ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

IJECT Vol. 5, Issue 3, July - Sept 2014

Post-Accident Analysis Using Wireless Communication

1

Pulkit Gupta, 2Rajat Kachhwaha, 3Piyush Bhatia, 4Deependra Singh Rao

Dept. of ECE, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India

Dept. of ECE, Jodhpur Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
4
Dept. of ECE, Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
1

2,3

Abstract
The number of people who get injured or killed in hit and run cases
has increased all over the world. Generally these accidents take
place on national highways, where the speed of cars is normally
fast. So the accused flees from the spot after the collision, which
makes it challenging for the cops to catch the guilty party.
The best way to catch the offender would be that if the vehicle
number of the fleeing offender is recorded so that the culprit can
be traced by the police easily. This problem can be solved if there
is some kind of automatic system present in vehicles which records
the fundamental parameters immediately and automatically. This
system will make it easier to uniquely identify the vehicle that
was the main offender in a particular crash. The moment the
accident takes place, a message is sent about the crash through
GSM/GPS to the nearest hospital with its location. Assistance
is provided accordingly to the victim. An ambulance can then
reach the accident site as soon as possible, without delay. This
would also be quite helpful. This following paper explores a
possible solution to this problem, using the Wireless Technologies
like "Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global System for
Mobile Communication (GSM), Global Positioning System (GPS)
and crash sensors".

Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies and is a fast

and reliable means of identifying objects. There are two main
components: The Interrogator (RFID Reader) which transmits and
receives the signal and the Transponder (tag) that is attached to the
object. RFID leverages electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling
in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to
identify objects over a distance of potentially several meters. The
RFID tags have a unique tag ID, which can act as unique evidence
corresponding to each vehicle number. In case of collision between
two cars, both the cars would record the RFID tag ID of the other
car. However, it has to be ensured that the reading of tags is done
only in the case of collision. Crash sensors in cars would help to
achieve that purpose. The RFID readers would b activated only
when a collision is detected by the crash sensors. GSM and GPS
then send the exact location of the car to the nearest hospital,
police station and to relatives of people involved in crash. Lets
take a brief look at these technologies.
A. RFID Tag

Keywords
RFID, Crash Sensors, AVR Microcontroller, GPS, GSM, ECU
I. Introduction
With the increasing number of road accidents, it has become
important that the details of the cars involved in crash get recorded
in a proper manner. Sometimes it becomes impossible for the
police to nab the culprit. In case of any accident, it is the legal
duty of the driver to take reasonable steps to help any injured
person. But in real life, most of the people feel guilty and escape
from site, leaving the injured person to die, lying and suffering
in a pool of blood. Present Technology just records the state of
vehicles during the crash. But currently there is no such existing
technology that serves to record important information about
the offender and to give an emergency or SOS call to hospitals,
police stations or relatives of victims. The system proposed here
provides improvement in the present system and is discussed in
the objectives mentioned below.
Objectives
To find out information about the guilty driver using RFID
data recorded by reader.
To inform nearest hospital and police station about the accident
so that proper assistance can provided to the victim.
To record the speed of victims vehicle at the time of crash
using ECU.
II. Terminolgies & Technologies Used in the Proposed
System
For both the vehicles involved in crash, we need a mechanism which
is designed to record the vehicle number of the other vehicle. This
can be done with help of RFID. RFID stands for Radio Frequency
Identification. RFID is one member in the family of Automatic

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International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology

Fig. 1: RFID Tag

An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated
into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification
and tracking usingradio waves. Some tags can be read from
several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader
[1]. The tags typically consist of an integrated antenna and an
electronic microchip. The antenna is responsible for making
communication between the tag and the reader. There are two
main energy classifications of a tag. They can be passive, obtaining
energy through the magnetic field generated by readers through
antennas, or they can be active, with a battery that provides the
energy required to perform processing and modulation of the
signal [2].
B. RFID Reader
RFID Reader is a scanning device that detects the tags that attached
to or embedded in the selected items. It varies in size, weight and
may be stationary or mobile. The RFID Reader emits a low-power
radio wave field which is used to power up the tag so as to pass
on any information that is contained on the chip. Passive tags
are generally smaller, lighter and less expensive than those that
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IJECT Vol. 5, Issue 3, July - Sept 2014

ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

are active and can be applied to objects in harsh environments,

are maintenance free and will last for years.

