Technical Report - Proposal to Install Health-Monitoring Sensors in Vehicles

Problem Statement
An ideal car should be fitted with health monitoring sensors. However, the sensors present in cars today do not have the capability to monitor the health condition of the driver. The goal is to introduce electrocardiogram (ECG) and drowsiness sensors to monitor the driver’s condition in cars.

Proposed Solution

The proposed solution is to implement the installation of ECG sensors into the driver’s seat of cars and drowsiness sensors on the top of the dashboard of cars as it has the most interaction with the driver. These sensors will allow drivers to monitor their current condition and enable the vehicles to react to emergencies when it detects that the driver is unwell. Drivers might be unaware that they are not feeling well when they are driving, and to close this gap, the sensor will be triggered and send a warning to the driver to inform them of the trigger cause. 

Having the ECG sensor on the driver’s seat will constantly monitor the pathway of electrical impulses through the heart muscle and provides detailed information on the heart’s response to injured tissues, exertion, nerve conduction. The drowsiness sensor will be placed on top of the dashboard of cars as it is stationary and it will help give a more accurate measurement. The sensor determines how long the driver’s eyes have been closed. If the sensor detects that the driver’s eyes have been closed for a certain amount of time, the sensor assumes that the driver is starting to doze off. The car will then sound an alarm to wake them up and grab their attention.

Benefits
The use of ECG sensor and drowsiness sensor is to monitor the driver’s conditions before the driver moves off and when the driver is driving. The health and wellness of the driver play a key role in determining the passengers, other road users as well as their own safety. The 4 benefits that can be attributed to this are: Safety, Enhanced User Experience, Multifunction and Awareness.

Conclusion

The proposed solution of having sensors in vehicles addresses the problem by reducing the chance of an accident happening due to drowsiness or health conditions. With assistance from automotive companies, the adoption of ECG and drowsiness sensors will be swift and ultimately help to reduce the number of road accidents each year.

Final Assignment - Critical Reflection

At the start of the trimester, my goal was to develop my communication skills and become more confident in public speaking. I still remember writing my introduction letter to Professor Blackstone, detailing the periods during Temasek Polytechnic and National Service. Back then, I was rather reserved and did not like to speak up often. Under the guidance of Professor Blackstone, I was able to muster up the courage to speak to my class and even do my presentation with a confident posture. For my group’s final presentation, I did multiple rehearsals on my own before meeting the group on Zoom for a full rehearsal. Even with multiple rehearsals, I still felt the butterflies in my tummy when I stood in front of the class for my opening speech. The peers in my different assignment groups have also helped me greatly, we were able to improve our language use in letter and report writings by doing peer reviews and providing constructive feedback for each other. I was able to pinpoint the grammar mistakes that I commonly commit unknowingly, and amend it before submissions. Overall, I felt that the goals I had set for myself at the start of the trimester were reasonably satisfied. However, I would like to keep improving on my speaking skills, showing my best self when I go for the Integrated-Work-Study-Program.

The first challenge we faced as a group was to brainstorm for an idea that we all agreed on. As we all came from different backgrounds, we had some major disagreements when it came down to decision-making. This caused a slight delay in our project timeline, as we struggled to craft our Problem/Purpose Statements. We eventually decided to go with a “Health-monitoring Vehicle” concept, and we managed to delegate the tasks well before the break. Due to my strong-headed personality nature, there were times where the group would be at a standstill due to indecisiveness. Having to do a report from scratch is not an easy task, and it would not have been possible if not for the contribution from each group member. All in all, I am delighted with the outcome of our report.

Looking back on how our group connected with each other, I felt that they looked past my flaws and addressed issues that I should take note of even when the situation was not pleasant. I am very thankful for being part of this group and look forward to working with them again in the future. 

