Expansion of the road network to rural areas and highways, results in the increase in the number of Vehicles on road, and a robust transportation system was required for some time. The government has taken note of the same, to address many concerns revolving around the safety of the vehicle, the comfort of the passengers and goods, the quality of the services and efficiency.
Commercial Vehicle Owners are using various types of GPS Based Tracking solutions not conforming to a standards, set of guidelines and also not maintaining some specific necessities revolving around the vehicle’s safety such as Panic button, and SOS Alerts to Emergency Response Authorities. To assimilate all vehicle fleet owners on the same platform specially involved in public transportation, Automotive Industry Standard 140 (AIS-140) is a set of guidelines published by ARAI (Automotive) for vehicle tracking systems, camera surveillance systems, and emergency request buttons. In order to comply with AIS 140 standards, every public transportation and school bus both private and government operated have to be fitted with NavIC/GPS tracking system, camera surveillance and an emergency button.
AIS on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) has provisioned with both system-level approval and vehicle-level approval. System level approval required to enable retro-fitted of ITS system on in-use vehicles. The proposed ITS backend infrastructure will already present with State Road Transport Undertaking (STUs) which will be fully utilized and further investment in backend infrastructure to ensure a robust system in place.
The Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) document envisages that the hardware should be fully compliant with both GPS and IRNSS (renamed NavIC) satellite systems. The idea of having two different satellite systems included in the purposed device is if in the future India needs to completely abandon the GPS system and move over to a homegrown positioning system, the transition will be smooth. To increase usage and wider adoption of NavIC (India’s own home-grown positioning system) government is felicitating the industry to innovate and come up with cost–effective hardware (chips & modules) for the purpose.
Purposed Specifications
As per the direction of CMVR-TSC (Central Motor Vehicles Rules – Technical Standing Committee) Finalized Draft-Automotive Industry standard Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
- The devices would transmit data to the Back-end Control Centre using 2G/3G/4G wireless connectivity (with SMS fallback)
- The data from the devices would travel over the wireless telecom service provider network and finally get delivered to the Back-end Control Centre. The detail about the Device to Back-end Communication Mechanism.
The Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) device would transmit data using GPRS wireless connectivity (permit holders/Device suppliers would require having a valid communication plan on SIM cards on the devices and would avail services from multiple telecom service providers) to the Back-end Control Centre (with SMS fall back) as per the protocol provided in respective sections. Only the authorized devices should be able to transfer data to the Back-end Control Centre and a mechanism for authenticating the devices/SIMs.
Following some of the functional requirements of VLT*
• Device shall be capable of transmitting data to a minimum of 2 different IP addresses (1 IP address for the regulatory purpose (PVT data) and 1 IP address for Emergency response system other than the IPs required for Operational purpose.
• Device shall have an internal backup battery to support 4 hours of normal operations (to be tested for positional record transmission at a frequency of 60 sec)
• The Device shall support:
o Location on GPRS/SMS
o Non-volatile memory to store min 40,000 positional log
o Configurable backup SMS facility in case of GPRS failure
o Capability to send serving and adjacent cell ID as well as network measurement report (NMR)
• Device shall be dust, temperature, vibration, water splash resistant, IP 65 rated or better, and tamper-proof as per Section 6.
• Device shall have 3 axis accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope for getting alerts on harsh breaking harsh acceleration, and rash turning
(*For detailed information, please refer to the finalized draft released by ARAI, link mentioned below)
Mandatory provisions for Back-end Control Centre*:
• Registration and activation of the device(s) fitted on the vehicle, including the details of vehicle registration number, engine number, chassis number, vehicle make and model, device make and model, and telecom service provider’s name.
• Re-registration/re-activation of the device(s) fitted on the vehicle in case of any change in device or telecom service provider, etc.
• Regular health check of the device(s) fitted on the vehicle, as per the parameters and frequency defined in Sub-section 3.1.4.
• Administration/configuration of devices for any changes in the parameters as decided by the respective state from time to time.
• Notification of alerts in case of a press of an Alert Button fitted on the vehicle, in the protocol defined in Section 4.
• Notification of alerts in case of defined deviations by a vehicle such as over-speeding, deviation from a defined route/geographic area, time of operation, etc.
• Location tracking of the vehicle including real-time as well as history tracking for up to the last 90 days.
• Notification to the permit-holder through SMS in case any device(s) stops functioning/sending data to the Back-end Control Centre.
• Reports of the vehicles with devices not working/sending data beyond the defined number of days (1 day, 3 days, 7 days and 30 days).
• Ensure that the security and privacy of the data are maintained in accordance with applicable laws/guidelines of various government authorities.
(*For detailed information, please refer to the finalized draft released by ARAI, link mentioned below)
To set up the Back-end Control Centre is entirely up on the respective state government and they have the authority to purpose other additional features.
The states can choose any of the following options for setting up the Backend Control Centre:
• States can set up their own dedicated Back-end Control Centre, meeting the above-listed mandatory provisions and any other optional features as they may decide.
• States can allow telecom service providers to offer Back-end Control Centre as a Value Added Service (VAS) to the permit holders, meeting the above-listed mandatory provisions and any other optional features as they may decide. In this case, the telecom service providers shall provide access to the Backend Control Centre to government officials, as decided by the respective state.
*Reference: Finalized Draft- Automotive Industry Standard Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) –
Requirements for Public Transport Vehicle Operation
https://araiindia.com/hmr/Control/AIS/68201793238AMFinal_Draft_AIS_140.pdf
Author:
Kumud