A little bit intro...

Automated vehicle convoys have been proposed as an alternative to human drivers in private, commercial and military convoys [1]. These autonomous vehicles are able to safely reduce the spacing between vehicles, which would increase overall driving effectiveness of traffic patterns [2]. There are various fields application of autonomous cars. Compared to human drivers, the system could be more reliable, can react faster and observe up to the whole 360-degree environment [3]. Fewer traffic collisions, better traffic flow, higher traffic economy and free time for human drivers are some benefits of autonomous following car [4].

There are so many factors that can lead to car collision during convoying. Human error like sleepy and drinking driver ability to open the portion of accident. In order, space between adjacent cars can lead to road congestion. By using the application of autonomous following car, communication and sensor will react faster to reduce the space which allowing greater density on the highway [5].

Prototype of vehicle following system (POVFS) is designed to develop automated convoy system with constant motion. This system which can ensure the safe distance between vehicles during following. It is designed with two important features which are Bluetooth module and ultrasonic sonar. The implementation of Bluetooth signal assists a communication between Master and slave car. Lastly, ultrasonic sensor emit sound waves, respectively and detect occupancy by analysing the frequency of the received waves.

  Problem...?

Accident due to collision is a common problem happened in highway road [6]. Those problems can lead to road congestion and worst traffic flow. One of the factor that lead to car collision is people felt tired and sleepy when driving [7]. Driver following vehicle in front very closely are very dangerous especially when the driver is tired. Lot of cases of car collision accidents tend to happen in every year and everywhere. Based on the statistic of PDRM Malaysia 2012, the total number of vehicle accident from 2008-2011 are about 1,633,862 [8].

Car jumping queues could be one of the factor that can lead to road congestion . Mostly drivers nowadays felt impatient for them to reach their destination. These behaviours can lead to road congestion.

Others, bumper to bumper collision tend to occur problem of road congestion. Ghost slowdown can lead bumper collision as car in front do emergency brake during convoy [9]. Those problems could be solved by applying automated vehicle following system.

  My Pure Objective...?

• To develop automated vehicle system that can make them follow each other’s.
• To develop Bluetooth communication between the cars.
• To develop the constant velocity motion of the system during the following movement.

  I Will Be Focusing On...?

The aim of this project is to develop Prototype of Vehicle Following System (POVFS) where the slave vehicle will automated follow the motion of the first master vehicle. Slave car will move according to the command given by the Bluetooth signal in constant speed motion. The aim of ultrasonic sonar sensor is to calculate distance between Master and slave car to provide safe distance during convoy.

POVFS is divided into three main parts which are overall system development, hardware design and programming development. For the first part which is system development that will focus on how to develop automated following system between the vehicles in constant velocity. The second part, hardware development that will focus on developing a prototype car. A small and movable prototype car will be designed according to the size of Arduino Uno and Bluetooth module.

The third part is developing the programming and algorithm for POVFS. The development of programs is focused on how the master mode will sent the data to the slave mode. Communication of Bluetooth is used as medium to communicate between them. Algorithm and motion of Master prototype car also being developed at this part.

  So, It Is A Success...?

In order to live test, two prototype cars are placed in a straight line with master prototype car in front of the slave prototype car. There is non-ultrasonic sonar sensor at master car because master car supposedly leads the path. Motor driver and controller was put on the top of the car. Bluetooth transmitter module are used to transmit a signal to slave prototype car and battery with the input voltage 7.4 is used as the power source. Figure 4.1 below shows prototype Master car for POVFS. Figure 4.2 shows circuit design for master car.

Figure 4.1: prototype Master car for POVFS.

Figure 4.2: Circuit design Master Car using Altium software

In order to control the movement of the prototype car, small remote controller was created in this project. Meanwhile, 4 small push buttons are used as the input movement of the controller. The buttons are soldered at the small donut board.  The 1800pF capacitor was connected parallel to each of the button as to make sure the signal smoother by reducing the environment noise. Push button was connected as active low configuration input. Figure 4.3 shown hardware implemented for wired controller. Connection circuit of the controller was shown at Figure 4.3 below.

