Fortunate innovation

Integral has developed an information system with GPS navigation for public transport

Modern public transport, especially in the capital, starts to get more and more various electronics and automation. For passengers, it is already a common thing that the names of stops are announced not by the driver, but by an automatic informant. Thanks to LED panels with numbers and names of routes, it is easier to navigate in the dark. The process of technical improvement continues. Recently, the Elektronika factory (a branch of the Integral holding) has developed an electronic information system for urban transport with GPS navigation. Its feature allows to independently determine the location  of a bus or trolleybus and inform passengers about it both in text and voice. The MT reporter learned the details.

Colour, sound and navigation

The Elektronika factory has been engaged in transport displays production for about 20 years. Now one can see models of the new generation on the streets of the capital this year. They have LED matrices with a very small pixel pitch — 6-10 millimetres, which allows one to use different types of fonts, load any characters and use many other effects in the electronic display. Two hundred fifty-six colours and their shades are available.
“We offer the end user, that is, the vehicle fleet or the owner of the bus, to choose the colour scheme themselves. Let’s say that in the regional centre of the Gomel Region people want the route number to be displayed in white letters on a black background, but the employees of the suburban routes of the Grodno Region — in blue,” says Ruslan Bogoslav, Head of the Marketing and Sales Department of Integral JSC.


Electronic displays are provided with software and a navigation system. With their help, stops will be announced automatically according to GPS coordinates: if the stops coincide in reality and according to the map in the device’s memory, an audio message will immediately turn on. Automatic informants are already used in public transport, but they do not always work in conjunction with other electronic elements, so when approaching each stop, the driver still has to turn on the electronic informer manually. Andrey Boldyrev, Leading Software Engineer of the Design and Technical Department of the Elektronika factory explains, “Approaching the stop, the driver presses a button — the passengers hear the corresponding name. Imagine the situation where the driver somehow got distracted, for example, to sell a ticket, and forgot to turn on the autoinformer, so the sequence of names went astray. Mistakes were fixed in the new system. Every vehicle has its own GPS receiver today. It is connected to the control panel, in which the actual maps of the city are pre-installed. The coordinates of the area obtained from the receiver are correlated with the remote control memory, and in case of a match, a sound informant is triggered. Thus, the driver is relieved from additional functions. He or she will be able to focus on issues such as, for example, the safety of passengers, their entrance and exit, and traffic flow.”
Other elements of the system also contribute to security issues. It is possible to display a special sign in the back of the bus that will show whether passengers are still entering or exiting. In addition, the autoinformer will turn on 10-15 metres before the bus arrives at the bus stop, so people can prepare for the exit in advance. This is a significant advantage in the context of the growing number of cars in cities.
By the way, the improved system does not cancel the manual control. The driver himself will be able to announce stops in an emergency situation. 

Achieve success through pricing and quality 

Factory tests of new items have already taken place. The equipment was installed on a MAZ bus and tested around the city. The professionals checked the proper work of both the colour display and the automatic announcement of stops. The driver was satisfied — finally he could just drive the bus without being distracted by pressing buttons! In the next few months, a set of technical tests is to be completed, after which mass production of the systems can begin. In the future, Integral employees will create a city transport management server that can be included in the Smart City system. An information system with navigation for public transport has been developed as part of import substitution. Currently, buses and trolleybuses have Russian-made information systems with support for GPS navigation. However, the Belarusian development has all the prospects to compete with them. The press service of Minsktrans confirmed that there is interest in the creation and development of domestic electronic systems for public transport. Foremost, there is an idea of creating developments that could improve the quality of passenger service, relieve the driver from additional functions and increase the level of passenger safety.

By Yelena Kozlovskaya
Photos by Yury Mozolevsky