Employing the internet of things in vehicle monitoring

Abstract

This paper proposes a system for remotely monitoring the behavior of a vehicle. It monitors a vehicle in terms of four parameters which are engine temperature, rotational speed of the crankshaft and as well as the frequency and amplitude due to the vibration of the vehicle engine. These parameters can be used to trace malfunctions leading to abnormalities in the parameters. Diagnostics data are sent to the vehicle owner and it’s mechanic through the Cloud. The owner of the vehicle and the mechanic can visualize the data on their smart phones. A Liquid Crystal Display screen on the dashboard also shows the values of the parameters being continuously measured. An application was created for the system to allow for visualization of diagnostics data, manual scanning of the vehicle and determination of it’s location. The system has stored threshold values for the parameters being monitored. If a threshold value is exceeded, the system sends a notification to the owner and the mechanic. Four Internet of Things protocols are used to send data. These are General Packet Radio Service, Wireless Fidelity, Bluetooth and Zigbee. The system architecture allows vehicles to serve as relays for each other in some situations. The relay actions are achieved by Bluetooth and Zigbee. The system was simulated in Proteus professional software and it was found to be operational. A prototype was also constructed and tested, and proved to be functional. The application could also receive notifications accordingly