The Annotated Summary

Lim, S. M., & Chia, S. E. (2015). The prevalence of fatigue and associated health and safety risk factors among taxi drivers in Singapore. Singapore Medical Journal, 92–97. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2014169

This article studies the effects of health conditions on taxi drivers in Singapore, and the risk factors associated with fatigue driving. A survey was conducted on 255 taxi drivers in a local taxi company, requiring the participants to evaluate their fatigue level daily using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. From the survey and past statistics obtained from the Department of Statistics, Lim and Chia observed that fatigue had a significant correlation with poor quality of sleep, other part-time jobs, consumption of more than 3 cups of coffees, and driving more than 10 hours a day. It was also mentioned that due to the irregular schedules and long driving hours, participants are more likely to develop complicated medical conditions due to their “physically sedentary lifestyle”. Further research would be required to ascertain if the driver’s shift status would be considered as a risk factor. Lim and Chia then went on to conclude that the National Taxi Association and government agencies should discuss and implement countermeasures for fatigued driving, which may lead to better overall performance for drivers and a decrease in traffic accidents.

The article provides circumstantial information to substantiate the need to emphasize the driver’s health condition, as proposed in our research project. Lim and Chia noted that there might have been drivers that were undiagnosed, resulting in incomplete data entry.  Depending on the age group, taxi drivers in Singapore are required by law to undergo a health check-up to ensure they are fit to drive with passengers onboard the vehicle. However, chronic diseases such as high cholesterol may not be detected by the systems. Thus, it is necessary to have countermeasures in place to monitor the driver’s health condition, which will prompt the driver when abnormalities are detected.

Reviewed for Jing Kai and Jin Han

Updated as of 1 December 2020

Assignment 2 - Reader Response on Smart Parking Systems (Revised 4/12/2020)

In the article “IoT based Smart Parking for Smart Cities”, Joshi (2020) discusses the need for a smart parking system that will effectively reduce the time spent to find a parking space. Smart parking uses sensors to detect vacant parking spaces, which will then push the data to the cloud to provide ease of accessibility to users finding a lot. The data collected could also provide insight into the “correlations and movements of users”, which can be translated to potential business opportunities such as app developments and better traffic flow in the future. Joshi also mentions that the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway will allow data to be “analyzed and managed from a remote-control center in real-time”, increasing efficiency and granting admins ample time to rectify faults promptly. The challenge, however, is for IoT solutions to transfer the necessary data to the cloud without discarding any current assets, utilizing minimal resources, and increasing the return of investments (ROI) of the parking systems. The article presents a well-balanced view in which smart parking can benefit from the introduction of IoT, but lacks elaboration on the utilization of a mobile application for payments and the high upfront costs of a smart parking system.

The first weakness is the lack of elaboration on the utilization of a mobile application for payments. This can be seen in well-developed countries, where users are actively engaged in their smartphones on buses, trains, etc. For example, San Francisco was one of the pioneers to implement smart parking pilot projects to manage the city’s bustling traffic conditions. The projects used a dynamic pricing model to regulate the number of cars in the vicinity, with “prices ranging from a minimum of 25 cents to a maximum of $7 per hour” (Xiong, 2018). The implementation of such systems yielded substantial results showing that users were less inclined to look for parking lots with high parking fees, thus effectively reducing the amount of traffic congestion around the city areas.

Secondly, a smart parking system is pieced together in different stages, requiring multiple costs to build and provide regular maintenance. A group of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Milan implemented a simulation model of a smart parking system in Milan’s metropolitan districts and it showed strong positive results when considering large samples. According to Mangiaracina et al. (2017), the project consisted of 80,000 sensors connected via an IoT gateway, 1,200 parking meters, and a mobile application to guide drivers to the nearest parking space. The results found that cars and trucks were able to save an average time of 30% and 40% respectively. Overall, the project would have made a return of its 11 million investment value in approximately two years, derived from its discounted payback period (DPP).

