Udupi: A group of the final year electronics & communication engineering students of Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute of Technology & Management (SMVITM) Bantakal, have designed an alarm system that can monitor the vehicle condition during travel.

Accident while driving on the road is a primary concern for everyone. Vehicles which are large in size, such as truck and other loaded vehicles, have some drawbacks while driving. In such vehicles, there are some points known as 'blind points', which are not visible from the driver’s seat. Sometimes, even if an object is very near to the vehicle, it may not be visible to the driver. This is called a 'blind spot'. Due to fog and rain, obstacles and other vehicles may not be visible to the driver. In such cases, there is a very high chance of accident taking place. During night time, if the driver feels sleepy, accident can happen. Nowadays, another common reason for accident is drunk driving.

In order to prevent accident due to the above mentioned reasons, the alarm system was designed and developed by the final year E&C Engineering students Pavan Acharya, Sahana S, Shishir and Suthesh Bhat, with the guidance of assistant Prof Arun Upadhyaya.

In this system, several ultrasonic sensors are mounted around the vehicle to detect objects nearing the vehicle, and alert the driver through voice messages and LCD display kept in front of him. Alcohol sensor is mounted near the driver seat so that if the driver has consumed alcohol, then the vehicle does not start; or if the driver consumes alcohol while driving, then the engine automatically stops. The system also has temperature sensor to detect excessive heat in the engine, and thereby prevent a possible fire. Even after these precautions if the vehicle meets with an accident, then the system automatically sends message to the emergency number with the location information.