automated traffic control scheme for ambulance dolwin ... - FKE - UTM

AUTOMATED TRAFFIC CONTROL SCHEME FOR AMBULANCE
DOLWIN KHO CHING CHING
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

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: 05,05 lqSq
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AUTOMATED TRAFFIC CONTROL SCHEME FOR AMBULANCE
DOLWIN KHO CHING CHING
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical – Mechatronics)
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
JUNE 2013

I declare that this thesis entitled "Automated Trffic Control Scheme for Ambulance"
is the result of my own research except as cited in the references. The thesis has not
been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any
other degree.
Signature :
Name :
Date :
DOLWIN KHO CHING CHING
e. r.uNE 9.1L

iii
Dedicated to my beloved family, for your love and supports.
To my friends, for your wits, intelligence and guidance in life.

iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A project of this nature will not be completed without supports from different
parties. The number of individuals who had made it possible are far exceeds those
names grace the cover. I am very lucky in this respect to receive advice and
assistance in many directions.
A special mention of appreciations to my supervisor, Dr. Lim Cheng Siong
for his advice and guidance throughtout the whole year for the completion of my
Final Year Project.
A special word of gratitudes to all my friends, who encouraged me to finish
this project sucessly and not giving up.
Last but not least, a thankful to my beloved parents and brother, who had
always be there to support me and gave me inspirations in countless ways.

v
ABSTRACT
The design and implementation of client – server system and Global
Positioning System to control road traffic network is presented. The server of the
client – server system is programmed to receive the Global Positioning System
information from a moving vehicle via an independent device installed in that
particular vehicle. The server will send the information received to other nearby
vehicles thereafter. The clients are multiple, are the moving vehicle and other nearby
vehicles, programmed to keep the server updated of theirs Global Positioning System
locations. A Graphical User Interface is built and used as a medium for users to start
a connection with the client – server system and for the ease of location detection.
The focus of this design is to have the road traffic network controlled in order to give
way to emergency vehicles such as ambulance to drive through. It is important for
emergency vehicles to have smooth traffic network while on duty in order to reach
the emergency scenes as soon as possible and to improve emergency response time.

vi
ABSTRAK
Rekabentuk dan perlaksanaan sistem pelanggan – pelayan dan Sistem
Kedudukan Sejagat untuk mengawal rangkaian lalulintas jalan raya dibentang.
Bahagian pelayan daripada sistem pelanggan – pelayan tersebut diprogram untuk
menerima maklumat kedudukan daripada sebuah kenderaan yang sedang bergerak
melalui alat bebas yang dipasang dalam kenderaan berkenaan. Pelayan kemudiannya
menghantar maklumat yang diterima tersebut kepada kenderaan lain yang
berhampiran. Bahagian pelanggan adalah klien multi, iaitu kenderaan yang sedang
bergerak dan kenderaan lain yang berhampiran, diprogram untuk memastikan
pelayan mendapat maklumat lokasi terkini yang dikehendaki. Selain itu, sebuah
Antara Muka Visual juga dibina dan digunakan sebagai medium interaksi untuk
pengguna memulakan sambungan dengan sistem pelanggan – pelayan tersebut dan
bagi memudahkan pegesanan lokasi. Fokus rekabentuk ini adalah untuk mengawal
rangkaian lalulintas jalan raya bagi memberi keutamaan kepada kenderaan
kecemasan seperti ambulans untuk memandu lalu. Adalah penting untuk kenderaan
kecemasan mempunyai rangkaian lalulintas jalan raya yang lancar ketika beroperasi
supaya sampai ke destinasi kecemasan secepat mungkin dan memperbaik masa
tindak balas ketika kecemasan.

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
x
xi
xiii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 Objectives of Research 4
1.4 Scope of Study 4
1.5 Research Methodology 5

viii
1.6 Thesis Outline 8
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.1 Introduction 9
2.2 Client – Server System 9
2.3 Android OS and Java Language Programming 12
2.4 Hearing Versus Visual Sense 14
2.5 Literature Review of Related Work 17
2.5.1 Ambulance Network Management 17
2.5.2 Traffic Signal Timing Scheme for Priority Vehicles 19
2.5.3 Vehicle Tracking System 21
2.6 Summary of Literature Review 22
2.7 Conclusion 23
3 SYSTEM DESIGN 24
3.1 Introduction 24
3.2 Project Overview 24
3.3 Project Flow 25
3.4 Architecture Design 26
3.5 Design Framework 27
3.6 Application Development 28
3.6.1 Android Apps Programming 30
3.7 Expected Outcome 32

ix
3.8 Conclusion 32
4 RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 33
4.1 Results 33
4.2 Limitations and Problems Encountered 37
5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS 38
5.1 Conclusion 38
5.2 Recommendation for Future Works 39
REFERENCES 40

x
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 Summary of Reviewed Research/
Projects
22

