Real-time vehicle performance monitoring using wireless networking

A cornerstone of next generation intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is a seamless integration of in-vehicle networking with existing wireless telephony infrastructure. Remote access to on-board diagnostics and performance data is a crucial requirement for ITS. In this paper, we present an extensible vehicle performance monitoring system that exploits data transmission capabilities of GSM, and is based on existing in-vehicle automotive standards. Though many systems currently integrate position tracking and wireless networking to allow for remote position tracking, few systems provide the capability to monitor vehicle performance over the web. Our design is based on a popular new standard for wireless communications — GSM/GPRS. An in-vehicle standard for diagnostic information, ODB-II, is used to gather performance data. We also exploit GPS technology to provide vehicle location. Data is integrated and transmitted to a web server using Apache's Tomcat extensions to provide Internet access via a vehicle tracking web site. The overall system has been in use for several months on a trial basis at Mississippi State, and will soon be tracking the entire campus bus system. The data collected from this pilot study will form the basis for a research initiative in prediction and optimization of vehicle performance.