Intelligent Transport System using a Cyber Physical Swarm of Quad-copters
UAVs are devices programmed for autonomous flight or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) which are flown remotely by a ground control operator. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as quadcopters have gained great popularity over the last years, both as a research platform and in various application fi
2025-06-28 16:33:20 - Adil Khan
Intelligent Transport System using a Cyber Physical Swarm of Quad-copters
Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject SummaryUAVs are devices programmed for autonomous flight or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) which are flown remotely by a ground control operator. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as quadcopters have gained great popularity over the last years, both as a research platform and in various application fields. However, some complex application scenarios call for the formation of swarms consisting of multiple drones. A cyber-physical system (CPS) is a mechanism that is controlled or monitored by computer-based algorithms, tightly integrated with the Internet and its users. Intelligent transportation system (ITS) is the application of sensing, analysis, control and communications technologies to ground transportation to improve safety, mobility, and efficiency. ITS is an advanced application which, without embodying intelligence as such, aims to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 'smarter' use of transport networks. In this project, we will design ITS using UAV(Quadcopters) interconnected via a CPS. This project innovates the current traffic control management system and roadside safety by designing an intelligent transport system that is more efficient, reliable and fast than the traditional transportation system. The final model comprises of different units achieving accidental reports, speed check cameras, dynamic traffic signal, and surveillance.
Project ObjectivesFollowing are the main objectives of this project
- Flying Accident Report Agent: One or more UAVs fly to the accident’s location to get a detailed report about the accident and send the report in real-time and over multi-hop communications to the related authorities.
- Flying Speed Camera: The ITS UAVs will be equipped with a miniature speed camera to detect over-speeding vehicles.
- Flying Police Eye: This application enables a direct communication with a DSRC-enabled police car on the ground to provide the police agent with a top view video streaming to better assess traffic violations and violating vehicles and/or road users tracking.
The project is completed in two phases. In first phase, camera feed at heavy traffic sites and and the rush spots is collected for datastore. Here, Government of Pakistan and the law enforcement agencies are the main stakeholders of the project. The second phase of the project is the placement phase. In this phase, the number of quadcopters at different sites is specified either by the city traffic police or district police officer (DPO).
The project will be implemented at a single location first as a test model, improvised, tested against different situations and modifided to enhance and optimize the safety for the citizens. The duration for this test model is two months. Finally the project will be implemented at a district level as an enhancement to safe city project.
Benefits of the ProjectIn this project, we are basically enhancing the degrees of safety cameras. What a camera do is record or capture the video of a specific position and the whole setup is static. Where the swarm of quadcopters add diversity to the static camera features. Using quadcopters, you can obtain the live feed of cars on a busy road, smart enough to trace any vehicle undergoing speed violation, vigilant enough to detect any accident on a road side and make a quick response based on the situation. The government being the stakeholder can also generate revenue by tracing the cars violating speed and e-challan management system. So minimize the risks of accidents and the number of accidents by effectively monitoring system of highly trained AI based algorithms.
Technical Details of Final DeliverableQGroundControl software is used for the coordinated movement of multiple drones using Sik telemetry radios. Both drones will communicate with each other through Ground Station. The acquired and processed data will be sent to the server which is taken by the Pi camera and Raspberry pi both mounted on the drones. UAVs perform different tasks depending upon the data acquired from the live feed and are processed by the onboard companion computer that is running tensor flow lite which has trained the RCNN model that detects cars and accidents on the roadway.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TransportationOther Industries Security Core Technology RoboticsOther Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI)Sustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 80000 | |||
| Quad-copter Frame | Equipment | 2 | 4000 | 8000 |
| BLDC Motors | Equipment | 8 | 1300 | 10400 |
| ESCs | Equipment | 8 | 1000 | 8000 |
| Pixhawk | Equipment | 2 | 8000 | 16000 |
| Raspberry Pi | Equipment | 2 | 5000 | 10000 |
| Lipo Battery | Equipment | 2 | 3000 | 6000 |
| Telemetry | Equipment | 2 | 1200 | 2400 |
| Pi Camera | Equipment | 2 | 2000 | 4000 |
| GPS Module | Equipment | 2 | 1100 | 2200 |
| Power Module | Equipment | 2 | 1000 | 2000 |
| Propeller | Equipment | 4 | 250 | 1000 |
| Tool Kits | Miscellaneous | 1 | 6000 | 6000 |
| Printing | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Sunk cost | Miscellaneous | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |