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A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection System for Smart Cities

Chapter · June 2018

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-8657-1_50

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 A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection
System for Smart Cities

Segun I. Popoola1(&), Oluwafunso A. Popoola1,2,

Adeniran I. Oluwaranti2, Aderemi A. Atayero1, Joke A. Badejo1,
and Sanjay Misra1
1
Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Covenant University,
Ota, Nigeria
segun.popoola@covenantuniversity.edu.ng
2
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Abstract. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems may be adopted by city

managers to combat the problems of long vehicular queues, fuel wastage, high
accident risks, and environmental pollution that come with the use of traditional
or manual toll collection systems. In this paper, an intelligent system is devel-
oped to eliminate long vehicular queues, fuel wastage, high accident risks, and
environmental pollution in a smart city based on seamless interconnections of
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), and web and mobile applications that run
on an Internet of Things (IoT)-Enabled cloud platform. A ZigBee WSN is
designed and implemented using an Arduino UNO, XBee S2 radios, an XBee
Shield, and a Seeduino GPRS Shield. For vehicle owners to make toll payments,
view toll historical data, and get toll news feeds, a web application and a mobile
application are designed and implemented based on Hyper Text Mark-up
Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Javascript and Hyper Text
Pre-processor (PHP). The mobile application is deployed using an Android
platform. A cloud platform was also developed to provide business logic
functionalities by using PHP as a scripting language, and MySQL as the data-
base engine driver. Deployment of the developed ETC system in smart and
connected communities will drastically minimize the challenges of long
vehicular queues, fuel wastage, high accident risks, and environmental pollution
in urban centers.

Keywords: Smart city
Electronic Toll Collection
Internet of Things

Mobile application
Cloud computing

1 Introduction

Applications of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies is highly

encouraged in emerging smart cities to handle the current challenges of the continuous
growth in the number of vehicles that ply the highways in urban centers [1]. Electronic
Toll Collection (ETC) systems may be adopted by city managers to combat the prob-
lems of long vehicular queues, fuel wastage, high accident risks, and environmental
pollution that come with the use of traditional/manual toll collection systems [2].

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

P. Bhattacharyya et al. (Eds.): NGCT 2017, CCIS 827, pp. 653–663, 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8657-1_50
654 S. I. Popoola et al.

Electronic mode of payment is an integral part of ETC systems and it has been widely
adopted in toll collection across the globe. The core operations in traditional toll plazas
or booths are automated with the combined use of embedded systems and mobile
communication technologies to minimize the need for human intervention, reduce
latency, and increase system efficiency [3–8]. In short, the introduction of ETC in smart
cities is aimed at achieving efficient toll operations with minimal constraints.
Among other advantages, deploying ETC on ever-busy city highways will drasti-
cally reduce unnecessary long queues of vehicles, curb fuel wastage, and save the
environment from adverse carbon emission. Different techniques and technologies
proposed in [9–15] may be useful for different automation processes required for
successful and efficient implementation of ETC systems in smart and connected
communities. Chattoraj et al. [16] designed a more reliable payment and surveillance
methods for ETC systems using strain gauge load cell, Arduino Mega 2560, smart card
reader, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system. Each category of vehicle is
levied based on its weight as detected by the strain gauge load cell. This information is
communicated to the payment platform through the interconnection of the Arduino
device and smart card reader. All vehicles are uniquely identified by capturing the
license number plate using the OCR system. In a related work, Gupta et al. [17]
addressed the issues of illegal toll collection, system failure, and insecure connections
in ETC systems. The authors employed Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global
System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and ZigBee technologies to reduce fuel
consumption, traffic jams, and car theft. The system peripherals include RFID readers
and tags, and ZigBee transmitter and receiver. Inserra et al. [18] designed an RFID
reader that can handle a minimum of three coverage sectors in real-life scenario where
the size of the antenna array is limited.
In order to minimize the occurrence of accidents on highways where ETC systems
are in use, Chung et al. [19] proposed some useful guidelines that are relevant to both
ETC and manual toll collection systems. The proposed methods were designed to
address the challenges of speed variations and lane crossing by computing the mini-
mum allowable distance to handle the risks. Abuzwidah and Abdel-Aty [20] measured
the safety contribution of the adopting a complete ETC in lieu of the conventional toll
plaza. Based on empirical evidences, the authors reported that the introduction of the
electronic form of toll collection has widely reduced accident risks of different forms on
the highways. Regarding security and environmental friendliness, a novel ETC system
was proposed in [21] to reduce the probability of failures in the detection of violations
and address security and privacy related issues.
Regarding Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) ETC systems, the
lifetime of On-Board Unit (OBU) is determined by the capacity of the in-built cell and
the strength of the received radio signal. The experimental results reported in [22]
showed that the performance of the OBU can be optimized by incorporating an upper
and lower parasitic element in the antenna design parameters since their relationship is
already established. The OBU proposed by [23] employs microcontroller unit and it
was found to be more suitable for ETC applications with minimum energy require-
ments. “Open-Road” ETC has been successfully implemented to accommodate
“mileage-based charge” in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) [1].
 A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection System for Smart Cities 655

