Internet of Things (IOT) Based Ambulance

Tracking System Using GPS and GSM Modules

ARITRA BAKSI1, MAYOOKH BHATTACHARJEE2, SIDDHANTA GHOSH2, SOHAM KANTI BISHNU1, ARINDAM CHAKRABORTY1
1
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE)
2
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE)
Institute of Engineering & Management
Kolkata, India
email id: aritrabaksi9998@gmail.com

Abstract - Heavy traffic has always been a problem,
especially in populated parts of the world i.e. countries
like India. So these countries are among the worst
affected by traffic jams. This leads to quite a few
problems in the daily lives and services provided to
them and by the people of these regions. The most
affected are the paramedic services. The mortality rate
of patients who can be cured with on-time treatments is
increasing annually, all because of rush-hour traffic and
are unable to take the patients to the hospitals in the
required time frame. This project aims to solve and at
the least decrease the rate of this problem, using
Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Each ambulance
will be equipped with GPS and GSM modem which in
case of emergency will send its GPS coordinates to the
cloud server, which will then mark the shortest distance
from its present location to the hospital via the place
from where the emergency call has been raised. The
components used for this project are GSM Module
SIM900A along with Arduino UNO and Cloud
computing. The data from the modules will be stored in
a cloud server from where the paramedic officials can
access it using a unique ID and password that will be
issued to them on the integration of this system into the
infrastructure. A fourth signal, to be controlled by the
Arduino module, is to be implemented in the traffic
lighting system. This project is aimed to be a
comprehensive solution for emergency services in the
region’s most-affected by gridlocks.
giving patients the top priority on the road. To
achieve this, GPS Module and GSM Module
SIM900A, Arduino UNO along with Google Maps
and Cloud Computing have been used which collects
useful information about the paramedic vehicle.
1.1 Related Work
Recently numerous relevant experiments and projects
have been suggested in this field during the time-
frame of the previous decade.
NMZ Hashim et. Al. [3] had suggested a model of
emergency traffic-light using Radio Frequency. The
prototype of this project uses a frequency of 434
MHz and functions with the sequence mode of traffic
light changing if and when emergency vehicles pass
by an intersection and then changes the sequence
right back to normal before the emergency mode is
triggered.
Khushboo Bhagchandani et. Al. [4] suggested a
model that provides a certain holistic approach to our
target scenario. In this project, IoT enables real-time
capturing and computation of medical data from
smart sensors from built-in wearable devices.

Keywords- Traffic jam, Internet of Things (IoT), GPS,
GSM Module SIM900A, Arduino UNO, Cloud server.
1. Introduction
Traffic clogging [1] has always been a serious
problem in densely populated countries like India.
According to the data from a worldwide survey by
TomTom [2], a leading in-vehicle navigation
company, India is the worst-hit country suffering
from traffic congestion. This project is aimed at
addressing this issue and giving ambulances stuck in
these kinds of situations either an automatic green-
corridor of a short-cut route and at the same time
Kapileswar Nellore et. Al. [5] presented an approach
where the distance between the vehicle and hospital
is calculated using a real-time feed from the cameras
at the intersections. It uses an enhanced algorithm to
shorten the travel time by scheduling both the
sequence and also the time span of the green light
based on the measured distance.
The rest of the paper is organized accordingly:
Section 2 discusses the proposed approach of our
study. Section 3 gives the result and evaluation of our
work.

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 2. Methodology
2.1 Technical Approach
This project is aimed at addressing this issue and
giving ambulances stuck in these kinds of situations
an automatic green-corridor of a short-cut route and
at the same time giving patients the top priority on
the road. To achieve this, there has been extensive
use of GSM Module SIM900A [6], Arduino UNO [7]
along with Cloud Computing that gives useful
information about the paramedic vehicle. Each
ambulance will be equipped with the GPS and GSM
modules which in case of emergency will send it’s
GPS coordinates to the server, which after analyzing
will provide the shortest route to the hospital from
where the emergency call has been raised. Along
with that, the vital information of the vehicle like its
location and speed is also gathered by the GPS and
then transmitted in near real-time via cellular
communication to the cloud server network for
maximized route-optimization.
Figure 1: Representation of the working of Ambulance Traffic
system
Figure 2: Connection between Arduino Uno & GSM SIM900A
modules
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The GPS satellites will track the position of the
vehicular unit & send the location to the GPS module
in the ambulance. Using the GSM module & Arduino
UNO the message is transmitted. This is done with
the help of a program in Arduino IDE. Then this
information is received by the GSM receiver in the
Cloud Workstation. Here, all the data is collected &
the best possible route is analyzed & will be uploaded
on a cloud server.
The drivers can access the server by the use of a web
portal designed for them. While installing this device
in the vehicular units, they will be licensed & will
receive a unique user ID & password. With the help
of this user’s ID & password, they can access the web
portal to get real-time data.
After analyzing all the data & getting the position of
the ambulance the cloud server will send an ETA to
the nearest traffic control & by the use of cloud
computing the 4th signal will be switched on, to
create the green-light.
Figure 3: Flowchart representing the working algorithm of GPS &
GSM tracking system
 2.2 Working of GPS & GSM Module
The GPS module sends the data in NMEA format
which consists of several strings of sentences. From
them we only need a single sentence that starts with
$GPGGA (Global Positioning System Fix Data).
$GPGGA string gives us the coordinates while
tracking any location, thus it is mostly used in
programming, while others are ignored. The unit
present inside the vehicle transmits the coordinates
via GSM module to the cloud workstation [8].
server. This collected information is then available to
the vehicle owner through an online portal anytime,
anywhere shown in figure 6. Figure 5 shows the
serial monitor of the GSM module for sending SMS
and Figure 4 shows the serial monitor for the GPS
module. Figure 8 depicts the tracking of SMS using
the GSM module. The entire source code has been
uploaded through the Google drive given in [9]

