Project proposal for

DST & Texas Instruments Inc.

India Innovation Challenge Design Contest
2016
Anchored by IIM Bangalore
Leveraging Businesses Related to Movable Asset
Management Using Internet of Things (IoT)
Shiv Nadar University
Name

College ID/Roll No.

UG/PG Course/Branch

Semester

UG
UG
UG

B.Tech/E.C.E
B.Tech/E.C.E
B.Tech/E.C.E

5
5
5

Student 4

Manvith Kolli
Sumanth Kakani
Tangirala Naga Venkata Sri
Harsha
Venkata Abhishek Sabnivis

UG

B.Tech/C.S.E

Student 5
Faculty Mentor

Mohit Kumar
Dr.Phaneendra Babu Bobba

UG

B.Tech/E.C.E

Student 1
Student 2
Student 3

Project Abstract
The Phrase Internet of Things (IoT) heralds a vision of the future Internet where it integrates the
Ubiquitous Communications, Pervasive Computing and Analytics and the Ambient Intelligence.
Internet of things is the next wave in the project of modernity which has already begun converting
all the passive things around us into active devices that share information about themselves,
enabling us to understand them better than ever before. The environment of IoT consists of
sensors, actuators, cloud services and devices which communicate with each other and we are at
the cusp of realizing the full potential of information collected, which helps firms discover and
deploy new business models and also increase productivity and thrive in this digital age.
In modern days, large amount of cargo is transported from one place to another. The fleet
managers have their crores of investments on roads. It is necessary for the fleet managers to

supervise these trucks. There are approximately around 1 million commercial vehicles (cargo
carrying) and when they become a part of IoT ecosystem, real time data could be collected and
analyzed to gain hindsight for the fleet operators to make operations safer and reduce the cost of
ownership. The fleet operators have a low profit margins of about 3.5-14%. The main challenges
faced by these fleet managers is high fuel consumption of vehicles, breakdown of vehicles, safety
of drivers and trucks and misuse of companys assets. Therefore, it is of high importance to
integrate the fleets into the Internet of Things Ecosystem to reduce unnecessary losses.
Keywords: Internet Of Things (IoT), Fleet Management, Things as a Service (TaaS), Sensors
and Actuators, Cloud Computing and Analytics

Team Members Roles & Responsibilities

S.No.

Student
Member
Name

MANVITH

SUMANTH

HARSHA

ABHISHEK

MOHIT

Role (Choose one of the

Justification
following Marketing,
Technical, Operations &
Other Roles as
applicable)
Technical Lead Developer Handles the Edge Technology,
Middleware Layer-Subject Matter
Expertise in end to end IoT Ecosystems
Technical Lead Developer Handles the Access Gateway and Internet
Layer-Embedded Systems Engineer with
good knowledge on interfacing sensors.
He handles external relations with lenders
Strategist
and vendors. He is also in charge of either
production or marketing for the business.
Handles the Application Layer, is in
Cloud Architect And
charge of the development and
Engineer
implementation of cloud-based initiatives
to ensure that systems are scalable,
reliable.
Observes the current market trends and
Operations Manager
defines the companys approach and
targets accordingly. He will set in motion
the vision and goals for the business.

Market Analysis
A. Customer Need Identification 1) On-Time Delivery:

