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Contents
Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 2
1. Existing Technologies in terms of Hardware .......................................................................... 2
1.1 On-Board LED Display or Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) .......... 3
1.2 GPS Tracking Device ...................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Smart Mobile Phone ........................................................................................................ 5
2. Existing Technologies in terms of Software............................................................................ 7
2.1 X-Code ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Android Studio ................................................................................................................. 8
2.3 Xamarin............................................................................................................................. 9
2.4 Eclipse .............................................................................................................................. 10
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................... 11
References ........................................................................................................................................... 12
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Literature Review
Technology has made things easier and faster. Communication can be done easily
whenever and wherever you are, people can access things without having to be physically present,
and those are just a few of the many ways technology has improved our lives. However, there are
always some gaps or weaknesses that can be found in a product or service that can lead to another
business idea to fix the gaps and develop a new improved product or service.
Methods of accessing bus services for example have evolved over time. There’s the
traditional way where people have to go to the bus station without knowing the departure and
arrival time of the bus, then there’s the bus stop schedule board which enables people to know
estimated departure and arrival times, there’s real time bus tracking via websites, and now there
are some applications that provide real time bus tracking on the user’s mobile device. This means
the user doesn’t necessarily have to wait at the bus station.
Many designs have been proposed and applied in order to improve the bus service
system. But without proper hardware and software, the proposed solutions may not be fully
utilized. Therefore, it is necessary to study what hardware, and software is used by the existing
technologies to decide which is most suitable for our project to produce a desirable outcome.
1. Existing Technologies in terms of Hardware
Issues in the bus service have attracted many researchers’ attention who have proposed their
ideas to the public. Tramigo and Katsana for example, are some GPS devices that can be installed
in a bus to monitor the location of a bus and now they are moving onto smartphone devices and
creating a mobile application to solve bus issues.
In Malaysia itself, various hardware components have been implemented in order to know
the estimated departure and arrival time of the bus: RapidKL which is using the schedule board
device, Translink Bus Tracker website that can be accessed by using a laptop or tablet, SUNWAY
Shuttle bus, IIUM, and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, is using a smartphone device.
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There must be some reasons why they are implementing that particular hardware and as it
is clear that certain hardware might be suitable for certain situations but not possible in some
conditions. Therefore, deciding the right hardware to use is very important. It helps in estimating
the possible cost of development, and enhancing the device itself in the future.
1.1 On-Board LED Display or Passenger Information Display System (PIDS)
This device has been around for many years. It has been through some changes and
enhancements from Audio, LED, LCD to HD screen. Countries like France, Germany, United
Kingdom, United States, China, many other countries are using this device not only to get the
estimated bus departure and arrival time, but also to display train, LRT, and other transportation
information.
In Malaysia, on-board LCD display or PIDS is used for other transportation such as
airplane, MRT, LRT, KTM, and monorail. Busses are still using on-board LED display device to
track estimated departure and arrival times. It can be found in the RapidKL bus stop areas but
mostly in the LRT stations. However, this device which is used by RapidKL is only to track the
RapidKL buses provided by the government. Thus, the on-board LED display can’t be found in
every bus stop. One of the reasons for this is the high development cost and system architecture.
Figure 1. RapidKL On-Board
LED Display
Figure 1. RapidKL On-Board
LCD Display
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The modern PIDS however, is a dependent device. It usually consists of three sub-devices;
CPU, Client Unit, and LCD Display Unit. Applying all these devices results in higher development
costs (Matsumo et al., 2014, pp. 672-676).
Research conducted by Matsumo et al. (2014) has provided another solution: implementing
decentralized architecture using a host system as an alternative to CPU. It reduces the development
cost but still provides a good signal for the transportation and solves the noise issue.
However, it still requires extra hardware; a WiMAX device, client device, and LCD
display. Implementing an on-board LED display or PIDS requires more architectural work and
deals with many stakeholders. This is most suitable for bigger projects like train or for big bus
companies.
1.2 GPS Tracking Device
GPS or Global Positioning System is a navigation system that uses satellite. It was first
introduced in 1973 by the Department of Defence of USA. In that period of time, GPS was mainly
used as a tool to navigate and position planes, ships, and vehicles (Glasscoe, 1998).
Tracking buses by using GPS has been proposed by Gharge, Chhaya, Chheda, Deshpande,
and Gajra (2012). The proposal involves a standalone system to monitor the real-time location of
buses so that passengers can decide whether to wait for the bus, walk, or use other transportation.
The main technologies used are; GPS, Radio Frequency Transceiver, Receiver, and
Transmitter. The RF Transceiver is installed in the bus and it uses a transmitter to transmit the
GPS data on the LCD screens in bus stations.
Similar research also has been conducted by Kumbhar, Survase, Mastud, and Salunke
(2016). However, they are more to optimize web-based technology. So, they use laptops,
computers, or any mobile device to display the location of the bus instead of using LCD screens.
The GPS is installed in the bus and the data will be transmitted by using wireless communication
technology so people can see the location of the bus by providing the name of the location.