xi
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE
1.1 Flowchart of the activities of the research starting from
literature review until the achievement of the outcome
of the research.
7
1.2 The thesis mapping based on chapters. 8
2.1 A basic client – server system that communicates
through either LAN or WAN.
2.2 The whole supporting system architecture of Android.
Android currently supports the applications,
application framework, inclide libraries, the runtime
and Linux kernel lizsted in the figure.
2.3 An auditory system to process complex sound field
into elements for sound sources interpretation.
2.4 Architecture of the Ambulance Network Management
System.
11
13
16
18
2.5 Architecture of the Traffic Signal Timing Scheme. 20
2.6 Architecture of the Vehicle Tracking System. 21
3.1 Activities flow of project, starting from literature
review to live test of ATCS.
25
3.2 Architecture design of ATCS. 26
3.3 Design framework of the client – server system. 27

xii
3.4 The software application development of ATCS.
Whenever an ambulance starts operating, the
application will enable location detection and get
current position. Location data is sent to server. Server
will tempt to notify nearby vehicles, if any, about the
approaching ambulance.
29
3.5 GUI of the ATCS application. 31
4.1 The GUI of the ATCS at the time ambulance starts 34
operating.
4.2 GPS location is detected when “Get Location” button
pressed.
4.3 The map view. Tab upon the “View Map”, the location
and postion of the corresponding ambulance will be
viewed on map.
4.4 To send location data to other nearby vehicles. The
above screen appears upon button “Send Location”
pressed.
4.5 Android 2 upon receiving location data from Android
1. The location data is sent via a link. Android 2 users
will tab on the link to view the location of the
ambulance.
34
35
35
36
4.6 The received data viewed on map. 36

xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EMS - Emergency Medical Services
ATCS - Automated Traffic Control Scheme
GPS - Global Positioning System
GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications
OS - Operating System
IDE - Integrated Development Environment
m - Metres
UTM - University of Technology Malaysia
LAN - Local Area Networks
WAN - Wireless Area Networks
SDK - Software Development Kits
etc - Et cetera
API - Application Programming Interfaces
km /h - Kilometer per hour
Hz - Hertz
f o - Observed frequency
f v - Actual frequency
v - Velocity of sound
v t - Velocity of moving object
CH - Control Headquaters
LCC - Local Control Centers
C - Cycle time
AUTCS - Advanced Urban Traffic Control System
VDGS - Vehicle Dynamic Guidance System
AVLS - Automatic Vehicle Location System
GW - Gateway

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GUI - Graphical User Interface
SMS - Short Message Service
AVD - Android Virtual Devices

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is a type of service that mainly to
respond to emergency lifesaving cases. EMS provides out-of-hospital acute medical
care and all means of medical transportations to the public or people with injuries
and illnesses. Every life is precious. Therefore, when it comes to situations affecting
saving of life, every minute and second are crucial. To have the EMS to be
delivered efficiently, the response time is of vital important. Any delay in the arrival
of emergency transportations, which are the ambulances, to the emergency scenes or
to the hospitals might cause loss of life and expiration. Studies had shown the
relationship between response time and mortality rate [1]–[4]. Emergency response
time is defined as the time ranged starting from an emergency call received by EMS
provider until the arrival of ambulance at the emergency scene [5]–[8]. A smooth
road traffic network is recognized as one of many factors that may reduce time of
arrival of ambulance at the emergency scenes [12]–[15]. Therefore, once an
ambulance is in operation state, road users must be aware of the arrival of preceding
ambulance and be cooperated to make way for ambulance to drive through, so that
ambulance is able to passage safely among many cars to the emergency scene
within the standard response time.

2
To smooth out road traffic network, I've come out with an idea, which is the
Automated Traffic Control Scheme for Ambulance (ATCS). Basically, ATCS is an
approaching emergency vehicle to cars communication that may create cooperate
awareness among road users regarding the approaching ambulance behind them. It is
a scheme or a strategy used to control road traffic network for dispatched ambulance.
Through ATCS, road users will be notified earlier about the exact locations and
directions of the dispatched ambulance, therefore allow proper reaction to be taken
before ambulance reaches behind the drivers. This gives road users an early
preparation to clear the road for the ambulance, therefore reducing ambulance on
road queue time. The locations and directions data of the corresponding ambulance
are collected using Global Positioning System (GPS) and transmitted to server
through Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). These data will then
sent to road users so that they are notified about the approaching ambulance, and
then clear the road for ambulance to passage by.
The aim of this research is to control road traffic network so that the
operating ambulances are able to passage smoothly to reach dispatched destinations
within standard response time.
1.2 Problem Statement
Every life is precious. Every minute means difference between life and death.
Therefore, when it comes to situations affecting saving of life, every minute and
second are crucial. Considering the importance of EMS is to save life, any situation
that potentially caused delay in the arrival of ambulance to the emergency scenes or
to the hospitals might cause loss of life as well as expiration. An ambulance need to
response to an emergency within time ranged in seven to 14 minutes in urban areas,
whereas in rural areas takes about 30 minutes [9]. However, the actual response time
always take later than that. Why

