1 Electrical and Computer Engineering Dynamic Advertising System Preliminary Design Review – October 23, 2009 Team Zink Nicholas Cipriano, Ali Jameel, Jeremy Mestancik, Brian Simakauskas

2 Electrical and Computer Engineering Problem Statement  Public transportation advertising today is not at its full potential  Organizations have a difficult time targeting a specific market Public transportation offers an “all or nothing” advertising approach

3 Electrical and Computer Engineering Problem Statement  Current advertisements must be physically printed and placed on every bus they are to appear on Waste of resources  Buses are cluttered with paper advertisements They do not catch the eye

4 Electrical and Computer Engineering Background/Motivation  Why Ads on a Bus? Buses travel on routes that go through the busiest expressways and cities Cover residential and commercial areas of the city not covered by billboards  More than 9 million passengers ride PVTA buses each year*  What if there was a way to choose specifically when and where to advertise? Lower costs for customers while maintaining exposure * Source: PVTA.com

5 Electrical and Computer Engineering Our Solution  A system in which advertisement display is based on time and location  Output the ads onto an LCD screen located inside of the bus  Incorporate a user friendly web site in which customers can: Purchase ad space Upload their own ads

6 Electrical and Computer Engineering For Example… On-bus advertisement

7 Electrical and Computer Engineering Requirements  Ability to change ads based on location, time, direction  Accurate GPS positioning  Must update frequently via Internet Internet connection may not always be present Update via bus Wi-Fi, public Wi-Fi  Clear, visible, high resolution display  Adaptable to other bus systems  Appropriate for a bus Durable, mountable

8 Electrical and Computer Engineering Requirements  Must run on bus power  Automatically distinguish between routes Buses may run different routes throughout the day  Website Will allow users to choose when/where to advertise and upload graphics  Host System Will organize advertisements and send to appropriate buses

9 Electrical and Computer Engineering Block Diagram Bus Host Server ITX Board Graphics Card Ethernet Wireless Adapter LCD Display SSD Update check LocationAd data Bus route data Website Advertisements CPU GPS User Input Ad Customer

10 Electrical and Computer Engineering  Intel Atom Processor MHz  Intel GMA 950 onboard video 2048x1536 at 75 Hz maximum resolution High Definition capability  Onboard LAN connection  2 GB DDR2 memory Intel Mini ITX Board

11 Electrical and Computer Engineering GPS - Garmin GPS 15L  WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) Accurate to within 3m 95% of the time  12 Channels Connect up to 12 satellites  Connects serially RS 232 interface  Good EMI/RFI performance ratings  Active antenna More expensive, better performance

12 Electrical and Computer Engineering Costs ItemCost Mini ITX Board$59.99 GPS Module$54.00 GPS Antenna$26.00 Wireless Adapter$19.99 LCD Monitor$ System Enclosure?? Total: ~ $300.00

13 Electrical and Computer Engineering Design Alternatives  Fully networked system No ads stored locally on bus Ads update regularly from Internet Reliable Internet connection required  Closed system – Manual Update No Internet connection Ads updated manually via serial connection  3G network based Subscription costs More reliable Internet connection

14 Electrical and Computer Engineering Challenges  GPS signal processing  Updating advertisements in real time  Maintaining Internet connectivity What if Internet connection fails for extended period of time?  Creating a user friendly website  Memory management  Creating a customer database MySQL

15 Electrical and Computer Engineering Team Roles  Website Design – Nicholas Cipriano  GPS signal processing – Ali Jameel  Networking – Jeremy Mestancik  Advertisement display/storage – Brian Simakauskas

16 Electrical and Computer Engineering MDR Deliverables  Ability to read GPS coordinates and display different images on LCD  Establish communication between host and client (bus) systems  Website with basic functionality Obtain a domain, server space