Cities rarely know how their collection fleet actually operates: which paths the trucks take, how long each round lasts or where delays occur. Air quality is measured at a few fixed stations, so most streets are never directly monitored. Fujisawa needed a way to capture both kinds of data without building a separate sensing network.
Refuse collection vehicles travel every street on a regular schedule, which makes them well suited to both route analysis and mobile sensing. Under the EU–Japan ClouT project, Fujisawa’s trucks were fitted with a custom sensor board running a Common Intermediate Language (CIL)-based virtual machine developed by NTT R&D, paired with a u-blox C027 mbed board for communication.
GPS positions were updated every second, and readings were sent over 3G every 30 seconds to a remote server using XMPP. Sampling rates could be adjusted as needed, and the data fed the ClouT platform.
The same data served two purposes. For the city, the per-second GPS record showed the actual path, distance, duration and stop pattern of each collection round, giving an evidence base for optimising routes and cutting mileage and CO₂ emissions. For residents, the air readings gathered along the way, such as pollen and PM2.5, were shared as street-level environmental information to help them decide when and where to spend time outdoors.
– Per-second GPS positioning of each instrumented vehicle during collection rounds
– Thirteen environmental parameters: carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, two further contaminant gases, dust, PM2.5, pollen, light, UV, temperature, humidity and ambient noise
– Data transmission over 3G every 30 seconds to a remote server using XMPP
– Custom sensor board running a CIL-based virtual machine, with a u-blox C027 mbed board for communication
– Adjustable sampling rates to suit operational and research needs
– Per-route records of actual paths, distances, times and stops, as a basis for route optimisation
– Street-level air quality information, such as pollen and PM2.5, shared with residents
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