3
Traffic is number one obstacle [10]–[11]. More often ambulances are not
given the priority to drive through among many cars. With the increasing traffic on
the roads, ambulances have a tough task in reaching dispatched destinations on time.
Giving way to any vehicles with flashing lights and blaring siren has being a very
basic driving rule requirement in many countries. In Malaysia for example, under
Road Traffic Act 1987 and Traffic Regulations 1958 has stated that one can be
charged under Section 119 (2) for not giving way to ambulances, police, customs, so
forth. However, the problem with some drivers is that they are confused in which
directions the ambulances are coming, causing delay to give proper reactions even
though they have heard the siren blaring. Clearly, blaring siren only tells road users
the presence of ambulances, but does not give any accurate information to road users
about the locations and directions of ambulances precisely enough to allow proper
reaction.
In case of emergency, ambulances need to drive fast and in safe and careful
manners. Therefore, it is stressful and very frustrating if any car just does not get out
of the way. Research have done to solve the traffic problems, for example to enlarge
the road network by building special links to passage the ambulance, as suggested by
Qin and Khan [13]. Another solution is to build new traffic facilities. However, side
problems arose due to the limitation of land and fund collections. Thus, an alternative
in attention for solving is to control the road traffic network. Most of the research
done were on traffic signal timing, that is to locate and to give priority to emergency
vehicles to drive through at signalized intersection [13]–[18]. None of the research
has done on providing information and notifications regarding the locations and
directions of preceding ambulances to other road users.

4
1.3 Objectives of Research
The objectives in conducting this research work are defined as following:
i. To develop a basic client – server system;
ii. To implement the ATCS into the client – server system;
iii. To live test the implemented ATCS.
1.4 Scope of Study
Basically, this research consists of three parts. The first part is the
development of a basic client – server system. Second part is to develop the ATCS
application and implement it into the client – server system. The last part is the live
test of the ACTS.
For the client – server system, two sets of smart phones running Android
operating system (OS) are used as the clients, while a laptop running Windows 7 OS
is used as the server. Java programming language is used to develop the coding and
compiled using Netbeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE) version 7.3 for
both clients and server. Collected data are transferred through GSM and will not be
saved in database. The server is programmed to listen and accept or reject clients’
requests, and keep listening to the clients. The clients, one of them are programmed
to request connection from server and send data to it, and keep updating the server
with the latest information. The other client is programmed to receive data only, and
keep up-to-date the information.
For the second part of this research, the application, that is the ATCS, is
developed and implemented into the client – server system. One of the smart phones
is programmed to enable locating its own location and send the location data to the
server periodically. The server on the other hand is programmed to collect the

5
corresponding location data and send the data to another smart phone that is in the
range of 600 meters (m) ahead from the previous smart phone. Clients and server are
made sure to have the updated location information from time to time.
Last one is to live test of the implemented ATCS. For the experimental setup
to live test, two cars are used and the ATCS is tested in University of Technology
Malaysia (UTM) campus. Both smart phones are placed inside cars with each car has
one smart phone. One of the cars is used to represent the ambulance and the other
one representing general vehicles. A laptop that acts as the server is placed at Kolej
Tun Razak’s office and monitored. During the live test, both of the cars are driven
around suitable areas in UTM campus. The location data of the car that representing
the ambulance is tested to be able to send to server and is received by the other car
that is in the distance range of 600 m ahead.
1.5 Research Methodology
Ambulances have to respond to an emergency as fast as possible. Firstly, the
problems that potentially caused delay or interruption in the operations of
ambulances are identified. It is found that traffic is number one obstacle. Therefore,
to passage an ambulance among other vehicles to reach its dispatched destination on
time, a scheme is developed with the aim to control the road traffic network that may
give priority to ambulance to passage by. There are two parts to build up the scheme;
the development of a basic client – server system and the implementation of ATCS
application into the client – server system.
A basic client – server system is developed to collect the location data of the
ambulance and send the corresponding data to other general vehicles. Implemented
ATCS application is programmed to locate one client and tells the server where the
client is.

6
To determine whether the scheme has succeeded to work, a live test
performed. The research methodology is summarized in Figure 1.1. The flow chart
shows the process to identify problem intend to this project until the development of
traffic controlling scheme to improve ambulances operations.

7
No
Start
Literature Review
Basic client-server
system development
Server side
application
development
Client side application
development
Is live test of
scheme working
Scheme successfully
work
Yes
Problem
To develop a scheme that is able to control road
traffic and passage ambulance to targeted
emergency scene within response time
Objective 1
Development of a basic client – server system
Scope
Socket connection between client – server is
established
Objective 2
Implementation of the traffic control scheme into
client – server system
Scope
Location data of client to send to server
continuously
Client nearby should able to receive data from
server
Objective 3
Live test of automated traffic control scheme
Scope
To test whether the location data is successfully
send over the system
Outcome
Development of working Automated Traffic
Control System
End
Figure 1.1:
Flow chart of the activities of the research starting from literature
review until the achievement of the outcome of the research.

8
1.6 Thesis Outline
The rest of this thesis is sorted in the following manner. Chapter 2 describes
the theories of client – server application, Android programming and the hearing
versus visual sensing abilities. Related projects are reviewed and summarized in
Chapter 2 as well.
The system design of ATCS is discussed in Chapter 3. The whole ATCS
operation is software controllable. How the client – server system works and the
function of ATCS will be explained in details.
The obtained results are shown in Chapter 4. The analysis and problems
encountered upon the process of developing the ATCS will be reviewed in this
chapter.
The project is concluded in Chapter 5 with some recommendations for future
works. The flow of chapters is mapped as shown in Figure 1.2 below.
Scope of Research
Literature
Reviews
Output
Future Works
Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5
Figure 1.2:
The thesis mapping based on chapters.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The basic concept of the client – server system and other tools used in this
research will be described in this chapter. The idea of developing ATCS to aid human
hearing sense on ambulance siren will be explained. Some other supportive ideas to
this research and similar projects will be reviewed in this chapter as well.
2.2 Client – Server System
Client – server system is a computing system that consists of two independent
logical parts, that is the server and the client, where both are specialized for different
tasks. Information processing has becoming so much easier since the inception of
client – server computing in the mid-1980s [19]. The server functioned to provide
services to which clients requested them. The server and the client may run on the
same or different computing machines or hardware of the same or different OS and
coded or programmed using either the same or different programming language
[19]–[20].

10
The client – server system may only communicate and transmit data through
communication mechanisms such as local area networks (LAN) or wireless area
networks (WAN). A single server may be connected to a client or several clients, or
works with other servers as well.
The application logic or client – server programming are the medium that
determines how the data supposed to be transmitted and distributed between the
client and the server. Usually the main method will be implemented in the server
program to perform works such as listening to the port, establishing connections with
clients, and reading from and writing to the socket. Server will keep track of the
clients and services the clients’ queries. On the other hand, the client initiates to
communicate with server, perform request or command to server, and computes
results and process the results to user readable. Figure 2.1 shows a basic client –
server functions.
Both the application logic at the client and server side can be written using
the similar or different programming languages, depending on the computing
machines’ OS. Basically, the client and the server program of any OS will begin with
Socket class programming. Socket class defines how a connection between client and
server is established and how the data are send to and from a pre-defined port. Few
lines below show a portion of Socket of the server side in Java programming
language.
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
try {
serversocket = new ServerSocket (1234);
}
.
.
.
Socket clientSocket = null;
try {
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
}

11
After a connection is established, client and server will communicate as defined in
the rest of the programming class. In the interest of a good housekeeping, both server
and client need to close all the input and output streams, client socket as well as the
server socket defined at the end of the program.
Figure 2.1:
or WAN.
A basic client – server system that communicates through either LAN

12
2.3 Android OS and Java Language Programming
Android, currently the world's most popular mobile platform is a software
stack that has made available to most touchscreen mobile devices such as smart
phones and tablet computers. It is not a single piece of hardware, but a complete,
end-to-end software platform that includes operating system, middleware, libraries
and also key applications, adapted to work on infinite numbers of hardware
configurations [21]–[23]. The operating system is based on Linux kernel and
supports Java programming interface. The whole supporting system architecture of
Android is shown in Figure 2.2.
Android is an open source Linux for developers to build best-in-class
applications experiences. The source codes are accessible and freely available to the
public, under the license of Apache version 2.0 and GNU General Public License
version 2. The Open Handset Alliance and Google also involved in developing
changes to Linux kernel and source code privately, however compiled source codes
are available to the public as well. Android's openness and permissive licensing
features allow most of applications to be developed, modified and to be tested not
only by software developers but also individuals who are interested. A lot of software
development kits now available to support Android application writing and
development such as Eclipse, Netbeans IDE, Java Software Development Kits
(SDK), etc. Another interesting feature of Android is supportive of third party
software and firmware development.
To help programmers and developers to start developing their own
applications efficiently, Android has developed its own Android SDK and IDE
plugins, available for all and downloadable from the official websites of Android
Developers [23]. The SDK is a complete package of all currently available Android
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), sources, libraries and other build tools
that are useful in developing Android applications.

13
Figure 2.2: The whole supporting system architecture of Android. Android
currently supports the applications, application framework, include libraries, the
runtime and Linux kernel listed in the figure.

