Wireless Vehicle Health Monitoring System

HI

My name is sandeep, I am doing a project called wireless vehicle health monitoring system if any one knows any idea please let me know

Vehicle health?

What's that?

how do you take a cars blood pressure?? i know how to make a car cough but where would you feel???

Oil pressure = BP
Feel upper radiator hose

I think he wants to read data from the OBDII system, in almost every car. This could be very useful! A lot more specific than the engine light coming on...

I got a while ago, a bluetooth to OBDII interface based on ELM. I haven't got it to work yet. Tried once. BT is a pain.

OBDII lets you get access to some basic information about your engine like the coolant temperature or various sensor readings, but it's quite limited. For example, although your car might have an oil pressure sensor that doesn't mean you can get the data through the OBDII port.

Although most manufacturers also use the OBDII port to access more advanced features (like communicating with all the computers in the vehicle), the standard OBDII specification only deals with the engine computer, and even then it only gives you a subset of the entire range of data/features that are available.

You can also access error codes from the engine computer if it detects any faults. But even these aren't very useful unless you are a mechanic and understand the code. For example, let's say you retrieve a code that says "Oxygen Sensor Heater Circuit" which is a common code. So what can cause this code? Here's a few possibilities:

- Oxygen sensor itself is faulty.
- Fuse for the 12V supply to oxygen sensor heater blown.
- Power supply relay for the heater is faulty.
- Fuse for the relay coil is faulty.
- Drive circuit for the relay is faulty.
- Wiring from the 12V supply to oxygen sensor faulty.
- Wiring from the oxygen sensor to the computer faulty.
- Faulty computer.

Where do you start? Lots of people will simply replace the oxygen sensor. This will work for a lot of cases, but what if you replace the sensor and the same code comes back? Then you gotta start checking out everything else.

An experienced mechanic, who knows a lot about your particular vehicle, will have likely seen this problem and would know if the sensor is the best choice, or if there are other common problems (like a bad relay) which should be checked first.


Don't mean to rain on your parade, just trying to explain that knowing a code or having some data doesn't mean you know the problem. I get sick and tired of seeing all the ads for OBDII scanners (from stores like Pep Boys in the US or Canadian Tire up here) which imply that plugging it into your car will tell you everything that's wrong with it and save you money instead of going to a mechanic.

Hi

Guys what I mean is when there is faulty in specific parts like engine etc, when fuel is empty, it has to indicate to the main monitoring center, I am planning to use pressur sensor, temperature sensor, and any other which will transmit data through signee transmitter to microconttoller. Then this micro controller will send data to main monitoring center via gsm. This is the concept now tell me any suggestion about it can be done r not, r if any one can help me in doing then most welcome

You need to start by thinking about how many sensors and their ranges, for example X number of temperature sensors with a range of 0 to 500 F., oil pressure sensor 0 to 100 PSIG, and the list goes on. Then signal conditioning for each sensor used. Once you have a good handle on the sensors and number of sensors you move on to the data acquisition devices. You can build using transmitters like the XBee Pro Line or you can go high end with with plug and play data acquisition systems like this. where the Ethernet out can be run wireless as in a home computer wireless network. Things like wireless range are a consideration as well as budget. There are also complete plug and play systems like this sold for automotive applications exactly as you mention including a wide range of sensors to go with them.

Ron

hi

Thanks for your suggestion Reloadron. I was planning to use 3 sensor as its just for demonstration initially. One pressure sensor for tires, temperature for engine and as u told oil pressure sensor for fuel tank.
These sensors transmit data on malfunction to the microcontroller(PIC) through Zig-bee (Zigbee not sure which module to use) once microcontroller calculates which parts of vehicle is fault. it will send data to the main microcontroller at the monitoring center using GSM Modem ( I have gsm commands to transmit and receive data. on reception of the information via gsm, this microcontroller sends data to PC connected via serial port (RS 232). where in PC its displayed all details of faulty parts of vehicle.

I have idea about transmitting then coding for PC display etc. but what i dont know is which particular sensor i need to you and where i can buy them(online) there specification. So if you suggest me particular sensors, zigbee module and gsm modem where to buy. some online material of these things to study there behavior. that would be very helpful. hope you can send me what i required.

regards
sandeep

Tires are going to be difficult as I have never done that. I know there is stuff out there and maybe someone has a thought. There are some explanations here. Temperature I would assume coolant temperature but head temps and exhaust gas temps are also popular. Temperatures can be measured using a thermocouple and the thermocouple output would then be signal conditioned to a usable voltage like 0 to 5 or 0 to 10 volts. Using coolant as an example 0 to 300 degrees F could be scaled to 0 to 10 volts. The same would hold true for oil pressure along the lines of 0 to 100 PSIG would be scaled to o to 10 volts. You could find a transducer where the output is already signal conditioned.

Just about everything revolves around budget. If I were doing it I would use plug and play modules. The cost would be high. However in a do it yourself affair then it would cost less but you are designing and building circuit boards which need to be made.

Ron