School Bus Heads Up

It's 2016, do you know where your children are, or when the bus is close? Track your school's fleet of buses and your kids' whereabouts.

AdvancedWork in progress2,709

Things used in this project

Hardware components

AT&T IoT Connectivity Kit

Adafruit Ultimate GPS Breakout

Story

Overview

We all remember getting up early as kids and then sitting on our butt waiting for the bus to come. Ever wondered why it's 2016, yet your kids STILL have to deal with the same routine every morning we did 20 years ago?

Flexible timelines don't fit many people's morning routine, and can be more than an annoyance. The bus being late can make parents late for work, affect child health when waiting outside in the cold, and further hinder a bus's schedule if kids aren't ready right when the bus arrives.

Why can't we simply provide kids advance warning that the bus is coming?

School Bus Heads Up is a proof of concept project schools could use to their entire schoolbus fleet in real time, as well as help parents ensure their child's safety through the use of GPS and AT&T's cellular network!

Bus Tracking Example

Basic Tracking Advantages

What can tracking alone provide us?

Advance notice for when the bus will actually arrive (even if it's running early or late!)

Check when your child got on or off the bus (and where), both on the way to school and the trip home!*

Check if the bus (and your child) got to school safely.

Ensure that your child got on the bus after school, that they got off at home (and came inside)!*

Use cases aren't limited to small children.

Track your teen's driving habits and speed.

Ensure they get to school on time and come straight home afterward.

Get notified of unexpected stops or leaving/entering certain areas.

Intelligent Anomaly Detection, Triggers, and Notifications

School Bus Heads Up goes further than other child tracking solutions by applying situational intelligence to basic tracking. This allows us to intelligently check for anomalies that might indicate an emergency, and notifies you right away via app or SMS. Some of these scenarios include:

Did the bus leave without your child?*

Did your child get off somewhere else?*

Did your child get off at home, but didn't come inside?**

Each of these can indicate a more serious situation you'd want to be alerted to immediately. This project will help you achieve that.

*Note: Starred (*) features will require a Bluetooth Smart-enabled device of some type. Some examples are smart phones, smart backpacks, wrist devices like a fitbit, Apple Watch, etc. Almost any mobile Bluetooth device your child is already using could be used to confirm their safety! Double-starred (**) features would require a low-cost additional indoor sensor to trigger "entered the home" status.