14
2.4 Hearing versus Visual Sense
For an ambulance that is in operation state, consider the ambulance will speed
up to 90 kilometer per hour (km/h), and the frequency of the blaring siren at 700
Hertz (Hz). By comparing the value of siren’s frequency to the frequency range that a
normal human can adapt, that is in the range of 20 Hz to 20, 000 Hz, 700 Hz is
considered low frequency of sound.
To determine the actual frequencies emitted by the ambulance siren when the
ambulance is approaching, passing, and moving away from an observer, the equation;
f o = f v /(v – v t ) (2.1)
is used, where f o is observed frequency, f v is the actual frequency emitted, while v
and v t are velocity of sound and velocity of moving object respectively;
i. As the ambulance is approaching the observer;
f v = 700 Hz
v = 343 m/s (speed of sound in air at normal temperature)
v t = 90 km/h
∴ f o = 700 x 343 /(343 - 25) = 755.031 Hz
ii. At the moment the ambulance passing by the observer;
f v = 700 Hz
v = 343 m/s
v t = 0 km/h
∴ f o = f v = 700 Hz
iii. As the ambulance moving away from the observer;
f v = 700 Hz
v = 343 m/s
v t = -90 km/h
∴ f o = 652.446 Hz

15
Therefore, as the ambulance approaching, passing by and moving away from an
observer, the ambulance siren will emit frequencies at 755 Hz, 700 Hz, and 652 Hz
respectively. It is shown that the siren frequency is slightly higher when the
ambulance is approaching nearby drivers. 755 Hz, this value is still considered as
low frequency and not able to travel far plus easily affected by surrounding noise for
human auditory adaptations [25]. Surrounding noise would be noise produces by
other vehicles or passengers in the drivers’ vehicles.
The crucial task performed by any auditory system is sound source
determination. Sound does not reach a listener independently, rather are combined
altogether sound sources into one complex sound field [26]. The auditory system will
then do processing on the neural representation of the complex sound field into
elements that allow the listeners to interpret the sound sources. Figure 2.3 shows the
concept of auditory system.
According to Yost [26], all sound sources are potential signals or noises. The
knowledge of sound sources comes from our own perception of auditory images.
Auditory images are the bases for hearing and each auditory image indicates a
possible sound source. As we are surrounded by more than one sound source,
therefore the input to our auditory system is the complex sound field that summed
the vibratory patterns generated by each of the sound sources. However, not every
sound source in the complex sound field produces auditory image. The vibration
pattern of certain sound sources may be too weak to be perceived relative to that
produced by other sound sources. From the above calculations, it is observed that the
siren sound only becomes louder when nearly approaching observer with a value of
755 Hz. Therefore there might be difficulties for listener to interpret at an early stage
to predict an incoming ambulance plus the effect of surround noise. Considering the
individual variability on listening efforts, a research found that people often faced
problems with hearing especially when there is a low signal-to-noise ratio [27].
Whenever a person is affected by the noise from surrounding, his or her performance
to interpret sound source will be affected.

16
In real-life, drivers faced difficulties in determining the exact direction of an
approaching ambulance. As communications are more effectives through non-verbal,
that is more visual and less audio [28], therefore rather than depending only to the
siren sound of ambulance alone [29], an earlier notification to let the drivers to view
the actual location of the preceding ambulance through a visual aid might help. In
this case, drivers will get an early view of the position and directions of the
corresponding ambulance and once give proper reactions.
Figure 2.3:
sound sources interpretation.
An auditory system to process complex sound field into elements for

17
2.5 Literature Review of Related Work
A lot of researches and projects have been done by universities and
organizations regarding to improve the current operations of ambulance. Some did
the researches on signalized traffic light, vehicles tracking and so on. The following
are some of the researches and projects collected from different sources.
2.5.1 Ambulance Network Management
This is a project done by researchers of University of Zaragoza [16]. The aim
of this project is to know the current location as well as the duty state of all the
ambulances in the database at all time, and then have the control center to plan an
ideal route for the ambulance in operation to reach the emergency scene. Both client
– server system and GPS system are used in this project. To provide a fast and
efficient response, GPS-based fleet control system was implemented to locate the
location of each ambulance periodically. As all the ambulances are equipped with
radio equipment integrated with GPS cards, therefore the location information are
able to send to the control center. The control center also monitors the traffic
conditions before route planning. Figure 2.4 shows the ambulance network
management system architecture.
As can be seen from the figure, there is a Control Headquarter (CH) that
functions to locate the ambulance and to seek its duty states, monitoring traffic
conditions as well as do route planning. There is several Local Control Centers (LCC)
functioned to analyze and track ambulance only. Data are then sent over to CH for
decision making.

