Ultrasonic software-hardware complex for tracking public transport passengers

The article provides the description of an on-board no-touch software-hardware complex for tracking public transport passengers. The complex was designed by the authors. It allows carrying out the following actions in real time: writing down the readings of an ultrasound range finder on objects entering and exiting the door frame; processing the accumulated sets of data and determining the number of people that entered and exited the vehicle during stops; sending out the data through standard connection modules of the vehicle in order to provide specialized monitoring services with information on passenger flow, as well as solving corresponding tasks of predictive analytics. The article overviews existing analogs that are based on using laser detectors, thermal scopes, computer vision technology and floor impact detectors. Their advantages as well as weaknesses that limit their mass use are highlighted. The article also provides the following for the offered software-hardware complex: comparison results, grounds for implementing it on public transport; a description of the hardware part – the composition of the main accessories used (an STM32 controller, an ultrasound diastimeter, an infrared diastimeter); methods for processing the data given by the ultrasound range finder in order to determine the number of passengers that entered and exited the vehicle, including situations when there are many of them on both sides of the door frame, including alternating motions to enter and exit in groups as well as one by one; options of module performance according to the case’s form factor, as well as according to compositions and the number of accessories used; options of compiling modules and describing their installation schemes according to the specifics of the tasks of use to control door frames of various width, including random width.