But according to Paz-Soldam et al. (2014) GPS devices have some major limitations. It can
lose up to 92% of its data due to signal loss and dead batteries. Also, GPS installation will be
expensive. Imagine if there are three to four HELP shuttle buses, then there has to be three to four
GPS devices, each will have installation, maintenance, and update costs.
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This is most suitable for tracking personal vehicles or if there are only a few HELP shuttle
busses. We can still implement this design if there are enough funds.
1.3 Smart Mobile Phone
The mobile telephone device has been evolving from 1973 until today. From a huge, heavy,
and expensive device to a smaller, lighter, and affordable device. The number of competitors in
this sector keeps on increasing, producing higher quality products and improving many functions
(Saviina, 2017). Statistics show that 72% people are using their smartphone for maps. This means
that smartphone users are more likely to use their smartphones instead of GPS devices (Loong,
2013).
One of the reasons why researchers are using smartphones as their hardware device in bus
tracking or vehicle tracking systems is because of the components of the smartphone itself.
Smartphones nowadays are equipped with the satellite navigation system (Jemilda, Krishnan,
Johnson, & Sangeeth, 2015, pp. 500-506). It also has a GPS transceiver and receiver built-in, thus
other hardware installations are not required anymore (Priya, Prabhavathi, Priya, & Shanthini,
2015, p. 1058).
Most of the designs architects produced by using smartphones as a device are very similar.
Research done by Kulkarni, Patel, Pal, and Panjwani (2016). The also make use of the fact that
smartphones have a GPS transceiver and receiver built-in. A simple client-server bus tracking
system using Android OS devices would be ideal. The client will have their own interface which
runs on the smartphone device installed in the bus or provided to the bus driver and will transmit
the location of the bus to the server.
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The server will be the website that consists of information such as bus stop locations, data
of the students, and bus details. The users will be the receiver and view the information about the
location of the bus fetch from Google Maps provided by the server. Based on the research
conducted by Sardey, Deshmukh, Mandlik, Shelar, and Nerkar (2014) there are only two core
hardware components required for the project;
Computer or Laptop to code the mobile application
o pentium 4 or above with 2 to 4 GB RAM.
o 500GB and above HDD or 100GB and above SSD (SSD for a faster
performance)
Smartphone to run the app
o iOS 6.0 or above - for iPhone device
o android API 13 Android 3.2 (HoneyComb) - for Android device
o Memory 16GB or above - iPhone device and Android device
Therefore, the competition in the market (worldwide) is high. In order to compete in the
market, we must have our own targeted customers and this is where the GUI and functions of the
app play an important role to attract the users and a way to differentiate the app with other apps.
However, there are several limitations in using this device such as; device battery life
(using GPS all the time will consume a lot of power), screen size, and low network connection,
depending on the network providers. The main limitation is that the device must be connected to
the internet. Without an internet connection, the GPS signal will be lost, and location of the device
cannot be reached.
But all the limitations mentioned above can be overcome.
1. A powerbank for the battery issue, and the driver can just turn on their GPS when
they have to drive.
2. The screen size issue can be solved in the graphical interface design part.
3. Continuously check the data network of the phone every month.
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2. Existing Technologies in terms of Software
Several devices have their own supporting software for a bus tracking system. On a GPS
device for example, there is Visual studio, C#, and MYSQL database for storing the data. For
smartphones, there are xcode for iOS, Android Studio for Android platform, eclipse, xamarin,
etc. MYSQL and SQLITE also can be used for data storage.
All software has its own requirements and specifications. By having a clear understanding
of the software, we can understand why they are using that software for their mobile application,
what the deliverables of the software are and decide whether is it applicable for our situation
considering the estimated cost of resources.
2.1 X-Code
Free software for iOS devices was first released in 2003 by Apple Inc. and the latest update
was on 6th of Feb 2017 with 4.2GB. XCode IDE with iOS Software Development Kit (SDK)
composed of GUI editor, source editor, tools, compilers, all the layouts, and many more features.
The interface is clear, simple, and easy to use. Using objective C or Swift programming
language and used to develop mobile application for iOS devices only. Which also means that we
must use mac OS, iOS emulator installed to test the app, and must have apple ID (Apple Inc, 2017).
If we are targeting iPhone, iPad, mac, apple watch, or apple TV, X-Code is be the best software to
use. However, to publish the app in the apple store, we must register and pay $99 per year for
individuals and $299 for organizations. It is free for educational institutions but, it has limited
benefit compared to the other options (Frank, 2015).
However, the licensing costs are cheaper with Android Studio, Xcode is still adopted by
many mobile app developers. It is proven that in terms of the number of apps available, the Apple
store comes second place after Google play store (this is based on statistics performed by the
statistics portal website).
Xcode has a project statistics tool which is very helpful to keep track of all the projects and
improve the codes later on. According to Harris (2014) this tool is very useful for students who
are learning to build a mobile app. Since most of the features are offline and it has drag and drop
facilities, users can develop their program faster and easier.