Despite of the challenges faced during the road transport, on-time delivery of the product is
the major motto, which benefits both the fleet owner and the user. Since time is of great
essence, its often about minimizing the drive time, idle time, etc. With the integrated
route optimization techniques, drivers will never be on the roads with heavy traffic, thus
getting more out of each mile.
2) Load Monitoring:
There is a genuine scarcity for 'Special Types of Equipment,' like Tech-driven
refrigerated storage solutions, etc. To add this, poor facilities and management account
to high levels of damage, loss and deterioration of stock. With the gas, temperature
and humidity sensors continuously monitoring the stock and the inbuilt sensitive load
monitoring mechanism, maintaining the required conditions, we could be assured of the
quality.
3) Fuel is a huge variable expense
In the end it's always about saving money or adding value. And saving money is a much
clearer value proposition to sell. Since fuel is a primary cost, it's often about finding the
perfect set of parameters for the efficient functioning of the vehicle, which ensures
reduction in fuel cost. With the fuel volume sensors and the accelerometers continuously
mapping the consumption of fuel against the speeds of the vehicle, the best set of these
parameters are computed for the efficient functioning and less fuel consumption by the
vehicle, which helps in saving a significant amount of money, even on a single truck.
[7],[8]
B. Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) Identification & Justification
Ever since the Internet of things (IoT) went live, the thumb rule for the future has become
anything that can be connected will be connected. Therefore, Internet of Things is
capable to offer a wide range of services to the market based on its various requirements,
distinguished by Hardware Components, Platform, Software Solution and Service etc.
The Fleet Solutions comprises of the platform and software solutions provided by the
Internet of Things. These solutions are used by the large and the increasing number of
Fleet owners in the country. At present, the countrys logistics industry is worth $300
billion, according to the Logistics Market in India 2015-2020. In fact, the report states,
Indian logistics market itself is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.17 per cent by 2020.
India spends around 14.4% of its GDP on logistics and transportation as compared to
less than 8% spent by the other developing countries. Rapid growth in industries such as
automobiles, pharmaceuticals, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail has
significantly increased the demand for movement of consumer and capital goods across the
country.

This rapid increase in logistics demands vast range of fleet services. This sudden increase
in the demand for fleet resulted in a fragmented and unorganized range of fleet owners in
India and shall keep on increasing. According to global research firm ICRA, the Medium
& Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCV -Truck) segment in India is likely to register a
growth of 12-14% in FY 2016 driven by continuing trend towards replacement of ageing
fleet and expectations of pick-up in demand from infrastructure and industrial sectors.

Figure 1. Growth of GDP and Freight market with respect to time in years. [4]
C. Product Differentiation w.r.t. Competition & Justification
Current Fleet Solutions aim at increasing safety and efficiency of the fleet but
optimizing Fleet from Fuel Consumption to Health of Fleet is what prompted the need to
come up with the Proposed Solution. The Solution proposed remotely tracks the location
of products and storage condition and controls deviations based on cloud based system
preventing the risk of products becoming quality deteriorated during transportation. Realtime monitoring data on product condition and product control capability enables firms
to optimize service by performing preventative maintenance when failure is imminent and
accomplishing repairs remotely, thereby reducing product downtime.
Control through Cloud which actuates the devices allows the customization of product
performance to a degree that was previously not cost effective or even possible.The end
result is increased service revenue. It provides dealers with maximum leverage for fleet
services provided to customers including location tracking, remote diagnostics, hours and
mileage reporting, theft prevention.Monitoring,Control,Optimization capability of the
solution allow a complete Autonomy reducing the Total Cost of Ownership(TCO).

D. Understanding of your customer & userCustomer: Fleet managers with millions of vehicles in service
User: Clients for the fleet manager
Customer needs to analyze the financial and operational performance of their fleet.
Without understanding efficiency and reliability of vehicles we will not get complete
insight on the financial cost and operational performance of fleet.
As far as User is concerned he could be monitoring the shipment real time and the
visibility increases and could reduce risk factor doing so. The ease of doing this is very
intuitive and reliable.
E. Distribution Channel Identification The Fleet Management Solutions are provided to the fleet owners so as to increase their
profit percentages in all the means possible. These solutions are developed at the IoT firm
itself. The selling of these solutions into the market do not require distributors or sales team
wandering from customer to customer. Instead, the sale of these solutions require direct
face to face deals between the Firm and the Fleet owners. Moreover, informatiom regarding
these sources can be exposed to wider markets using Internet and Catalogs as the medium
of communication. So, the distribution channel for the Fleet Management Solutions would
be Direct/Internet and Direct/Catalog.