Research advances reported in [20] revealed that toll collection can be performed
without necessarily having the vehicles to stop over at a toll booth. These new
developments allow free flow of traffic on highways and open up another form of use
case in multi-lane highways.
In this paper, an intelligent system is developed to eliminate long vehicular queues,
fuel wastage, high accident risks, and environmental pollution in a smart city based on
seamless interconnections of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), and web and mobile
applications that run on an Internet of Things (IoT)-Enabled cloud platform. ZigBee
transceivers are used as sensor nodes because of their simultaneous wireless trans-
mission and reception capabilities. They were considered preferable because of the low
power consumption, cost effectiveness, and network security. The automated toll
collection system is designed to identify vehicle encroachment and charge a
pre-determined toll, working solely by pre- and post-paid subscriptions. An enhanced
user interface was developed on the Android platform for vehicle owners. The
Android-based mobile application also has an administrative end for system regula-
tions. This work is limited to the automation of toll collection from owners of regis-
tered vehicles using the existing vehicle identification system. The enforcement of toll
payment, and the handling of toll debtors, is left to the appropriate parties or agencies.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: in the next section of describe
the methodology used in the design and implementation of the automated toll collec-
tion system. Section 3 provides details regarding the system implementation details,
and presents the main results obtained, with appropriate discussion. Finally, in Sect. 4
we present the main conclusions of this work.

2 Materials and Method

This section focuses on the methodology used in the design and implementation of the
automated toll collection system. It provides detailed information about the compo-
nents, modules, and units of the system. It also explains the procedure, techniques, and
the working principle of the system.
First, relevant data were collected to properly understand the problem domain, and
to avoid wrong assumptions that could crumble the supposed solution. The hardware
and software requirements of the system were identified based on the data collected.
The main hardware devices are the Arduino Uno board and two ZigBee devices. Other
hardware components include: SparkFun XBee shield; SparkFun USB explorer; 9-volt
batteries; and connecting wires.
The program codes were written in the Java programming language using the
Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is open source. PHP was
used in the implementation of the backend that provides services for logging monitored
data. Database content was created, accessed, and managed using MySQL, an open
source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query
Language (SQL). It is most noted for its quick processing, proven reliability, ease of
use and flexibility. The web dashboard was designed using HTML. An object-oriented
computer programming language, JavaScript, was used to add more user-interactivity
to the web dashboard for toll administrators. Presentation value was added to the web
656 S. I. Popoola et al.

Fig. 1. Architecture of automated toll collection system

dashboard using CSS. PhpStorm IDE, a commercial cross-platform for PHP, provided
an editor for PHP, HTML and JavaScript with on-the-fly code analysis, error pre-
vention and automated refactoring for PHP and JavaScript code. The mobile applica-
tion for toll subscription and tracking was developed in Android Studio IDE.
Figure 1 shows the major components of the proposed architecture. The ZigBee
device at the toll plaza (being the Controller) and the in-Vehicle unit form a network of
wireless sensor nodes. By so doing, the identity of the vehicle can be easily verified for
appropriate toll fee deduction for the subscription of the vehicle owner. The central
database was hosted and operated as cloud-based service. A similar operational method
was designed for the web server. This cloud platform allows easy and efficient com-
munication between the ETC and the highway users by providing the facility to view
the history of transactions performed with real-time notification options. One of the
major advantages of the cloud platform is in its ability to offer on-demand self-service.
It also provides location-independent resource pool. In addition, it allows users to pay
per use, and it offers required elasticity.
In the developed ETC system, data transmission between the ZigBee and the
central processing unit was achieved through the web application that was hosted on
the cloud platform. Vehicle owners can easily interact with the ETC system by using a
mobile application designed for that purpose. This Internet-enabled facility allows road
users to conveniently renew their subscriptions and receive prompt notifications on
transactions in real-time. Toll payment history can equally be tracked on the mobile
application. The mobile application of the ETC system was implemented on an
 A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection System for Smart Cities 657

Android platform to exploit its popularity, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and

user-friendliness. An enhanced web application was designed for city managers to
effectively maintain, manage, and control toll evasion in a bid to uphold strict com-
pliance. This platform also provides a good means for electronic audit of the toll fees
collected over a particular period of time, in a particular area.

3 System Implementation

The toll plaza is equipped with a ZigBee device to control the operations of the WSNs.
Each vehicle is uniquely identified with the use of a ZigBee device, which is built into
the internal electrical circuitry of the automobile. All vehicles are pre-registered with
active accounts with the city managers in charge of the administration of the ETC
system. This is aimed at facilitating toll subscription, toll payment, and electronic
receipt issuance. Toll activities are monitored and managed in real-time through the
user-friendly dashboard of the developed web application. The overall system was
designed to grant access to registered vehicle owners only. ZigBee devices on different
vehicles are uniquely identified and verified based on their respective Media Access
Control (MAC) address. The remote detection of a pre-registered ZigBee device was
programmed to deduct appropriate toll charge from the subscription of the vehicle
owner. Upon toll fee payment and corresponding deduction from user’s account, a
push notification is sent to the mobile dashboard of the user to acknowledgement
successful transactions.
Figure 2 shows the use-case activity diagrams of the developed ETC system. The
figure illustrates possible lines of activities of a typical ETC system user. The vehicle
owners interact with the mobile application while the toll administrators manage the
web application. The following assumptions were made to handle uncontrollable
factors in the automation process of the ETC system: (1) first, the Internet access is
ubiquitous and reliable; (2) strict vehicle registration policy is actively in place to
ensure maximum compliance; and (3) lastly, an efficient legal provision is in force to
handle cases of toll fee evasions and outright violation of traffic laws.