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Another awesome facility delivered by Xcode is the code suggestion function. After users
code their program, Xcode will provide suggestions if necessary and this is better than to just run
or always debug the program to check for errors. There are many very helpful tutorials on the
internet to teach people how to use this software for developing a mobile app.
2.2 Android Studio
There are many open source platforms in mobile app development. Android Studio for
example, this free open source software was developed by Google and first released on December
2014 and the latest was released on 6th of December 2016, 1,674 MB. Unlike Xcode which is only
for iOS, Android Studio is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux (“Android Studio The Official
IDE for Android,” n.d.).
Android Studio uses the java programming language and in order to run this software, we
must download and install the Android SDK which can be downloaded from the official Android
studio website, and install the android emulator to run the app, the emulator is unnecessary if we
have and Android OS device because we can use the device as an emulator.
Since Android studio is open to Mac, Windows, and Linux, logically it has more users than
Xcode. Android studio is commonly used by beginner mobile app developers.
This assumption is supported based on statistics provided by The Statistics Portal website,
refer to fig.4 below, the number of apps in Google Play store is the highest among the others. It
also makes more sense since the licensing cost is just a one time fee which is $25 (Taylor, 2016).
Figure 4 Number of Available Apps June 2016
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There are many bus tracking mobile app projects that are using Android Studio. Kumar,
Aishwarya, and Mounika (2016) their bus tracking app project is also using Android studio
because there is a direct path to Google Maps API in Android Studio. A similar project by Sardey
et al. (2014) also using Android Studio, the reason for that is because Android OS is owned by
almost everyone and Android Studio is a user-friendly platform. However if the computer RAM
is low or if the HDD is below 500GB, Android Studio runs very slowly.
The development of this software is very fast, in my experience using Android Studio,
almost every month they have new updates and require the user to download and install the
updates, this is quite troublesome when learning from tutorials online. Some tutorials, even though
they’re published five to seven months ago, are considered outdated because some of the tools
have already been replaced or moved somewhere else.
The solution for this problem is learning the workspace alone and keeping up to date with
the Android official developer's website which provides all the complete and updated information
about the software itself.
2.3 Xamarin
Xamarin is also another popular software for developing a mobile app, it was founded in
2011 by Mono engineers (Xamarin Inc, 2017) and using C# language. Xamarin is cross-platform
software which means that it can be used in various computers just like Android Studio and
Eclipse.
According to Raouf (2016) Xamarin is easy and straightforward. Creating a new project
is very simple and quick. The Graphical User Interface or GUI editor also uses drag and drop so
the coding part of the GUI will be automatically done by Xamarin, only the functions or actions
will requires coding.
However, the licensing is very expensive which is $300 per year for Indie plan, $1000 per
year for business, and $2000 per year for enterprise group. The cost definitely exceeds our current
available resource cost and this one issue is enough to take this software off the list.
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2.4 Eclipse
Before Android Studio was introduced, Eclipse was commonly used by app developers to
code programs because it is also cross-platform software. This open source software was first
released by Eclipse Foundation on June 2004 which makes it 10 years older than Android
Studio. But if we want to use Eclipse for the software, some additional tools required to be
downloaded; Android SDK, ADT Plugin, and Android Emulator.
Using Eclipse requires more coding compared to Android, XCode, and Xamarin. Unlike
Xcode, Xamarin and Android Studio, we can’t just use the drag and drop technique to create the
Graphical User Interface and automatically generate the code. We must manually write the code
for the GUI which requires more time, and determining the position of the attributes (for example;
TextBox, or Text Line, etc.) is not so simple.
Compared to Xcode and Android Studio, the tools provided are limited and fewer, the way
Eclipse deals with workspaces is also more rigid and not as flexible as compared with Xcode and
Android Studio (Cogswell, 2014).
However, Sardey et al. (2014) in their project using Eclipse for a bus tracking mobile app
stated that it is easy and convenient working with Eclipse workspace and, compared to Android
Studio, it is easier to debug the project in Eclipse.
So, it depends on the developer itself, if they are used to the drag and drop environment,
they would prefer Android Studio, Xamarin, or Xcode, but if they are used to the coding
environment, Eclipse is still convenient software for developing a mobile app.
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Conclusion
After considering all the benefits, weaknesses and comparisons to other available hardware
components, Smartphone is the only device that is most suitable to our project. It is simple and
doesn’t have high development costs in terms of hardware. Since we are only targeting the HELP
University shuttle bus, we can just track the driver’s smartphone device and avoid the installation
of a GPS device in the bus, and we don’t necessarily need to have an LCD screen or on-board LED
device.
In terms of software, considering the current situation, it is not possible to use Xcode at the
moment. Since both me and my partner are not using Mac OS, We will start developing our app
by using Android Studio first and in the next development cycle, we will try to also work on Xcode,
thus our app will be available in both AppStore and Google Play Store.
.
Figure 3. HELP Bus Tracker Design
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References
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