Web-Based Vehicle Tracking System for Sugarcane Trucks Management in Gunied Scheme (Sudan)

Transcription

1 Web-Based Vehicle Tracking System for Sugarcane Trucks Management in Gunied Scheme (Sudan) A.F. Kheiralla 1, Eltaib Ganawa 2, Ragi Osman 1, Obada Nafae 1, Mujahid Abdelmoneim 1 1 Faculty of Engineering, University of Khartoum, Sudan 2 Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Khartoum, Sudan

2 IT development Moore s Law CPU power doubles every 18 months 4 MHz PCs in GHz PCs in THz in THz = GHz) How this unlimited power will be used to solve some of the problems faced in agriculture?

3 Information technology (IT) and related spatial technology have dominated the recent technological advancements in agricultural vehicles. On-board computers and electronics are destined to widely populate agricultural vehicles cabs. Sophisticated operator interfaces, precision agriculture technologies, and controller networks are the advances which are most emphasized in the agricultural media (schueller, 2002)

4 Terminator ECU Control Area Network (CAN) Bus ECU Implement Sub-network ECU ECU ECU Terminator Tractor Bus ECU Terminator ECU ECU ECU ECU Virtual Bridge ECU ECU ECU Terminal ECU ECU Implement Bus Terminator Tractor / Implement Connector Tractor / Implement Connector Task Computer Tractor / Implement Connector Terminator Off Vehicle Communications Farm PC

5 Typical Modern Agric. Vehicle

6 What is VTS? Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle's location. Most modern VTS use GPS modules for accurate location of the vehicle. Many systems also combine a communications component such as cellular or satellite transmitters (GSM/GPRS) to communicate the vehicle s location to a remote user. Vehicle information can be viewed on electronic maps via the Internet or specialized software.

7 A typical VTS and its various components

8 Types of VTS? Passive devices store GPS location, speed, heading, a trigger event such as key on/off, door open/closed. Once the vehicle returns to a predetermined point, the device is removed and the data downloaded to a computer for evaluation. Active devices collect the same information but usually transmit the data in real-time via cellular or satellite networks to a computer or data center for evaluation. Combined Passive/Active

9 VTS Review Historically, the roots of Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) lie in shipping industry Numerous numbers of tracking systems had so far been developed by many institutions involved in the public transportation and logistics in the past few years However, introduction of these technologies is still a relatively new concept in sugarcane industry.

10 Much of the work done in Australia in spatial information technology and VTS applications in sugarcane production have been much more targeted at issues associated with harvest management than PA (Markley J, Raines A, Crossley R,2003; Muruganandham, P.R.Mukesh, 2010) Johnson and Alvarez (2004) reviewed on the Florida sugar industry technologies and trends. They pointed out the AVL tracking had greatly enhanced truck distribution to harvested field. It had improved delivery efficiency 13% by guiding and direction the cane hauling trucks to avoid gaps at the harvesting time. Ortmann (2000) reviewed on the use of information technology in South African agriculture. He mentioned that many farmers have installed satellite tracking systems in their vehicle to counteract the high incidence of vehicle theft in South Africa and some agribusiness firms

11 Sugarcane production is mostly focused in Sudan as backed up by large investments in new sugarcane schemes Harvesting and hauling sugarcane is massive task. Across Kenana, Assalaya, Sennar, New Halfa and Gunied schemes, sugarcane production is more than 7.5 million Tons and required hauling for 200 days of a year and distances ranging from 5 to 25 km to factory for each trip Furthermore, harvesting and hauling efficiency is very important because sugar quality and content reduces over time taken between harvesting the sugarcane and getting it to the factory should be less than 16 hours. Consequently, sugarcane trucks management for hauling was very difficult, because they faced many managerial problems

12 Objectives The main objective of this study work is to investigate Vehicle Tracking System for managing and monitoring transportation of sugar cane vehicles fleet at Gunied Scheme. To conducting extensive review of various VTS available To select a suitable and appropriate commercial VTS to be proposed for Gunied Scheme. To conduct function testing and evaluation of the proposed system based on recording and monitoring of vehicles and valuable cargo included vehicle's number, driver's name, driver's cell phone number, alarm, GPS location and date, SIM number and descriptions of vehicle status.

13 Materials Methods Study Area Gunied scheme location map and its satellite image from space

14 Approach Fleet Management deployed is an important tool which identifies a vehicle with regard to its geographic position. GPS tracking technology is the standard in fleet management. Corporations with large fleets of vehicles require some sort of system to determine where each vehicle is at any given time. Vehicle tracking systems can be used for route analysis, reporting, vehicle theft prevention, linking inventory with the workshop and maintenance, and fuel management

15 Proposed VTS The main criteria for the proposed vehicle tracing system as follows: Easy to handle. High response and utilization. Suitable for the Sudanese environment. Confidentiality of information. Low cost with high quality. Long lasting and durability. After sale services.