18
The disadvantage of this project is the existence of LCCs. LCCs does not
involve in any decision making. As the LCCs only track the location of ambulance
and sending the information to CH, therefore LCC might increase the overall
response time due to extra time used in sending information and waiting for
decisions from CH. Another downside is that although CH monitors traffic
conditions, however it does not manipulate the traffic network to passage the
ambulances to reach targeted scene. The overall ambulances operations do not
improve much.
Figure 2.4:
Architecture of the Ambulance Network Management System.

19
2.5.2 Traffic Signal Timing Scheme for Priority Vehicles
This is another project done that aims to manipulate the traffic signal timing,
so that priority vehicles such as ambulance will always meet green signal light
whenever they had reached signalized intersections, therefore avoid queuing at the
intersections [17]. This project also involved the use of client – server system and
GPS system. Priority vehicles are installed with GPS system so that positions and
speed can be obtained. Then, the time taken to reach a traffic light is generated by the
vehicle itself. A cycle time, C is the defined standard time for a traffic light to turn
green. Request will only be sent to control center if time calculated is less than C.
Decisions are made by the control center regarding the time to turn the traffic light to
green.
Figure 2.5 shows the architecture of this scheme. The subsystems that
involved in this scheme are Advanced Urban Traffic Control System (AUTCS),
Vehicles Dynamic Guidance System (VDGS), and Automatic Vehicle Location
System (AVLS). AUTCS is functioned for decision making whether to turn the
traffic lights green or not and the time to do so. VDGS basically used to process and
broadcasts information regarding traffic flow and travelling time. AVLS is used to
generate position data of the vehicles.
The downside of this project is that the control center will only be notified
when the priority vehicles is within the cycle time, C before reaching any signalized
junctions. Control center is not getting any updates of the current location of the
vehicles. By emulating this project on the installation of GPS system in vehicles but
sending the current position to the control center, therefore accurate distance away
from other general vehicles can be measured.

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Figure 2.5:
Architecture of the Traffic Signal Timing Scheme.

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2.5.3 Vehicle Tracking System
The focus of this project is to track the desired vehicles with low cost but
effective to substitute the existing high cost vehicle tracking system that used
embedded GPS [18]. The project proposed to use wireless sensor devices that are
installed in the vehicles and are addressed by the vehicles’ registration number which
are made unique.
There are mainly three components implemented in this tracking system;
wireless sensor devices, gateway (GW) node, and central server. Wireless sensor
devices are installed in vehicles as mentioned before. They are functioned to send
relevant data to GW node. GW node is responsible to respond to query from server
and data processing, while central server propagates queries to GW node and
receives data from GW node. To keep track of the vehicles, GW nodes are installed
at a regular interval distance. Figure 2.6 shows the architecture of this system.
Figure 2.6:
Architecture of the Vehicle Tracking System.

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Although this tracking system is low cost without the implementation of GPS
system, however there exist a lot of disadvantages, as admitted by the researchers
themselves. The existence of GW nodes is actually a waste, as these nodes are unable
to track vehicles with higher speed and higher number of vehicles that come and go
within the interval distance. Accuracy would be the main problem. As there would be
a number of thousands of GW nodes to be installed over a region, therefore huge
bandwidth is consumed over a network for information updates, which means a
waste of money and resources. On the other hand, by implementing GPS into vehicle,
an accurate position and other information can be obtained through reliable GSM.
2.6 Summary of Literature Review
Table 2.1 summarizes the project reviewed and their important criteria that can be
advanced or emulated in this research.
Research/
Table 2.1:
Criteria
Summary of Reviewed Research/Projects
Research/Project Emulate
Project
Ambulance
Network
Management
Traffic
Signal
Timing
Scheme
i. Client – server and GPS
Used to collect current
location and duty states of
ambulance
Monitoring traffic
conditions
i. GPS (installed in
vehicles)
To locate vehicles
position away from a
traffic light
i. Client – server and
GPS
To collect data of
location of ambulance
continuously
i. GPS
To locate location of
vehicles and send the
information to server

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ii.
Client – server
ii.
Client – server
Server receive requests
from vehicles and decides
whether or not to turn
traffic light to signal
green
Server is updated with
vehicles’ current
location and send
information to other
general vehicles instead
of traffic lights
Vehicle
Tracking
System
i. Wireless sensor devices
ii.
Send relevant data to GW
node
GW node
Process data from
wireless sensor devices
and response to central
server
i. GPS to replace wireless
sensor devices as GPS
provides more accuracy
information
ii. Eliminates GW node
due to accuracy
problems
iii.
Central server
Propagates queries to GW
nodes and receives
information from GW
nodes
2.7 Conclusion
From the project review above, the design for my project will take considerations as
follow:
i. Client – server to collect and receive current location data from ambulance
units;
ii. GPS will be installed in ambulance and also general vehicles, known as
ambulance units and vehicle units respectively;
iii. Vehicle units nearby ambulance units received information of the ambulance.

