Android Accident Detection & Alert System

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

BACHELOR OF COMMERCE HONOURS IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Department Information Systems

Faculty of Commerce

Full name: Prosper Nkosilathi Maposa

Registration Number: R1813175M

Supervisor:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I dedicate this information system project to God Almighty my creator, my strong pillar, my
source of inspiration, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He has been the source of my
strength throughout this program and on his wings only have I soared. I also dedicate this work
to my family, who has encouraged me all the way and whose encouragement has made sure that
I give it all it takes to finish that which I have started. To my supervisor, __________ and the
Department Chairperson Doctor zhou. Their sincerity, thoroughness and perseverance have been
a constant source of inspiration, encouragement and motivation for our project work. It is
through such efforts that our endeavours have seen light of the day. Thank you. My love goes to
all my classmates for the richness of their guidelines and invaluable suggestions throughout the
project. We owe a great gratitude to the Multimedia University teaching fraternity for their
constant guidance and support. They gave us continued guidance to ensure our success in
coming up with the project. God, bless you.

DECLARATION
I Prosper Nkosilathi Maposa, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this documentation. I
authorize the Midlands State University to lend this dissertation to other institutions or
individuals for the purpose of scholarly research.

Signature: …………………………………. Date: ……………………………….

1.1 overview
This Application aids in having a better coordination and keeps all the concerned bodies and
authorities informed and alerts them quickly which also saves time in rescuing an accident
patient. When a person meets an accident, he is usually not in a condition to interact with an
application on his phone and ask for help. In such situation Accident is detected automatically in
user app based on sound reading and sensor reading, user app continuously senses for such
accidents. App then quickly assigns and sends notification to the nearby Ambulance, nearby
hospital and also the police informing in case of an accident detected. Ambulance then keeps
updating of the status of patient whether dropped to the hospital. Hospital can also update status
if admitted to the hospital from their app. This helps in keeping the assigned hospital prepared
and informed. Also, the User details are shared with hospital and police which helps hospital to
see the medical records of the patient, police get to see required details of the user in an accident,
Fire brigade can also get notification to take fire out and the church ministries and Traditional
healers can also get notification for intercession prayers and medicine for quick healing. Vehicle
inspection can also get information about accident events so that they can do some changes in
road ways.

1.1.1 etymology of the study

The implementation of an android Accident Detection & Alert System application is going to
offer assistance in the health, security and safety sector world-wide this study analyse the
expected benefits, problem statement, objectives, challenges, budget and limitations associated
with the current proposed system which is going to be used world-wide in all sectors of the
world.

1.2 Problem Statement

Problem definition targets at bringing out the difference among the present state and the
preferred state in element (Bennatan, 1995). Along with increasing demands for automobiles, a
drastic increase can be seen in road accidents. As per data given by the WHO
(https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries) 1.35 million people die
every year due to road accidents. This number is sufficient enough to show the global crises of
road safety & creates a need to improve the road safety facilities & rescue operation system.

In most cases when a road accident occurs, the rescue team or the police authorities are not
informed in time. Furthermore, the delay caused by the rescue team in reaching the accident site
& the heavy traffic congestion in between the accident location and the hospital facilities
increases the risk of death for the victim.

1.3 Prescription

To overcome this issue, we have come up with this accident detection system which will help the
victims get rescued well in time and reduce the risk of death caused by road accidents. The
system includes a sensor, sound meter, GPS and GSM module. The sensors will detect the
accident & sound meters will trigger an alarm. The GPS will track the location coordinates and
the GSM will send an alert notification to the nearby hospital & police authorities. Thus, this
system will send an instant alert to the nearby rescue team & hospital facility to notify them of
the accident occurred for them to take immediate actions.

