Development Of An Electronic Fare CollectionudSystem Using Stationary Tap-Out Devices

摘要

The peculiar nature of emerging economies meansudthat established technology must be developed with theudconstraints and limitations of these locations in view. This paperudpresents the development of an Electronic Fare Collection systemudusing Contactless smart cards. Electronic fare collection systemudare commonly integrated with public transit networks such as theudbus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) servicesudin major cities worldwide. However, in deploying such systems inudan emerging economy like Nigeria, unique consideration has toudbe given with regards to power management, robustness andudavailability. The system developed consists of a mobile tap-inuddevice connected to a bus, a stationary tap-out device to beudsituated at a specific bus stop and a web server on the cloud forudcoordination and off site monitoring. The stationary tap-outuddevice used consists of a proximity card reader (or an RFIDudreader) connected to a computing unit linked with a display,udoutdoor power provision (source) and data transmissionudcapability. A program was developed to capture data fromudrandomly applied proximity cards (or RFID cards) and toudtransmit same periodically to a remote location for use by theudsystem. The system developed is able to sustain itself for a longudperiod of time from available power supply, it also proves robustudenough from a software and hardware perspective. Lastly itsudavailability is proven even when data transmission capabilityudproves erratic.