CHAPTER 3
SYSTEM DESIGN
3.1 Introduction
This chapter will briefly describe the flow of the project. Also, the methods
used to develop ATCS and the design of the ATCS will be specifically described in
this chapter. All the software used in this project and design of architecture will be
shown.
3.2 Project Overview
Basically, the ATCS must fulfill the following specifications:
i. Ambulance unit must be able to locate its own current location and send the
coressponding data to server;
ii. Location data is received by server;
iii. Ambulance unit must be able to continuously update server with the current
location;
iv. Location data is received by vehicle unit.

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3.3 Project Flow
The sequence of activities of the project is shown in Figure 3.1. The project is
began by doing research on related or similar project. Various articles, journals, and
thesis that are relevant to be referred are found through various sources. Some
projects are taken as references and are emulated into this project. After all relevant
information are gathered, a basic architecture is designed first to get a firm picture of
overall project, followed by design of system framework. Then a basic client – server
system is developed, followed by implementation of ATCS. Lastly, a live test is
performed to determined that whether the objectives are achieved or failed.
Literature Review
Architecture Design
Basic Client – server Development
Implementation of ATCS into Client – server
System
Live Test of ATCS
Figure 3.1:
ATCS.
Activities flow of project, starting from literature review to live test of

26
3.4 Achitecture Design
The following figure shows the architecture design of ATCS. As describe
earlier, two sets of smart phones running Android OS are used as the clients and are
placed inside two cars. Referred to Figure 3.2, Android 1 is used to represent an
ambulance, and its current GPS location will be sent to a laptop that acts as server.
Data are send continuously through GSM. While Android 2, which represents
general vehicle will be receiving the location data of Android 1 if it is in the radial
distance range of 600 m ahead from Android 1.
3G/GSM
Server
(Laptop)
INTERNET
3G/GSM
3G/GSM
Ambulance
(Android 1)
Distance: 600 meter
General Vehicle
(Android 2)
Figure 3.2:
Architecture design of ATCS.

27
3.5 Design Framework
Design framework as shown in Figure 3.3 will further explains on how the
ATCS application works with the client –server system. Basically in every client –
server system, a connection have to be establised first before any client can
communicates with server. Client is the party that request connection from server,
while server will decide to accept or reject the connection. After a connection is
established, server will keep listening to each of client’s request and serve whenever
the request is a valid one.
During ATCS runtime, a connection will be established when the ambulance
request to send its location data to the server. After connection established,
ambulance will continuously update the server with the latest GPS position. Server
will keep track of the ambulance location and then open connection with general
vehicles that are located in radial distance range of 600 m. Server will send
information to the general vehicles, notified the position of ambulance.
Client
Server
Client
Open connection
Trying to open coonection
Accept connection
Listening to client’s request
Listening to client’s request
Request server
Accept request
Send GPS location data
Send GPS location data
Receive GPS location data
Figure 3.3:
Design framework of the client – server system.

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3.6 Application Development
The software and firmware used in this project will be described here. Since
the whole ATCS operation is software controllable, thus the application can be
reprogrammed many times without any major changes on the hardware used.
For the hardware parts, embedded GPS module and GSM module of smart
phones are used. The software application design includes programming the smart
phones to toggle location detection and data transmission over the client – server
system, and also the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for client – server interaction.
The software application is programmed using Netbeans IDE version 7.3 using Java
programming language. Figure 3.4 shows the flowchart in developing the software
application.

29
Start
Ambulance to receive its
location through GPS
Server keep updated of
ambulance’s location
GPS location send to Server
Is there any vehicles
within 600m from
ambulance
No
Keep Track of other vehicles
Yes
Notify the vehicles about the
location and direction of
ambulance
End
Figure 3.4: The software application development of ATCS. Whenever an
ambulance starts operating, the application will enable location detection and get
current position. Location data is sent to server. Server will tempt to notify nearby
vehicles, if any, about the approaching ambulance.

30
3.6.1 Android Apps Programing
Android, currently the world’s most popular mobile platform is a software
stack that has made available to most touchscreen mobile devices such as smart
phones and tablet computers. It is an open source application development, and most
of the source codes to toggle Android services are available at Android Developers
website [23].
In this project, I am trying to toggle the LocationManager services and intent
Short Message Service (SMS) sending. LocationManager is a class that provides
access to the system location services. These services will allow applications to
obtain updates of a device’s geographical locations. To use the services to locate
owns location, certain permissions need to be coded into the manifest, like
ACCESS_COURSE_LOCATION or ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permissions. In
the case to obtain location provided by GPS satellite, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
permission is needed unless otherwise noted. ACCESS_COURSE_LOCATION is
used when one intended to obtained location provided by network providers. The
location data obtained using GPS satellite is far more accurate than that obtained
from network providers.
The obtained data will be viewed on map. Then, MapActivity will need to be
coded. MapActivity is a map component in an application. The location data that had
sent to other general vehicles will be viewed in Google Map format. Therefore,
MapActivity is acquired to load the underlying map system, or it will return null if
the map is not available.
GUI is a medium for interaction between users and the server. The GUI of
ATCS is customized under the Android layout resources file. I’ve set tab layout and
apps menu button for user conveniences. Figure 3.5 shows the GUI for ATCS.