Figure 4.3: Wired Controller implemented on Master Car

Figure 4.4: Circuit design for controller using Altium software

For the slave car, different features are used to this car. Slave car aim to follow the movement of the master car in a safe distance. One ultrasonic sonar sensor is installed in front of the car to calculate the safe distance when following. Meanwhile, the sonar sensor also functions as to prevent from bumper to bumper collision. Receiver Bluetooth module is used to detect the signal from the master car. The movement and motion of the Master car will always follow by Slave car. Figure 4.3 below shows prototype of the slave car. Circuit connection of Slave car shown at Figure 4.4.

Figure 4.5: Prototype Slave car for POVFS

Figure 4.6: Circuit design for prototype slave car.

For the live test of prototype car, the experiment is conducted to test the stability of the Bluetooth signal. The experiment is conducted in open area which is at Stadium Azman Hashim, UTM. To test the stability of the Bluetooth signal, 5 different range of distance are being experimented. Table 4.1 shows Sensor stability of POVFS.

Table 4.1: Sensor stability of POVFS.

Based on the data provided, when the distance between the cars is about 1-5 m, the signal is very strength. Time responded of slave car is very fast. This kind of range are very suitable to function the system. Both car convoy at constant velocity as slave car follow the motion of Master Car.

For distance 6-10 m, stability of sensor shows a moderate stable. Slave car still can detect the signal and follow Master’s motion. At distance of 11-15m, the result shows stability of Bluetooth are weak. The unstable of signal occur at this range. This caused the motion of convoy slave car is unstable in order the non-stable of the signal.

Next, for distance 16-29 m, the data shows the signal is very weak. There are sometime lost connection occur during following. This distance is not good when functioning the system. Noise of the environment can be one of the factor for weak signal. Lastly, when range more than 30m is tested, the data shows no signal. Bluetooth sensor failed to detect the signal for distance more than 30 m. The cars are not following each other.

Hence, in order to provide functioning the system as good, range 1-5 m are choosing. Car will follow the motion very well in constant velocity as the Bluetooth signal are at very stable. A good convoy system can be provided in the range of 1-5 m.

Based on the results being shown in the above tables, we can conclude that the POFVS will functioning well at distance 1-5 m. Both Master and Slave prototype car can travel each other in constant velocity without any collision. Strength of Bluetooth are very good at this range to help functioning POVFS very well. Conversely, POVFS is not able to communicate each other in long distances due to factor loss of signal.

  Hence...?

Prototype of Vehicle Following System (POVFS) is designed to develop a prototype car system which can make them follow each other in constant velocity. This prototype car can lead to systematic following motion car which can prevent collision happened on the road. Communication and sensor of POVFS can react faster either than human error which can reduce the space and allowing a greater density on the road. POFVS also can reduce human error like sleepy and drinking which can open the portion of accident especially when following the car in front.

Besides, POVFS provides a systematic constant motion on road as the vehicle installed with the system will follow all the programming code that have been programmed. POVFS also equipped with ultrasonic sonar sensor. The function of the sensor is to reduce ghost down as the car in front do emergency break which can lead bumper to bumper collision. At last, this system can provide a systematic car following system which can be implanted to the real car as to reduce energy and power of human.

Ir. Juraimi Masood

• General Manager Development Office Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Johor, Malaysia.
• Head of Development Department responsible for the planning, construction, test and deliver of the various packages within the Port development plan.
• Specialist in Electrical System Concept and Design and have possession of 132kV Competency Certificate from the Energy Commission and currently handling the 132kV system within the port.
• Studied Electrical Engineering at UTM & University of Hartford.

On April 17, 2018, I had attended and Industrial Seminar held at L50, UTM. Professional Journey as an Engineer was the topic of the day. He came to briefly explain to the students (especially the final year students) about his personal experiences, his career journey, and also the obstacles when we wanted to be an engineer in the future.

