologies are: Bluetooth, GSM, Wi-Fi and
ZigBee; so the comparison is made based on the most
relevant characteristics: frequency, coverage, maximum data
speed, topology, maximum number of nodes, power
consumption and cost.
1) Frequency
Frequency bands in which the wireless communication
modules operate are specified. For Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and
ZigBee the operation band is 2.4 GHz, while for GSM the
operation band depends on the mobile carrier, so it has four
bands which are: 800, 950, 1800 and 1900 MHz.
2) Coverage
It refers to the maximum distance between devices to
establish communications among them. It is important to
have high coverage ranges, so the number of wireless
devices is minimized and the system is more efficient and
cheaper. Bluetooth has a poor coverage (less than 100 m),
GSM has full coverage due to the cellular base stations
installed in urban areas. Wi-Fi has a range of coverage less
than 400m and the coverage for ZigBee reaches up to 1000
m.
3) Maximum data speed
All the wireless technologies analyzed reach up to
115200 bps.
4) Topology
It specifies the way in which devices in a wireless
network interconnect and communicate with each other.
Bluetooth can be implemented under star or mesh
topologies, the topology for GSM is point to point (P2P), a
Wi-Fi network has a star topology and ZigBee operates
under mesh topology.
5) Maximum number of nodes
Indicates how many devices can be part of the network.
Bluetooth supports 7 nodes (slaves) in addition to the master
node, in GSM there are 2 nodes, Wi-Fi supports up to 32
TCP clients and a TCP server, while a ZigBee network can
be formed with up to 65534 devices.
6) Power consumption
It is important to have low power consumption devices
in order to implement an efficient system and minimize the
cost of operation. Bluetooth operates with 3.3 V and 8.5
mA, GSM has a high power consumption, Wi-Fi works with
5V and 100mA and ZigBee operates with 3.3 V and 20 mA.
7) Cost
Finally, cost is another important factor to take into
account to opt for a technology for the system. The
Bluetooth module costs $40, the GSM device is valued at
$46, without the contract with a mobile carrier for a
message packet, so the cost will be higher. Wi-Fi and
ZigBee modules are the most inexpensive: $17 and $14
respectively.
[17]
The comparison between Wireless technologies is
presented in table I.
Using the comparison presented in table I, it is
concluded that to implement the proposed system the most
convenient technology is ZigBee due to: an acceptable
coverage range, scalability due to the number of devices that
can be part of the network; mesh topology that allows to
obtain a flexible network, in which the addition of new
devices is simple.
Then, once ZigBee devices are configured, each device
fulfills a specific function. The Coordinator (unique within
the network) is the responsible for creating the network,
establishing a channel (based in a frequency band around
2.4 GHz), assigning a unique address for the network known
as PAN ID and assigning an address for each device. The
end device (ED) installed together with the GPS on the
transport units transmit the coordinates to the coordinator.
Routers act as intermediate points between the coordinator
and EDs to route information.
 TABLE I. COMPARATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Specifications

Technology Max
Power
Frequency Coverage Data Cost
Topology Max Number of Nodes Consumption
(GHz) (m) Speed ($)
(mA)
(bps)

Bluetooth 2.4 100 115200 Mesh-Star 8 8.5 40

GSM 950 Full 115200 P2P 2 High >46

Wi-Fi 2.4 400 115200 Star 33 100 17

ZigBee 2.4 1000 115200 Mesh 65534 20 14

The server receives the information from each transport

unit (latitude, longitude, and speed) through de coordinator
IV. RESULTS
device and is the responsible for presenting the information
obtained in a visual way, thus allowing a monitoring of each First, the ZigBee network is designed. For this research,
transport unit individually. This has been developed in the ZigBee device xcore2530 has been used. Specifications for
LabView software environment. The server operation is this module are presented below:
shown in the flow diagram of Figure 2. Flow diagram starts • Sensitivity (reception power): -97dBm (1.99x10-10
when communication between the server and the coordinator dimensionless)
device is started, then the number of the transport unit that is • Transmission power: 4.5dBm (2.81 dimensionless)
wanted to monitor is selected. After that, characters from the • Antenna gain: 2dB (1.58 dimensionless)
received packet data (speed, longitude and latitude) are
[18]
separated. Next, date and hour are obtained within the server
and visualized together with the bus speed. Finally, using the Based on these specifications, the maximum
latitude and longitude, an URL object is created which
communication distance between the devices based on Friss
among other parameters contains the URL of Google Maps
Propagation Model is calculated. Friss Propagation Model is
to visualize the coordinates on the map. Then, the
communication is closed. At the end, a database is developed presented in Equation (1):
to store the obtained information as shown in section IV. 𝑃𝑟 𝜆 2
=( ) 𝐺𝑟 𝐺𝑟 (1)
𝑃𝑡 4𝜋𝑅
Where, 𝑃𝑟: Reception power, 𝑃𝑡: Transmission power,
𝜆 : wavelength, 𝐺𝑟 : Reception antenna gain, 𝐺𝑡 :
Transmission antenna gain and 𝑅: distance.

Then, solving R from (1) and using the values provided

by the specifications we have:
𝑅 = 1865.2 𝑚
The distance obtained represents the maximum
theoretical distance between two ZigBee devices. However,
it has been implemented a redundant network to guarantee
complete coverage in the city, so the distance between
devices will be 800 m.

ZigBee network will be implemented in a specific city:

Cuenca, Ecuador. The urban area for this city is
approximately 70 𝐾𝑚 2 . For the design of the ZigBee
network, a network consisting of hexagonal cells of
coverage will be taken as a reference. In the design, it is
proposed that each cell will be associated with a router.
Therefore, cells of approximately 650 m have been
designed. Thus, an approximate of 110 cells is needed to
cover the urban area of the city. The ZigBee network
designed is shown in figure 3:

Fig. 2. Server’s flow diagram


Fig. 3. ZigBee Network
The server is represented in figure 4:
Fig. 4. Server implemented
The database stores the information of each transport unit
for a later analysis and is represented in figure 5, in which it
is observed that it has 7 columns, which are: Data Number,
Bus ID, date, time, latitude, length and bus speed:
Fig. 5. Database
V. CONCLUSIONS
The proposed system is based in a methodology V2I,
where each transport unit transmits its location to the central
station through the wireless sensor network improving the
transport system efficiency.
A ZigBee network performs efficiently because it has an
acceptable coverage range, is scalable due to the number of
devices that can be part of it and mesh topology allows to
obtain a flexible network in which the coordinator device is
responsible for accepting new devices to the network in an
easy way, assigning to the new devices a unique address
within the network. Through the design of the network
presented in section IV, it can be observed that in the urban
area a WSN is implemented, the application for this WSN
can be extended not only for monitoring transport units, but
also for environmental measurement, traffic measurement,
etc. Likewise, the technology used (ZigBee) has not yet
been exploited in its entirety, resulting in a WSN with a
technology contributing to implement a smart city.
The server allows to visualize one transport unit at a
time, making the monitoring of a bus easier, and allowing to
analyze the information. Therefore, the communication
between the coordinator device and the server must be done
correctly as well as the connection to the database to store
correctly information about each transport unit.
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