E. GPS Module

Fig. 2: RFID Reader With Built in Microcontroller.

C. Microcontroller
The micro-controller used here is the AVR ATmega16. The special
features of using this micro-controller are mentioned below:
16k Flash (self programmable)
1k RAM
512 Bytes EEPROM
Pin Count: 44
32 I/O pins (max)
8 A/D inputs
4 PWM channels
1 UART
1 SPI
1 I2C (TWI)
D. GSM Modem
A GSM modem is a specialized type of modem which accepts a
SIM card, and operates over a subscription to a mobile operator,
just like a mobile phone. From the mobile operator perspective,
a GSM modem looks just like a mobile phone. A GSM modem
can be a dedicated modem device with a serial, USB or Bluetooth
connection, or it may be a mobile phone that provides GSM modem
capabilities. When a GSM modem is connected to a computer,
this allows the computer to use the GSM modem to communicate
over the mobile network. While these GSM modems are most
frequently used to provide mobile internet connectivity, many of
them can also be used for sending and receiving SMS messages
[3].

Fig. 4: GPS Module

GPS receiver module is a device that is to be used in the vehicles.
A GPS receiver determines just four variables: longitude, latitude,
height and time. Additional information like speed, direction
can be derived from these four components. They arrive at a
calculated value of exact 3-D position by evaluating signals from
minimum 4 satellites. Establishingpoints of interestin real-time
and transmitting them viaGSMcellular telephone networks using
theShort Message Service(SMS) is referred to asGps2sms. Some
vehicles and vessels are equipped with hardware that is able to
automatically send anSMStext message when a particular event
happens, such as theft,anchordrift or breakdown or even collision
[4].
F. Crash Sensor
The crash sensor is a data logger with built-in sensors for
acceleration X-Y-Z and temperature, powered by the vehicle
8-48V DC. The built in accelerometer fitted with three axes is
constantly activated in order to watch over all movements to
register all shocks [5].Crash sensors measure how quickly a
vehicle slows down in a frontal crash or accelerates to the side in
a side-impact crash. Crash Sensors can even detect the onset of
a rollover crash. Crash sensors can be fitted in various positions
throughout the vehicle. Their location depends upon the direction
of deceleration they are designed to detect. Some manufacturers
place the sensors within the electronic control unit. Others are
located behind the front bumper, headlights and dash.
III. Proposed Model

Fig. 3: GSM Modem

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A. Basic Idea
1. ECU consists of cluster of crash sensors which are placed
at different points on the car body, covering the car from all
directions.
2. Number plates are planted with RFID tags and RFID readers
are placed in ECU.
3. In case of emergency, GSM Modem will send a SOS message
to the nearest hospital, police station and also to the relatives
of victims who are involved in the accident.
International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology 39

ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

IJECT Vol. 5, Issue 3, July - Sept 2014

4. GPS module will send the exact location coordinates to the

hospital and police station so that assistance can be provided
at the earliest.
B. Working
ECU gets switched on as soon as the engine starts and it remains
on until the engine is on. It keeps recording the speed of the car
by recoding the speedometer reading constantly. ECU consists of
cluster of crash sensors which are placed at different points on
the car body, covering the car from all directions. In case of any
collision, impact is detected by crash sensors, which activates
RFID reader, GSM-GPS Module and the Electronic Control Unit
records the speedometer reading.
Now in case of collision, two cases may arise:
1. Collision with another vehicle: If the foreign body is itself a
vehicle, then the RFID reader gets activated and stores the
RFID Tag of the other vehicle.
2. Collision with stationary body: If the foreign body is not a
vehicle, but is a tree, or a person, or a fence, then crash sensors
do get activated, but RFID reader doesnt stores the tag ID.
In case of collision with another vehicle, RFID tag ID of the other
vehicle is read by reader and gets stored so that the cars unique
identity can be traced later on. When tag ID is recorded, GPS-GSM
Module gets activated and extracts the location coordinates from
the satellite and forwards this information to the nearest hospital,
police station and to one of the relative of people involved in crash.
The contact numbers of the persons to be contacted are fed into
ECU prior to the installation of the system.

(ii). If the Output of crash sensors= 1, this means that collision

has taken place. Jump to step 3.
3. Activate RFID Reader which then reads the RFID tag ID of
the other vehicle involved in crash.
4. Activate GSM-GPS Module which then extracts the location
coordinates (GSM Information).
5. Check for GPS Information. Received (NO/YES)?
(a). NO
(iii). Wait for location coordinates to arrive.
(a). YES
(i). Store the location coordinates extracted in a microcontrollers
register.
6. Send a SMS using GPS Module to hospital, police station
and one relative of the victim containing a SOS message
along with the location coordinates.
7. Sending a low signal to crash sensors restarts the entire
process and their status check starts again.

C. Why Monitor Speedometer Reading?

The speedometer reading should be monitored all the time,
especially at the time of crash so that it gets easier for the police
in knowing who was over speeding at the time of collision. So
the speedometer values recorded by ECU are checked and the
guilty can be found.
D. Estimated Cost
Cost of RFID Reader
Cost of RFID Tag
Cost of GPS-GSM Module
Cost of Microcontroller
Installation Cost
Total Cost of the system

Rs. 900
Rs. 5
Rs. 1050
Rs. 250
Rs. 500
Rs. 2705

Low cost of the system can allow all car manufacturers to install
the system at the time of manufacturing.
E. Importance of RFID Tag
What if the RFID tag of the number plate is damaged by the user,
or gets damaged due to some reason? In that case, the system
wont be able to record the RFID Tag ID of the other car. So the
person who is guilty will never get traced.
To avoid this situation, RFID tags should be embedded inside
the number plate, so that Tag cannot get damaged due to any
reason.
F. Algorithm followed by ECU
1. Monitor the status of crash sensors placed at different
locations constantly.
2. Check whether the crash sensors are OFF/ON?
(i). If the Output of crash sensors= 0, this means that collision
has not taken place. Jump back to step 1.

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International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology

Fig. 5: Flowchart of Entire Process

IV. Limitations
This systems working might get hindered in areas such
as thick forests or underground parking garages. This is
because the GSM module works on the concept of satellite
communication. So this system cannot work where the satellite
waves cannot penetrate. But most of the accidents take place
on roads and highways where signals are generally full.
GSM Antenna might get damaged due to some reason.
V. Conclusion
This paper provides an insight on technologies like GSM, GPS,
and RFID and also on their application. The system designed by
us will not stop the hit and run cases in any way, but will help
police department in post-accident investigation for tracking the
culprit. The current system do record some important parameters
about vehicles involved in crash but are more expensive than the
proposed system and also they cannot send a SOS message to the
nearest hospital for saving the victim. Even after the crash has
taken place, RFID tag wont get destroyed as it is just a sticker.
This system can help police departments of all the countries in the
world in catching the culprits behind hit and run accidents.

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ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

IJECT Vol. 5, Issue 3, July - Sept 2014

References
[1] Radio Frequency Identifiers: What are the Possibilities?
[2] Hospital Automation RFID-Based: Technology Stored In
Smart Cards
[3] What is a GSM Modem? (or GPRS Modem? or 3G
Modem?)
[4] Automotive Navigation System
[5] Crash Sensors

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International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology 41