Background
With advancements in technology, the role of school buses has become more and more comprehensive, from merely transporting children to security incorporated vehicles. In fact, location-based tracking, attendance assurance and real-time video surveillance of both interior and exterior of the vehicle are among the most discussed requirements for school bus safety, due to risks regarding behavioral concerns of drivers and students while in transit. With the safety concerns in mind, educational organizations are adopting security technologies in their school buses to provide visibility of drivers and children, as well as the GPS/RFID tracking system to keep track of bus/student footprints.
Requirements
In order to keep track of the status of school bus anywhere, anytime, a dedicated tracking system should enable the school staff and parents to receive live streaming videos of students on the bus and know about the locations and attendance of students. A system integrator of mobile surveillance technology for mission-critical vehicle in the Middle East worked with Lanner to come up with a well-integrated vehicle gateway to establish real-time tracking and monitoring for school buses on the road.
The technological requirements are as followed:
Location Tracking and Reporting
GPS tracker plays one of the most significant roles in school bus tracking application as school administration always wishes to know the location and route of their buses and drivers. Thus, the required vehicle gateway must be built-in with GPS module to support vehicle tracking function.
I/O or PoE Ports for Connections with DVR or IP Cameras
Today, with advancements in technologies, parents and school staff demand both exterior and interior visibilities of school buses. Therefore, the required gateway must be designed with the necessary I/O or PoE ports to connect with DVR devices or IP cameras in order to capture, store and stream video events of the school buses. The implemented IP cameras can be applied for student facial recognition.
Integration of RFID Student Attendance
Nowadays, school administrators and parents also wish to make sure the student attendance of the school buses. Therefore, it has become imperative that the school bus shall provide a vehicle gateway that integrated sensor, RFID on/off board detection and digital displays to perform student attendance counting, ID checking and status reporting.
Wireless connectivity for data/video streaming
All the functional deployments mentioned previously would not serve their ultimate purposes if there is no wireless network to transfer all the data, including on/off attendance, video footages interior/exterior of the bus, and location information, to the dispatching school. Therefore, wireless network connectivity is highly crucial for fleet management gateways. In addition, with wireless network access, IP cameras can be used as an upgrade for traditional CCTV, which are usually associated with excessive uses of cables.
Lanner Solutions
By taking DVR, CCTV cameras, GPS tracker, on/off board barcode scanner and LCM display into considerations for the deployments, Lanner suggested its LVC-2000 as the onboard vehicle gateway to integrate all the functions for the tracking system. LVC-2000, a compact and fanless desktop gateway, is designed with multiple I/O ports including one LAN port, one built-in GPS module, one USB 3.0 port, two COM ports, one HDMI connector, one VGA connector and an optional CAN bus. Regarding wireless network access, LVC-2000 offers an internal mini-PCIe socket with SIM card reader. As a vehicle gateway, LVC-2000 is MIL-STD-810G certified to resist the shock and vibration encountered during the transit. The gateway can operate within -20ºC to +60ºC ambient temperature, ideal for in-vehicle environment.
For buses with IP cameras, Lanner suggested the NVR deployments of LVC-5770-7D to upgrade the functional aspects in video surveillance recording, tracking, and attendance. Besides the standard MIL-STD-810G shock/vibration resistance, LVC-5770-7D comes with multiple PoE LAN I/Os to support the installation of IP cameras, making video surveillance and recording more efficient. Aside from the pre-required GPS module, LVC-5770-7D offers additional COM (RS-232-422/485) ports, Digital I/O set, antenna holes, more USB ports, extra mini-PCIe socket for SIM card reader and more display options. Performance wise, LVC-5770-7D is empowered by Intel® Core™ i7, a remarkable boost from the LVC-2000 version.
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