He mentioned that he had been involved in the heavy engineering industry since 1991 until present days. He first became an Electrical and Instrumentation Engineer under Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd starting from 1991 until 1996. Then, he worked as a Principal Engineer under KTA Tenaga SB from 1996 until 1997. The latest post is the General Manager at Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas, Johor.

He explained that his work involved designing, project planning, project costing, construction, quality, and the most important aspect, safety. Safety should be the top priority regarding what happened in the field. Now, he is responsible for managing stakeholder and the development plan. Back then, he only dealt with the equipment and stuff only. But now, he needs to deal with the end users, communities, authorities, and also the consultant company.

Besides, he told us that the most important thing for all the fresh graduates to do is always believe that sky is the limit in whatever they are doing in the future. Do not stop improving and keep moving although there are, for sure, lots of obstructions ahead of us. Even though we are really good at technical skills, never forget the soft skills that are really important for us to communicate with the other people later on.

Lastly, he said that all of the success can be achieved by following the ethics of an engineer. If the engineer does not follow the code of ethics, fatality and disasters might happen, or even death. Therefore, engineers must be careful when designing something that is going to be used by the public.

Just Some Intro

Water meter can be found in every household and industry. There are an estimated of 3.6 million household in Johor, Malaysia in 2016 [1]. Therefore, there are 3.6 million of water meters needed to be taken care of SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd, a Johor state government-linked company which responsible for water supply in Johor. The conventional way of collecting data of water meter from residential area is by sending technicians to record those reading. These method is very costly and time consuming [2]. Other than that, technician who record the reading into notebooks or electronic PDAs and store the data into database for further processing, might record a wrong data from a meter due to human errors. Other several factors, such as weather and location of water meter can cause problems to the technician. Technician might be unable to complete his job due to rainy days. Malaysia is a tropical climate country in which there is no dry season [3], therefore, weather factor contributes a high percentage of work failure for SAJ technician.

Previously, there exists many Automated Meter Reading methods proposed to assist data gathering. For this project, machine vision is applied on the water meter. By applying this method, the water meter reading can be captured from a camera, process it and then send to our database storage. Therefore, the problem of high human labor cost and time consuming can be solved.

Implementation

Most of the materials were bought from a hardware store in order to get an affordable price. After acquiring all the materials, the assembly of the proposed device commences. The first part of the mechanism of the system was building the upper part of the casing. The aluminum is cut according to the measuring design. The aluminum is cut using an aluminum cutting machine. This part of the project was completed in Kangkar Pulai. the finished design for the upper and lower part is shown in Figure 4 and figure 5 respectively. For the Perspex, a glinder is used based on the measuring design. The Perspex is used to allow sunlight to penetrate the device hence providing more brightness for the purpose of image processing.

Figure 4: The steel band is use to clamp between the pipe meter and the casing.

After the casing was completed, the pipe meter is then attached to the box using a steel band. A glue gun is then used to clamp the parts. A magnet bar is used to attach the upper and lower casing. The magnet bar was glued tightly in the difference pole between upper and lower casing. Figure 5 shows the magnet bar attach on lower and upper casing.

Figure 5: Shows 4 magnet bars attaching on lower part of the casing.

Finally, the stand of the pipe was made up from the PVC pipe where they were cut and joined by using an L shape connector. The height of the pipe is about 1 meter. To attach between the stand height and the base we just using the PVC glue to make it stronger. Figure 5 shows the structure of stand and pipe casing.

Raspberry Pi 3 is a tiny, affordable and portable PC as shown in Figure 6. Its operating system is Raspbian which is based on Debian operating system. Its high CPU 1.2 Ghz and 1 Gb of Ram is the reason why we are using it for image processing. It has Wifi module inside, so IOT enabled project can be done using Raspberry Pi 3. We also can insert Raspberry Pi Camera into the slot provided.

Figure 6: Raspberry Pi 3

First, the camera takes a picture and pre-process it. During the pre-processing, it includes image segmentation, noise filtering, gray-scale conversion, so that the detection and isolation of digits is possible. After isolating the character, now we need to train the character by using supervised learning. Supervise learning is a machine learning task of inferring a function from labeled training data. The training data consist of a set of training example. In completion, our system is able to display the corresponding character on the screen.

