Advanced Transport Management System (aTraMS) using On-Board Diagnostics

Abstract On-Board Diagnostics or OBD diagnostic device communicates with the car and reads the diagnostic information from the car. It is a computer-based system built into modern passenger cars that monitor emission-related controls and the performance of the engine and detects malfunctions. This device is installed in a power train control module (PCM), which is generally a combined control unit, consisting of the engine control unit (ECU) and the transmission control unit (TCU). It provides some useful data to the user. The problem with the present device is that, to support different applications, it uses separate modules and till today it is seen only in high-end vehicles. The existing product is a processor-based application; hence it uses external RAM and ROM. The proposed system is microcontroller-based, which provides all in one support like Ethernet, USB, GPS, Bluetooth (using UART), Wi-Fi (using SPI), LTE, 6 axis sensor support, Cloud support, Front panel IO, Multi-range voltage (up to 48V) on a single chip. It also supports an Android application through which we can easily gather information about the vehicles through smartphones. The system is integrated with LTE wireless network and cloud computing technologies. It can perform real-time vehicle status surveillance. The monitored features cover engine rpm, vehicle speed, airbags, active suspension, ABS (Anti Braking System), Gear, light, air conditioning, coolant temperature, fault codes, and other vehicles dynamic information. The vehicle information will be transmitted to the cloud server via a wireless network for fault analysis. Once the cloud server detects fault conditions, the proposed system could classify the fault conditions depending on vehicle type and its model year. Then the cloud server will report the fault code analysis results to the user and describe the repair procedure. The proposed system will greatly shorten the time to detect vehicle trouble conditions. The system presented in this research work has a very high value in the applications of vehicle maintenance and fleet management. The complete designing process will be done using ALTIUM designer 17.0