Team Monash develop OnTrack app
Congratulations Team Monash on making the top 3 teams in this year’s Telstra M2M University Challenge. 2 July 2014 Team Monash has been selected as one of...
Team Monash has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2014 Telstra M2M University Challenge where university students from across the country competed to see who can create the most innovative Machine-to-machine (M2M) idea. M2M communications involves the exchange of information between machines, people, processes or the cloud. The next step for Team Monash is to make a presentation with the winner being announced at an award ceremony.
The Monash team is co-ordinated by Professor Michael Vitale from the Faculty of Information Technology. "I'm extremely impressed by what the team has accomplished," Professor Vitale said, "in particular by the way the students have organised themselves and carried out a complex project while attending classes."
Team Monash have developed a mobile application, OnTrack, which allows customers to view up-to-date information about their train service, including the location of the next train and how full each carriage is. This is done by outfitting carriages with a weight sensing module and a GPS receiver. The data gathered from these components are sent over WAN to a server, from which the mobile app acquires information.
This system also aids public transport authorities by providing them with access to more data, which can be analysed and used in order to develop more efficient timetabling. This results in a greater opportunity to enhance their customer service and an increase in their customer base.
Importantly, it also leads to a reduction in the use of private vehicles due to the greater capacity to provide better quality service which would lead to reduced pollution and CO2 emissions. This would contribute to a cleaner environment and lessens the impact on climate change.
Team Monash is made up of students from different faculties - Art, Design, and Architecture, Business and Economics, Engineering and Information Technology.