The software used is RealVNC. The main function of this software is to control the raspberry pi using a laptop from far away. However, both raspberry pi and laptop are required to be connected to the internet in order for the software to work. In RealVNC, there are two type of software which are VNC Server and VNC Viewer. The VNC Server need to be installed to the device that need to be controlled while the VNC Viewer is for the device that wants to control. In this case, the VNC Server will be installed into the raspberry pi while the SAJ worker will need to install the VNC Viewer. Both VNC Server and Viewer must be connected to the same VNC ID. It is one of the security system for the software so that outsiders cannot access the raspberry pi. The structure of the stand pipe and the final completed structure is shown in figure 7 and 8.

Figure 7: The structure of stand and pipe casing.

Figure 8: shows the completed structure of the smart monitoring pipe system.

The raspberry pi 3, camera module and other electronic part are placed in the casing of water meter. Figure 9 shows the image of water meter box build up to store the electronic component, hence the components are not damaged from vandalism and harsh weather. The top box is built with glass for the light to enter the casing to give lighting to camera as shown in figure 10.

Figure 9: The casing for water meter.

Figure 10: Top view for the casing.

Once the system starts to operate, the raspberry pi will be turned on. When the raspberry pi is turned on, it will automatically connect to the internet that it recognized. After that, operator will need to turn on their laptop, connect to the internet and open the software VNC Viewer. From the VNC viewer, the operator can have full control of the raspberry pi. Therefore, the operator will turn on the camera so that they can see the camera displaying the reading on the water meter. After the reading are retrieved by the worker, they will do the bill calculation and update it into the website as shown in figure 10. This website can only be accessed by the house owner of the water meter and the operator in charged. However, only the operator can edit the website. On the website, the operator will fill in the meter reading, bill, and the date the reading was taken. After the system has updated it, the customer can open the web to see how much they need to pay and make the payment by clicking the button “here” to automatically redirect them to the SAJ e-bill website. This is conveniently presented in Figure 11.

Figure 11: The website that the end user can access.

Figure 12: The website that the end user can access.

Results (and Discussion)

During the progress for the image processing, several errors are encountered. The image processing from the Raspberry Pi camera is supposedly detect the number at the water meter and display the output which is the number on the meter. Then, it has been decided that to use a different approach in order to get the reading which is by using the RealVNC. By using the RealVNC, the raspberry pi can be controlled from anywhere by using a laptop as long as both laptop and raspberry pi were connected to the internet. By doing so, the camera can be accessed manually through the software. Therefore, the reading of the water meter can be taken, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Detected character on Raspberry Pi 3

During the first test, the image displayed by the camera was not so clear. It was identified that the raspberry pi camera was too close the water meter. Even though we had already tested the distance of the camera and the meter before to get a clear vision, but when testing of the camera along with the meter casing was done, the image was a little bit blur. This may due to the shadow caused by the casing and the raspberry pi when the camera is put above the meter. As a solution, a slight adjustment of the casing was performed so that the distance of the camera and the meter can be increased and reduce the shadow covering the meter.

During the final field testing, the camera display was perfect when the device were put under sunlight. However, during the testing inside the presentation room, the light inside the room was insufficient to get a clear display of the camera. As a solution, a torchlight was put in the casing hence a much clearer view can be obtained. In addition, the position and angle of the light is also important so that the light will not dazzled the camera since the light is too near to the camera.

Conclusion

This project utilizes Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate (CDIO) type of framework. Before doing any designing, the team had started a survey by doing a questionnaire in order to gain more information about the end user and what are the problems they are facing. After hearing their thoughts, then the team had started to brainstorming on what problem faced by the end user that should be focus on. After it has been decided, the team then starts to find solutions to solve the problem and started designing the devices.

After a few alterations made from the original plan of the prototype, the objective of the design were successfully achieved. The main objective of taking the water reading from anywhere has been successfully done. The alterations were made in order to suite the real world field environment so that the device can work more efficiently.