Fig. 2. Use case diagram for (a) Vehicle owners (b) Toll administrators [7]
658 S. I. Popoola et al.

Fig. 3. Entity-relations diagram.

The system design was implemented in five modules: (i) database design; (ii) web
service (cloud component); (iii) Android application (mobile client); (iv) administrative
web application (web client); and (v) XBee-driven WSN component. All these
sub-components were integrated together in the following sequence: the XBee radio
was mounted on the XBee Shield; the GPRS Shield was mounted on to the Arduino
board; the XBee Shield was mounted on the GPRS Shield; finally, the Arduino code
was uploaded to the board. The entity relationship diagram is illustrated in Fig. 3.
The database is the bedrock of the information used by the entire system. The
design was implemented in such a way so as to ensure data privacy and security.
A relational form of database design was chosen because it helps at keeping complex
data organized in a way that maintains non-replication. A web service was developed to
act as an interface for interrelation and data communication among the several com-
ponents of the whole system. It enables the WSN component to send an XBee MAC
address, and to receive vehicle access status data to and from the cloud storage facility,
respectively. The core of the web service was implemented in sub-components,
namely: Application Programming Interface (API), cloud messaging interface, and
background cron services. An Android application was developed to cater for the
system interactions on the user side of the infrastructure. It has essential functionalities
that enable the toll users to subscribe to payment plans of different tariffs and durations.
It also supports the notification of toll transactions, and provides toll users access to
 A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection System for Smart Cities 659

Fig. 4. Android user interface for toll feeds and profile details.

Fig. 5. Android user interface for user toll history and subscriptions.

their toll history. As a spin-off, the user feed was included to display information
related to toll gates, fees and other user-related management decisions. The Android
interface was filled with dummy/placeholder data before connecting to the cloud ser-
vices for data population, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
The administrative web application mainly developed to provide a suitable
administration of the toll collection system. It was equipped with monitoring facilities
that allow a quick toll data visualization, as well as the management of the configurable
entities of the automated toll collection system. The design and development phases are
660 S. I. Popoola et al.

the following: user interface design; administrative control logic; and major Create-
Read-Update-Delete (CRUD) functionalities for all major entities. The XBee-driven
WSN component of the automated toll collection system constitutes the trigger for all
other automated events that are involved in the system. In fact, it is the heart of the
automation this work portrays. The sub-components under this particular component
include: Arduino UNO; Arduino XBee shield; XBee Series 2 S2 Radio; and See-
duino GPRS Shield V2.0.

4 Results

The whole system was tested component-wise, one after the other. All tested com-
ponents were coupled together, as shown in Fig. 6, and then tested as a module until
the whole system was verified. The behavior of a car and a toll-booth was simulated
using the Xbee transceiver node and the Xbee controller, respectively.
The two of them were noted to be out of wireless connection and communication
until they got into each other’s range of communication. The operational Xbee-
controlled WSN coupling is shown in Fig. 6. The XBee attached to the Arduino XBee
explorer acts as the WSN controller node, while the XBee S2 Radio on the bread-board
acts as the transceiver node in the vehicle for proper vehicle identification and toll
collection. The corresponding administrator web interface for basic CRUD operation
on the toll booths is shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 6. Integration of the XBee WSN component

 A Cloud-Based Intelligent Toll Collection System for Smart Cities 661

Fig. 7. Toll CRUD dashboard page on the admin web-end

5 Conclusion

This paper detailed the framework, design, and implementation of an automated toll
collection system that uses Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), web and mobile
applications, and a cloud platform. A ZigBee-based WSN was designed and imple-
mented using an Arduino UNO, XBee S2 radios, an XBee Shield and a See-
duino GPRS Shield. Web and mobile applications were developed, using Hyper Text
Mark-up Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Javascript and Hyper Text
Pre-processor (PHP), for vehicle owners to make toll payments, view toll histories, and
get toll news feeds. The mobile application was implemented in Java on the Android
platform. A cloud platform was developed for business logic functionalities using PHP
as a scripting language, and MySQL as the database engine driver. Simulation results
show that the system implementation significantly improved toll collection efficiency in
terms of speed and flexibility.
This prototype was developed as a unit that can fit into the whole electronic toll
system. It was also developed in a greatly controlled environment which is a wide gap
from the real toll environment. Deployment of the developed ETC system in smart and
connected communities will drastically minimize the challenges of long vehicular
queues, fuel wastage, high accident risks, and environmental pollution in urban
centers.

Acknowledgement. The authors wish to appreciate the Center for Research, Innovation, and
Discovery (CU-CRID) of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, for partly funding this research.
662 S. I. Popoola et al.

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