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Feb. 21, 2005 Volume 29, Issue 25 |
Testing system to plot bus runs via computers, cell phones
Scientists and campus transportation managers are planning to launch a wireless bus-tracking system that allows riders to plot university routes and pinpoint passenger pick-up times via computers and cellular phones.
The Web-based Bully’s Bus Tracker will combine the latest developments in automotive telematics—computers and telecommunications—with Global Positioning System technology to create a next-generation, intelligent transportation network.
“In the future, the system will feature an automated voice dial-up capability,” predicted the project’s principal investigator, Georgios Lazarou. “Students will be able to access the system by laptop or cell phone, check the location of a bus, ask the estimated arrival time at a particular stop, and get a voice response in real time.”
The peer-to-peer communications technology, developed by Lazarou and fellow researchers at MSU’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, is being pilot-tested on a few campus buses. A demonstration is available at http://www.bullybus.msstate.edu.
“A prototype is being deployed to determine how feasible, beneficial, cost-effective, and desirable such a system would be,” said Mike Rackley, head of MSU’s Office of Information Technology Services, which is providing technical support.
Developing the project within the Human and Systems Engineering thrust at CAVS are Lazarou; senior software engineer Joe Picone; HSE thrust leader Zach Rowland; Ron Lewis, a CAVS research associate who developed the Web application and software infrastructure; and electrical and computer engineering graduate student Will Jenkins, the principal hardware designer.