However, another recent study done by the University of Delaware found that it was not cost-effective to implement such systems in the whole city of Newark (Xiong, 2018). The study calculated the net present value (NPV) of actualizing such a plan to be -$65.5 million, indicating that the project would not turn positive in its entire project lifetime. The study concludes that it is not justifiable for cities to prioritize the transition to smart cities in the current situation. While there are significant social and economic benefits to having parking systems, the turnover and maintenance costs involve hefty budgets, which most cities are hesitant to commit.

In conclusion, the implementation of IoT systems in smart parking has shown to positively impact the lives of many users. The benefits of a parking system greatly outweigh the costs of implementing and maintaining it, which would draw more attention and investors to create a sustainable and profitable model for all stakeholders.

Reference

Joshi, R. (2020, February 14). IoT based smart parking systems for smart cities. HIOTRON. https://www.hiotron.com/smart-parking/

Mangiaracina, R. M., Perego, A. P., Tumino, A. T., Miragliotta, G. M., & Salvadori, G. S. (2017). Smart parking management in a smart city: Costs and benefits, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics (SOLI), pp. 27-32, doi: 10.1109/SOLI.2017.8120964.

European Environmental Agency. (2019, April 18). CO2 emissions from cars: facts and figures (infographics). https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20190313STO31218/co2-emissions-from-cars-facts-and-figures-infographics

Surpris, G. S., Liu, D. L., & Vincenzi, D. A. (2014, October). How much can a smart parking system save you? Human Factor and Ergonomics Society. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280213474_How_Much_Can_a_Smart_Parking_System_Save_You

Xiong, X. X. (2018). Cost-benefit analysis of smart cities technologies and applications. University of Delaware. 

https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/23818/Xiong_udel_0060M_13359.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Revised on 4 December 2020.

Assignment 2 - Reader Response on Smart Parking Systems (Draft 1)

In the article “IoT based Smart Parking for Smart Cities” (2020), Joshi discusses the need for a smart parking system that will effectively reduce the time spent to find a parking space. Smart parking uses sensors to detect vacant parking spaces, which will then push the data to the cloud to provide ease of accessibility to users finding a lot. The data collected could also provide insight into the “correlations and movements of users”, which can be translated to potential business opportunities such as app developments and better traffic flow in the future. Joshi also mentions that the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway will allow data to be “analyzed and managed from a remote control center in real-time”, increasing efficiency and granting admins ample time to rectify faults promptly. The challenge, however, is for IoT solutions to transfer the necessary data to the cloud without discarding any current assets, utilizing minimal resources, and increasing ROI of the parking systems. While the article presents a well-balanced view in which smart parking can benefit from the introduction of IoT, the challenges form a bias to search for the cost-effectiveness of the solution.

Firstly, it is estimated that Europe’s carbon emission from cars constitutes 60.7% of the total 72% from road transportations (European Environmental Agency, 2019). With the growing attention on carbon emissions, the implementation of IoT comes into play as a determinant of how the system would optimize routes to save costs and emissions. A sample research from Earhart university shows that drivers would be able to save 11 seconds or reduce 48.28 meters from their daily routines while searching for a parking lot, saving a total of 64.3kg yearly in CO2 emissions produced (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2014). Although the numbers from the research were not substantial, it illustrates how IoT can make a clear positive difference in emissions by using sensors and algorithms to better inform drivers on the parking availability.

Secondly, a smart parking research project implemented in Milan yielded strong positive results when considering a larger sample size in the metropolitan districts. According to the article, “Smart Parking management in a Smart City: Costs and Benefits” (2017), the project consisted of 80,000 sensors powered via an IoT gateway, 1,200 parking meters, and a mobile application to connect drivers to the nearest parking space. The results found that cars and trucks were able to save an average time of 30% and 40% respectively. The project would have made a return of its 11 million investment value in approximately two years, derived from its Discounted Payback Period.

However, a recent study done by the University of Delaware found that it was not cost-effective to implement such systems in the city of Newark (Xiong, 2018). The study calculated the net present value of actualizing such a plan to be $-65.5m, which indicates that the project would not turn positive in the entire project lifetime. The study concludes the current situation does not justify for cities to place the smart city concept at the forefront of their plans. While there are significant social and economic benefits to the systems, the turnover and maintenance costs involve big budgets which most cities are hesitant to commit.