1.3 Objectives
(‘Setting objectives’, 2017) defines objectives as something which an individual or an
organization aims to achieve. An objective is a description of a change that a project,
programme, or organisation seeks to attain or influence. They could be set at several various
levels, ranging from broad tactical or decisive goals to much project specific goals. They could
range from simple milestones underneath the management of a project or programme to long-
term targets that could be contingent on a variety of factors. Establishing clear objectives
simplifies and improves monitoring and evaluation. The objectives proposed are:

 Detecting accidents automatically through user app based on sound reading and sensor
reading from the user app.
 To quickly sends notifications and report an accident to the nearby Ambulance, nearby
hospital and also the police via internet connection.
 Notifying concerned bodies and authorities about the location coordinates of the accident
position through the use of GPS system in user device quickly which also saves time in
rescuing an accident patient.
 Directly sends emergency notifications to the nearest available responder.
 Real time location tracking for both responders and victims on a Google map.
 An android application for emergency responders that directly receives notifications
about the emergency that occurs near to them and is provided with real time location of
the victim and is also provided with the details about victim such as name, blood group,
address.
 Provide directions to the nearest hospital during medical emergencies.
 Provide other emergency services such as Fire Department, Ambulance and Police.

Instruments and Method

Smartphone
Smartphones are mobile phones that have considerably a lot of functionality than a regular
mobile phone. they're mobile computers. Smartphones are powerful and versatile as a result of
built in sensors, powerful processors, multiple network interfaces and a high amount of memory
for such small devices.

Android Studio
Android Studio is the primary Android IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It provides
an Android developer all the necessary tools to develop an Android application. More
specifically, it allows writing code with auto-completion tools, debugging, testing, running the
code on a physical or a virtual device and setting programming related or visual preferences.
Java and XML are the only languages required to create Android applications with Android
Studio. Android Studio does not have any alternatives worth considering. It is possible to
develop Android applications with Eclipse by using the Android Developer Tools plugin, but it
is no longer supported by Google.

Accelerometer
An accelerometer works by detecting proper acceleration affecting the accelerometer to
determine the G-forces affecting the accelerometer. Proper acceleration means acceleration that
is relative to free-fall. An object in free-fall would as such have no acceleration affecting it while
an object at rest on the surface of the earth would experience an acceleration of9,81 m/s2
upwards due to the surface pushing the object (IJACSA) International Journal of Advanced
Computer Science and Applications Vol. 9, No. 6, 2018 upwards to negate gravity.
Accelerometers in smartphones bases their functionality on micro-electromechanical-
systems(MEMS), which measure electric currents based on compression of a seismic mass, often
silicon, caused by acceleration.

Google Play Services

Google Play services provide application developers a comprehensive set of useful features, for
example, Maps and Google+ sign-in. The services include the Google Play services client library
and the Google Play services Android Package Kit. The client library makes it possible to access
any feature with a user’s account and deals with different issues that may occur when using the
services. The Android Package Kit communicates with the client library and provides access to
specific service when necessary. The use of Google Play services is a must when using Firebase.
Important functionalities in Smart Rescue System, for example, viewing on a map and obtaining
a user’s location also rely on the services.

Google Location API

The Google Location Services API is part of Google Play Services, provides a more robust,
high-level framework that automatically chooses a suitable location provider and power
management. Location Services also provides new features like activity detection which is not
provided by framework API. Developers should consider using Location services API if they are
using framework API and also if they are making their apps location –aware.

Android Google Map API

The Google Maps Android API is a service which is part of the Google Play services library.
Allows access to Google Maps server automatically, displaying map, downloading data, and map
gesture response. It also allows to add markers, polygons, and basic map overlays, and to
transition the user's context of a specific map area.

Google Places API Web Service

The Google Places API Web Service is a service which returns information about places like
locations, geographic establishments and prominent points of interest using HTTP requests. The
main alternative of Google Places API is Foursquare Venues. In free version Google Places
allows 150000 queries per day and Foursquare Venues allows 120 000 queries per day. These
two services are mostly similar, we chose Google Places API because we were more familiar and
experienced using it.

Google Directions API

The Google Directions API is a service that uses HTTP request to calculate distance between
locations. When calculating directions, the API returns the most economic routes. The API
decides which route is most efficient on the basis of travel time, number of turns, distance
because it is light weight and has more documentation.

