Bicycle Sharing IoT
I did this project in my holidays to try and see the possibilities of improvement in the transport problem on campus. This was way back in the winter of 2016. Currently another system has been put into place on campus due to a lot of reasons, but this was a technology exploration anyways!
System Architecture
Hardware & Software
I used the commonly used Internet of Things platform NodeMCU that is based on the ESP8266. The Arduino port on it was used to program it as the native lua seemed unnecessarily complicated for this simple project.
Make the Cycle stands mini Web Servers!
Small web servers were run on the cycle stands using the nodeMCU modules. They were serving basic HTML pages using the open WiFi Hotspots generated by them. The cycle stands themselves use Thingspeak as the central server to store and retrieve data from.
Only passive components on bicycles! 🚲
The bicycles themselves only have an RFID card to keep the bicycles free of electronic components. GPS & internet conectivity were also avoided as they have high energy Drain. These choices make them maintenance free from an electronics standpoint. They communicate with the bicycle stand while being locked and unlocked only.
Logistics
To tackle the problem of theft outside the campus premises, we have two checks:
- The bicycle has to be issued(to a particular account) to remove them from the bicycle stands themselves.
- The gates to the campus can(hypothetically) have long range RFID scanners(the kind used at conferences and big events)
Stuff to look at!