In conclusion, the implementation of IoT systems in smart parking has shown to greatly improve the time needed to search for a parking lot. However, the costs of such systems would in some cases far outweigh the benefits, resulting in a net loss for the project’s lifetime. As technology advances, it would be more accessible and affordable for businesses and cities to embrace the advantages of IoT bring connectivity to all users.











References:

Joshi, R. (2020, February 14). IoT based Smart Parking Systems for Smart Cities. HIOTRON. https://www.hiotron.com/smart-parking/

European Environmental Agency. (2019, April 18). CO2 emissions from cars: facts and figures (infographics) | News | European Parliament. CO2 Emissions from Cars: Facts and Figures. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20190313STO31218/co2-emissions-from-cars-facts-and-figures-infographics

Surpris, G. S., Liu, D. L., & Vincenzi, D. A. (2014, October). How Much Can a Smart Parking System Save You? Human Factor and Ergonomics Society. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280213474_How_Much_Can_a_Smart_Parking_System_Save_You

Mangiaracina, R. M., Perego, A. P., Tumino, A. T., Miragliotta, G. M., & Salvadori, G. S. (2017, September). Smart Parking management in a Smart City: costs and benefits. IEEE. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8120964

Xiong, X. X. (2018). COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SMART CITIES TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS. University of Delaware. https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/23818/Xiong_udel_0060M_13359.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Assignment 2 - Summary on Smart Parking Systems (Draft 2)

In the article “IoT based Smart Parking for Smart Cities” (2020), Joshi discusses the need for a smart parking system that will effectively reduce the time spent to find a parking space. Smart parking uses sensors to detect vacant parking spaces, which will then push the data to the cloud to provide ease of accessibility to users finding a lot. The data collected could also provide insight into the “correlations and movements of users”, which can be translated to potential business opportunities such as app developments and better traffic flow in the future. Joshi also mentions that the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway will allow data to be “analysed and managed from a remote control center in real-time”, increasing efficiency and granting admins ample time to rectify faults promptly. The challenge, however, is for IoT solutions to transfer the necessary data to the cloud without discarding any current assets, utilising minimal resources and increasing ROI of the parking systems.

While the article presents a well-balanced view in which smart parking is able to benefit from the introduction of IoT, the challenges form a bias to search for the cost-effectiveness of the solution.

References: 

Joshi, R. (2020, February 14). IoT based Smart Parking Systems for Smart Cities. HIOTRON. https://www.hiotron.com/smart-parking/

Assignment 2 - Summary on Smart Parking Systems (Draft 1)

 In the article “IoT based Smart Parking for Smart Cities”, the webpage discusses the need for an “automated smart parking management system” that will effectively reduce the time spent to find a parking space. Smart parking uses sensors to detect vacant parking spaces, which will then be pushed to the cloud to provide ease of accessibility to the users. The data collected could provide insight into the “correlations and movements of users”. The webpage also mentions that the implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) gateway will allow data to be “analysed and managed from a remote control center in real-time”, increasing efficiency and granting admins ample time to rectify faults promptly. The challenge, however, is for IoT solutions to “make it easy to transfer data to the cloud and with no need to discard established assets” by utilising minimal resources and increasing ROI of the parking systems”. 

According to Mangiaracina, Perego, Tumino, Miragliotta and Salvadoria (2017), it is estimated that in Europe, vehicles cruising for a parking space accounts for 30% of the daily traffic congestion in the downtown area. While the article focuses primarily in populated urban areas with existing infrastructure we often take for granted, the suggestions provides a good basis to research for a more efficient solution.

References

IoT based Smart Parking Systems for Smart Cities(N.d.). Retrieved 24 September, 2020, from https://www.hiotron.com/smart-parking/