Proposed Design
A) Objective
Integrating the fleet with the next generation technologies like Internet of things, addresses various
problems of the fleet operators and help them develop new business models. The complete
integration of fleet with internet is done in four layers. They are Edge Technology layer, Access
Gateway layer, Middleware layer and Application layer. These include collecting data of truck
using various sensors, transmitting the data to cloud, analysis of data in cloud and an interface to
the cloud and the users.
Edge technology layer:
This layer deals with data collection about various parameters of truck and the load using hardware
components. Sensors like speed, fuel level, location temperature and humidity of load,
harmful gases measured in real time and are wirelessly connected to a coordinator.
Access Gateway layer and Internet Layer:
The data collected by different sensors in real time are transmitted to the coordinator, which with
the help of a controller and a GSM module uploads the data into the cloud in the real time without
any data loss.
Middleware layer:
Various problems of the fleet operators are addressed here with the received data about the truck.
The problems like vehicle breakdowns can be predicted using predictive analysis of data. Data

from fuel sensor and speed can analyzed to propose fuel efficient driving methods. The data from
location sensor can be used to optimize the route of the truck, ensuring timely delivery of goods.
With Data analysis and Predictive analysis of data, various unnecessary losses in the fleet are
identified.
Application Layer:
The layer using the functioning of all the below layers, the layer with which the user interacts, it
contains the application which interprets the data and predictive analysis and displays it to the
user in an understandable format according to their requirements.[6]
B) Proposed Solution
a. Block Diagram

Edge Technology Layer

Sensors in
Truck(Collects
Parameter that are
critical to the
Analysis)

Access Gateway Layer

Zigbee(Relays the
Information from
the sensors creating
a Mesh Network to
the Gateway)

MSP 430(The
controller sends
the information to
the middleware
layer with the help
of GSM module)

Application Layer

Middleware Layer

User Interface(Intuitive
understanding of the
solution along with
ability to actuate
parameters of critical
importance)

Cloud (The Analysis

and Required Actuation
will be done here on the
data received)

Figure 2. Block Diagram Representation of Leveraging Fleet

Figure 3. Birds Eye View of Leveraging Fleet.

C) Component Used
TI Part Number

How is it being used in the proposed solution? Explain its

role/functionality

MSP 430G2553-2

This is the Micro Controller which collects the data from all the
sensors and acts as a gateway for the cloud.

FDC 2214-1

This is used in detecting the theft of load and ensures safety of the
load.

LMP 91002-1

This is used to sense harmful gases like H2S and CO that may have a
potential damage to the load.

HDC 1080-1

This is used to measure temperature and humidity of load in the

truck.

TDC 1000-1

This is an ultrasonic sensor which measures level of fuel in the tank.

CC 4000-1

This is a GPS module used to track the location of the truck.

CC2530-6

ZigBee Module which gets the sensor data and relays it to the central
Gateway.

Non - TI Parts

How is it being used in the proposed solution? Explain its

role/functionality

GSM Module(SIM900A)-1

This module is which connects micro controller with the

cloud. This is used to upload information into cloud.

Accelerometer(ADXL335)1

This is used to measure speed of truck.

Innovativeness of the Proposed Solution

The Existing fleet management solutions aim only to improve the safety and efficiency but they
merely cater to the challenges faced by the fleet owners like excess fuel consumption, high cost
of ownership and performance of driver and health of fleet. But the Proposed solution
effectively implements tracking and monitoring of cargo real time, diagnostic and preventative
maintenance and driver behavior improvement. As we consider a more complex scenario, the
issues such as reliable connectivity across cargo carrying areas, the cost of adding new
functionality and upgrading the fleet have been taken into consideration. As the solution is scaled
and the services in the IoT sector mature, the proposed solution would definitely offer flexibility
right in terms of cost, connected services that are suitable for businesses operating under
capital and operational expenditure. Implementing an actuating mechanism to trigger the
actuator to restore the parameters critical to the health of the sensitive load and fleet
instantaneously. This real time actuation enables the fleet operators not only to monitor the load
but also facilitates them to control the conditions critical to load from miles away and prevent
further damage. [1]
Contrary to the existing solution, our solution streams in data real time which could help leasing
firms valuate vehicles based on their usage and opens up a whole new avenue of business
opportunities and models. The proposed solution also aids in the implementation of predictive
analysis which is a key differentiating factor compared to existing solutions which perform an
improbable or unforeseen analysis. This analysis is key to perform preventative maintenance and is
completely developed pertaining to problem statement which puts the proposed solution on
forefront than existing ones.