31
Tab Layout
Menu Button
Figure 3.5:
GUI of the ATCS application.
“View Status” tab is to view the current position obtained when “Get Location”
button pressed. “Lat:” and “Long:” are the latitude and longitude position
respectively. “Alt:” is the altitude position, while “Speed:” is the speed of the current
moving ambulance. “Time:” shows the response time of ambulance to an emergency.
Latitude and longitude data is send to server whenever “Send Location” button is
pressed.
To ease the programmers and developers to test run applications, Android has
developed Android Virtual Devices (AVD) and its own SDK and IDE plugins to
support import of APIs packages and libraries for different compilers used. The AVD
allows virtual devices of different platforms to be created or emulators to be run on
computers or laptop to ease any changes to be made to the software applications. For
this project, I am using Android 2.3 and 4.1 target platforms.

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3.7 Expected Outcome
It is expected that the client – server system developed is able to
communicate and data are successfully being transferred over the system. There are
two sides of clients, and it is expected that one of the client is able to receive
information regarding another client through server. It is also to be expected that
scheme developed is able to control the road traffic network and indirectly improving
the response time of ambulances’ operations.
3.8 Conclusion
This chapter has discusses the Automated Traffic Control Scheme for
Ambulance in terms of its design and application development. To ensure that this
project can be functioned as intended, all the hardware and software design have to
be carefully designed, developed, implemented, and tested follows the parent
objectives of the project. At the end of the day, the application designed must enable
data to be transmitted over the client – server system developed.

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results, analysis, and problems encountered throughout the whole process
of developing the ATCS will be reviewed in this chapter. The effectiveness of ATCS
to improve ambulance operation as a whole will be evaluated upon completion of the
project. Whether the project has met the objectives and limitations will also be
discussed.
4.1 Results
The ATCS consists of two Android smart phones, one to be programmed to
locate owns GPS location, another to receive the corresponding data. Figures 4.1 to
4.4 show the flow of the ATCS that worked, starting from location detected until data
is sent out of the ambulance unit, the Android 1, while Figures 4.4 and 4.5 show the
flow whenever data is received by Android 2 sent from Android 1.

34
Figure 4.1: The GUI of the ATCS at the time ambulance starts operating.
Figure 4.2: GPS location is detected when the ‘Get Location’ button pressed.

35
Figure 4.3: The map view. Tab upon the “View Map”, the location and position of
the corresponding ambulance will be viewed on map.
Figure 4.4: To send location data to other nearby vehicles. The above screen
appears upon button “Send Location” pressed.

36
Figure 4.5: Android 2 upon receiving location data from Android 1. The location
data is sent via a link. Android 2 users will tab on the link to view the location of the
ambulance.
Figure 4.6: The received data viewed on map.

37
4.2 Limitations and Problems Encountered
below;
Some problems encountered during the completing of this project are listed
The connections between clients and the server failed. The clients are unable
to reach the server upon request for connection;
The GPS location is provided by GPS satellite, therefore ATCS is unable to
be used indoor. Otherwise, have to used location provided by network
providers which are costly;
The Google Map on the ambulance unit is unable to be viewed. There might
be problems in the Google APIs key or metadata assignment;
At the moment, ATCS is sending location data via SMS because to buy the
real GPS navigation system is costly as two sets sre needed.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS
This chapter confers the conclusion of the research on Automated Traffic
Control Scheme for Ambulance and a recommends future works to improve the
quality of the traffic control scheme.
5.1 Conclusion
Upon completion of this project, the following objectives have met:
To implement the ATCS into the client – server system;
Live test of the implemented ATCS.
Although there have been a lot of researches done with the objectives to
improve ambulance operating system, this is the first project of its kind to have the
ambulance communicates with nearby vehicles, informing the nearby vehicles the
approaching ambulance. I believe the usage of ATCS can give positive impacts and
future research to improve current ambulance operating system and create awareness
among road users to clear the road and give priority to emergency vehicles to passage
by.

39
5.2 Recommendation for Future Works
There are lots of rooms for improvements on this project. Some of the
recommendations to be taken into account are as follow:
Implements the ATCS into GPS navigation system;
Instead of receiving notifications through SMS, pop-up notifications on the
navigation system can be used that automatically tells road users the location
and directions of the ambulance;
Increase the accuracy of the geographical position obtained from GPS
satellite;
Make ATCS to be able to control traffic at signalized junctions as well.

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