Smart Tracking System for School Buses Using Passive RFID Technology to Enhance Child Safety

Millions of children need to be moved from home to school and vice versa every day. For parents, obtaining a safe transport for their children is a critical issue. Many children find themselves locked in a school bus in the bus parking lot after falling asleep on their way to school, miss the bus, step into the wrong bus, or leave at the wrong station with no method to track them. This research tested the applicability of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in tracking and monitoring children during their trip to and from school on school busses. The child safety system developed in this research utilized the passive RFID tracking technology due to its efficient tracking capabilities, low cost, and easy maintenance. To explore the technical feasibility of the proposed system, a set of tests were performed in the lab and with the public. These experiments showed that the RFID tags were effective and stable enough to be used for successfully tracking and monitoring children using the bus. When asked to give their feedback of the solution through a questionnaire, more than 95% of the parents see that such a solution will take their anxiety and worry away and will provide them a tool to track their kids during commuting to and from their schools. 