Developing Bus Tracking System that predicts the arrival times of public buses at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) bus stops.

This dissertation shows about the project details in developing a Bus Tracking System
(BTS) by predicting the time arrival of a bus using simulation data. The main elements
in this report consist of introduction, literature review, methodology and results and
discussion. The project is developed by using research activities, findings analysis and
developing prototype. All the basic elements in the system such as Automatic Vehicle
Location (AVL) System, Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Short Messaging
Services (SMS) Server have been analyzed. Based on the research, these elements are
discussed further to relate the usage with the system. This project is developed based on
the advancement of Information Technology (IT) system today that has enabled people
to have an intelligent transport system which assists them in traveling. Travel
Information System (TIS) has been used widely in certain countries such as Singapore
and United States of America (Stephanie Yap, 2003). Basically, the system works by
locating and tracking any transportation using GPS technology installed in that
transport. By collecting all the dataneeded such as speed and location, an algorithm can
be developed to predict when the transport will reach a certain checkpoint. The
combination usage of the algorithm, AVL, GPS and SMS server, the information
regarding the time arrival of the transport can easily being retrieve by users. In this
project, an algorithm will be developed to predict the amount of time needed for the
incoming public bus to arrive, based on the current location of the bus and the current
time. Public bus users, especially students in UTP will be able to know when the bus is
coming by using their cell phones. The usage will allowthem to access the system that
manipulates this algorithm. The scope of the project includes developing an algorithm,
the research and analysis of GPS and the use of SMS. Basically, the methodology that
has been chosen is the combination of waterfall and spiral methodology. The
development of the BTS will hopefully help to increase bus ridership, improve
accuracy, timeliness and availability of public buses at UTP.