The data transfer in between them will be done

through the UART interface. We have considered pin
10 & 11 of Arduino to be RX & TX respectively. The
RX of the module is connected to the TX of the
Arduino & TX of the module is connected to the RX
of Arduino as shown in Figure 2. Along with it, the
ground of the module is connected to Arduino for
reference voltage. After all the connections are done, Figure 5: Serial Monitor of GSM module program
a program is written in Arduino IDE to exchange data
between them [6].

Figure 6: Web Portal showing the identification-map

Figure 4: Serial Monitor of GPS module program

2.3 Algorithm
Arduino IDE platform is used for programming. The
function of the algorithm is to detect the location of
the vehicle unit and send the GPS coordinates via the
GSM module which will help in ensuring the safe
passage of ambulances. Figure 3 shows the steps
followed.

3. Results
In this paper, a total setup of tracking systems using
GPS and GSM have been presented in figure 7. The
tracking system is based on cloud computing
infrastructure. The administrator after receiving the Figure 7: Setup of the GPS, GSM based vehicle tracking system
GPS position will analyze the shortest path using
Google Maps & other sources & then upload it to the
server along with other data. The data is stored in a

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 No.6, December 2019, pp. 5068-5074, ISSN: 2088-8708,
DOI:10.11591/ijece.v9i6.pp5068-5074.
[5] Kapileswar Nellore, Gerhard P.Hancke "Traffic Management
for Emergency Vehicle Priority Based on Visual Sensing" Sensors
(Basel). 2016 Nov; 16(11): 1892.doi: 10.3390/s16111892, PMCID:
PMC5134551, PMID: 27834924, PMC journal.
[6]Components 101:https://components101.com/wireless/sim900a-
gsm-module.
[7] The engineering projects:
https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2018/06/introduction-to-
arduino-uno.html
[8] Circuit digest:
https://circuitdigest.com/microcontrollerprojects/interfacing stm32f
103c8-with-gps-module-to-track-location-coordinates
[9] Drive link for our GSM Program:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cDT5dF09ZEKdOlnL_ugvTyaiR2
ZfLS9Y/view

Figure 8: SMS received from the GSM module

4. Conclusion

This system is an integrated solution and is heavily

based on monitoring traffic and route optimization
techniques to help navigate the
paramedics/ambulance through the fastest route
possible by using an Arduino circuit, and by sending
GPS coordinates, and vehicle information to the
server. Henceforth, guiding the vehicle through a
server determined path, which will save a lot of
valuable time for the patient resulting in decreased
chances of mortality as well as a substantial decrease
in response-time of the paramedics.

REFERENCES
[1] M. AbsarAlam and Faisal Ahmed "URBAN TRANSPORT
SYSTEMS AND CONGESTION: A CASE STUDY OF INDIAN
CITIES", Transport and Communications Bulletin for Asia and the
Pacific No. 82, 2013, pp. 33-34.
[2] "Average Bengaluru Driver Waste 243 Hours in Traffic Every
Year, Worst Congestion in the World" survey by TomTom, article
by Arjit Garg, February 03, 2020. Available:
https://www.news18.com/news/auto/average-bengaluru-driver-
waste-243-hours-in-traffic-every-year-worst-congestion-in-the-
world-2477621.html
[3] N. M. Z. Hashim, A. S. Jaafar, N. A. Ali, L. Salahuddin, N. R.
Mohamad M. A. Ibrahim "Traffic Light Control System for
Emergency Vehicles Using Radio Frequency", IOSR Journal of
Engineering (IOSRJEN), e-ISSN: 2250-3021, p-ISSN: 2278-8719,
Vol. 3, Issue 7 (July. 2013), ||V5|| PP 43-52.
[4] Khushboo Bhagchandani, D.Peter Augustine "IoT based heart
monitoring and alerting system with cloud computing and
managing the traffic for an ambulance in India" International
Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE), Vol.9,

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