16 Comparison aspects between various accessible VTS systems Device and System Initial cost Operating cost After sale services GPS Hunter (closed system) 1500$ based station + 400$ per unit $ per TXT massage None Wi- max +400,000 $ per None None (closed system) RFID (Closed system) Telematics (Web based) hectare +100,000$ per hectare None None 350 $ per unit 15.6$ per month Technical support, repairing, training and installations

17 Selected Web Based VTS The selected Telematics vehicle tracking system hardware and software included vehicle terminal (VT or Enfora spider MT-Gi, GPS with a GSM/GPRS transceiver) A cyber monitoring station i.e. (the website telematcs- sd.com). The vehicle terminal was connected with the station by a SIM card that s send the data acquired from the GPS to the station using GPRS (Zian or Sudani Sudanese Mobile Telephone company, Ltd). The device is powered by the battery of the vehicle via appropriate wiring

18 Description of System Components GSM 235x MT-Gi Enfora Serial / Power cable Part number CAB2238 Power supply, 12 Vdc, 2 A Computer with one available Serial port or USB-to-serial converter GSM/GPRS SIM with GPRS data enabled. An Access Point Name (APN). Username and Password, if GPRS is operating on a non-transparent network.

19 VT Hardware The VT or Enfora spider MT-Gi is a locating device embedded with GSM/GPRS modul VT SIM Card (front) and power cable (back) sides

20 Wiring and Mounting of VT Wiring of VT device inside Bell tractor cab The VT device s LEDs functionality (for Power on/off Red, two programmable Green (GSM, GPRS) and Blue (GPS)

21 VTS Software The local agent of employed software is Telematics Sudan Ltd (Telematics.sd/com). The main features of the software include Online Live Monitoring, History Analysis, Generic Reports, Alerts, Trips, Tyre Management, Driver Evaluation, Fleet Maintenance, Fuel Monitoring

22 Icons of VTS Software

23 VTS Digital Maps The system has powerful GIS Technology platform for rendering maps and is integrated to various base maps and satellite images sources such as Google, Yahoo, and user map. The system has additional feature to map the points of interest which could be customized as per need basis and also would have access to high-resolution map data. Client could Zoom, Pan, Get info, etc, on the map itself as it is highly interactive and user friendly.

24 Results and Discussion The commercial Telematics web based vehicle tracking system has been successfully selected for sugarcane tracks fleet management in Gunied scheme. The selected system software had facility to determined exact location, speed, and direction in addition to the other features of the software such as live vision, fuel monitoring, ignition, doors, AV communication, circuit breaker, SMS reports, history analysis, trip analysis, tyre management, driver evaluation and fleet maintenance The selected tracking system has been successfully tested on-house, on-road and on field

25 VTS On-House Test

26 VTS On-Road Test

27 VTS On-Field Test

28 On-field test`s area while inquiry was made in one of the points recorded Travel Report (The graph pie for the Distanced travelled with 4 hours intervals )

29 Speed Report (The rose techo-graph with the speed and the time). Activity Report for the day including the time the distance traveled and both stoppage and idle time

30 Conclusions A comprehensive literature review on various Vehicle Tracing Systems was presented and discussed. A commercial web-based vehicle tracking system has been successfully selected for transportation and hauling sugarcane in Genied scheme. The selected system hardware consisted of Enfora spider MT-Gi device with internal GPS and GSM/GPRS.

31 The selected system software had facility to determined exact location, speed, and direction in addition to the other features of the software such as live vision, fuel monitoring, ignition, doors, AV communication, circuit breaker, SMS reports, history analysis, trip analysis, tyre management, driver evaluation and fleet maintenance. The selected VTS system has been successfully tested on- The selected VTS system has been successfully tested onhouse to ensure that the system have a sustainable signal in urban areas as in Khartoum city, on-road as in the road between Khartoum and Gunied, and on-field scheme that represents the rural area where its most likely to lose signal.

32 The unit total cost of the selected VTS was about 350 U$ and monthly running cost of 15 U$. With the existing VTS, the company can manage the fleet of the trucks resources and consequently will benefit itself in many aspects such as reliable data flow, enhanced fleet control, better decision making, increase productivity and lesser complaints.

33 Recommendations A complete Gunied scheme's road network and areas GIS database should be linked with existing VTS. Minimum internet speed of 512 kbt based on the fiber Minimum internet speed of 512 kbt based on the fiber optics and DSL broadband should be linked with existing VTS.

34 THANK YOU ALL