A humanitarian intelligent level crossing controller utilizing GPS and GSM

Accidents at the unmanned railway crossings have always been a matter concern all around the world. This concern is further increased in India, due to its large population of the unmanned railroad crossings. Almost 40% of the level crossings present in India are unmanned. Hence this calls for an efficient, robust and stable automatic gate closure system. This paper proposes an intelligent level crossing controller (ILC) from a new dimension altogether. This is an innovative approach which combines the use of GPS (global positioning system) tracking system and GSM (global system for mobile communication) modem to accomplish an efficient gate closing at the level crossings. Detectors are also placed on the railway tracks which sense the arrival and departure of the train and also forward this information to the subsequent crossings. These detectors are also interfaced with the controllers present in the train to activate the motors at the gate accordingly. The system has been simulated and the results showed that the system has high speed, stability, accuracy, robustness, and flexibility. This ILC has been designed such that it is easy to apply this controller under most kinds of situations, locations and tracks.