Retrofit
Retrofit is a type-safe HTTP client for Android and Java, provided by Square. Retrofit makes it
easy to communicate with a web server and get back data, as java objects, it automatically
supports a large collection of response types, including converting JSON objects into Plain Old
Java Objects. Alternative of Retrofit is Googles Volley, which is also a HTTP library, for our
system we chose Retrofit because it is light weight and has more documentation

Firebase
Firebase is one of many implementations of the BaaS model. Like other BaaS implementations,
Firebase provides storage, push notifications, user authentication and a database. Other than the
basic BaaS features, Firebase also give a test lab that permits testing a Firebase connected
application with different configurations and devices. A feature that makes Firebase different
from other BaaS implementations is the real-time database. When new data is added to the
database, it becomes accessible instantly to all the users of the application.

Firebase Cloud Messaging

FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) is another adaptation of GCM (Google Cloud Messaging). It
is a cross-platform messaging solution that allows us to reliably deliver and receive messages
without any cost. Using FCM, we can send notification messages in order to re-engage users.

GeoFire
GeoFire is an open-source library for Android/Java that allows us to save and query a set of keys
according to their geographic location. At its core, GeoFire simply saves locations with string
keys. Its main advantage however, is that it allows querying key in a specific geographic area in
real time.

Methods

Internet webpages and blogs: This is a platform to acquire more content or information of the
research. The internet will give access to the World Wide Web (www).
Electronic Books: These are published documentation that is going to be used for analysis as
well as to acquire information under some certain topics.
Pdf documents: We are going to be looking at the documented files so as to see the
procedures of the previous system used.
IT consultants: This is information that will be acquired from the people from different areas of
the world via internet connection

Justification and rationale i

The system analysts and the management team concluded that it would develop and design an
android application that will solve the pre-defined problems and will bring forth benefits to
citizens of country. HOWEVER; by developing an android application, some of the employees
will eventually lose their jobs and this will lead to unemployment.

1.8 Budget and delimitations of the research

Cost Item Cost (US$)

Laptop $650
Questionnaires $50
Interviews $300
Internet Charges $100
Travelling $350
Testing $800
Total $2250

Problems which might be faced during the process and these include the following

 Resistance to change in technology making users who are comfortable with current
system require much time to adopt new innovations
 Limited resources such as access to the required technological hardware and software.
 Time can hinder the completion of the proposed system development and implantation.
 The programmers’ ability to develop the new proposed system may also be a limiting
factor since the programme will only implement things within her capability

Conclusion
In this project, I am going to develop an accident detection and smart rescue system, which uses
on board accelerometer sensor to detect accident and generate emergency alert and send it to the
nearest emergency responder and will also send an SMS to emergency contact containing
location coordinates of the accident. With real time location tracking for both victim and
responder the system will drastically increase the survival rate of an accident victim by providing
emergency aid in time. The system will also provide help during other emergencies such as
during fire, robberies/theft and other medical emergencies. Emergency responder will be able pin
point victim’s location on a Google map in real time.

References

 Patel K.H., "Utilizing the Emergence of Android Smartphones for Public Welfare by
Providing Advance Accident Detection and Remedy by 108 Ambulances", International
Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), Vol.2, Issue 9, PP 1340-1342,
September – 2013.
 Chao Wang, Wei Duan, Jianzhang Ma and Chenhui Wang, "The research of Android
System architecture and application programming " Proceedings of 2011 International
Conference on Computer Science and Network Technology, Harbin, 2011, pp. 785-790.
[11]
 Shahbaz Ahmed Khan Ghayyur, Salman Ahmed, Adnan Naseem and Abdul Razzaq,
“Motivators and Demotivators of Agile Software Development: Elicitation and Analysis”
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(ijacsa), 8(12),
2017
 Asirt.org. (n.d.). Road Crash Statistics. [online] Available at:
http://asirt.org/Initiatives/Informing-Road-Users/Road-SafetyFacts/Road-Crash-Statistics
[Accessed 10 Dec. 2017]