Impact of the proposed solution

With an Addressable market of over 1 million commercial Vehicles and the vertical market
segments like employee transportation etc. show strong demand for tracking and indeed fleet
management. Comprehensive and compact in vehicle solutions are driving growth creating a
competitive edge. Real time data of predictive analysis, real time monitoring of the truck,
constant load monitoring mechanisms helps us in detecting the unnecessary losses in the fleet,
provides us a pathway to act which helps increase profits of the fleet owners, thus creating new
abilities to improve customer service providing a tangible differentiator that helps exceeds
competition and improve business.

Advances in Sensor Technology, network reliability, cloud computing and integrating them
with business models is expected to revolutionize performance, service and revenue. Hal Varian,
Chief Economist at Google, believes Moores Law has something to do with the newfound interest
in the IoT: The price of sensors, processors, and networking has come way down. Since WiFi is now widely deployed, it is relatively easy to add new networked devices to the home and
office. Impact of auto data collected by sheer number of IoT devices would be huge as this
would be the potential game changer (e.g.: Google acquired Nest labs Inc.) and could be used in
ways that could lead a revolution in the market segment. Along with making profits, it also enables
us to save valuable resources of the country. This will have a significant impact on the GDP of the
country. Bryzek mentions new forecasts regarding the IoT opportunity, with GE estimating that the
Industrial Internet has the potential to add $10 to $15 trillion (with a T) to global GDP over
the next 20 years, and Cisco increasing to $19 trillionths forecast for the economic value created
by the Internet of Everything in the year 2020. This is the largest growth in the history of
humans, he quotes. [2]

Feasibility: Fleet management helps us enable proper record of details about the vehicle, driver
whereabouts, details of the cargo are maintained in the database. Everything becomes automated
through sensors and real time updating of data by cloud, thus reducing possible human errors. The
major unnecessary costs incurred in current Indian scenario are avoided with route optimization,
breakdown prediction. Thus the proposed idea is feasible in terms of both Technical and
Economical Perspective.

References
1. Bui, T. (2016, March 15). IoT in the real world for transportation and logistics companies. Retrieved
from Blog Jasper: http://blog.jasper.com/iot-real-world-transportation-and-logistics-companies/
2. INDIAN FLEET MARKET 'TOO LARGE TO IGNORE' ACCORDING TO STUDY. (2013, July). Retrieved
from Alert Driving: http://www.alertdriving.com/home/fleet-alert-magazine/international/IndianFleet-Market-Too-Large-to-Ignore-According-to-Study
3. Ranjanghatmuralidhar, M. (2016, February 1). IoT Next Gen Fleet Management. Retrieved from
HCL Tech: http://www.hcltech.com/blogs/iot-%E2%80%93-next-gen-fleet-management
4. Ravi. (2015, February 26). Road Transport challenges in India: What you should know about?
Retrieved from Indian Transport Portal: http://indiatransportportal.com/road-transportchallenges-india-30435
5. SAI, K. T. (2014, July). Fleet Management Sees Impact of Integrated Devices and the Internet of
Things. Retrieved from RTC Magazine: http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103658
6. Sen, D. B. (2011, May 9). Internet of Things - Applications and Challenges in Technology and
Standardization. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/pdf/1105.1693.pdf
7. Top Challenges for Todays Logistics Providers. (2014, November 18). Retrieved from Supply Chain
: http://www.supplychain247.com/article/top_challenges_for_todays_logistics_providers
8. What are the biggest pain points in trucking / logistics? (2015, February 27). Retrieved from
Founder Dating: http://members.founderdating.com/discuss/2366/What-are-the-biggest-painpoints-in-trucking-logistics