Automatic Railway Barriers Security System Design using Inductive

Proximity Sensor based on Atmega 328

Eko Supraptono, Samsudi, I Made Sudana, Shohihatur Rohman, and Ervan Pradipta

Faculty of Engineering, Semarang State University, Indonesia

Keywords: Railroad Gate, Inductive Proximity Sensor, Arduino Uno

Abstract: The railroad-crossing gate is a safety measure for the passing train. Often accidents occur at the point of

railroad-crossing, due to the negligence of officers in opening the gate and bad ethics from other transportation

users. Therefore, it is necessary to use the automatic railroad-crossing gate as a security system. The automatic

railroad-crossing gate was made using a train imitation as a prototype of a real train, Atmega328

microcontroller, inductive proximity sensor and DC servo motor. The output of this device was opening and

closing the train door and the measurement of train speed. The experimental method was used in this study.

The observation was used to find out the results of train detection. In addition, the measurement of train speed

from the system was compared with manual measurement of speed. The tests were repeated for 10 times. The

automatic train crossbar was able to detect trains coated with metal, while the train which is not coated metal

could not be detected. The system was being able to display the measurement of the speed of the train.

However, there is a difference in the speed of manual calculation by the researcher as much as 1, 3 cm / s.

The difference was caused by the operation of the stopwatch in data collection process.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the modern era, technology is growing rapidly,

many technologies have been invented along with the

development of the era. The existing technology and

the newly invented technology can be combined to

produce more sophisticated technology to facilitate

human needs. In land transportation such as trains,

trains are rail transportation consisting of a series of

carriages pulled along the railroad to transport

passengers and goods. Train is classified as an

efficient land transportation, because it can transport

passengers and goods faster than other land

transportation.

Trains are a very influential land transportation in

the future, because trains are one of the land

transportation that is often used by the public.

According to data from the Central Bureau of

Statistics, 29,328 passengers were located in the

island of Java in December 2015 and has increased

every year, as of November 2017 train passengers

reached 33,798 passengers (bps.go.id).

The point of intersection of the road between the

railroads is commonly referred as the railroad -

crossing of a railway line, a railroad crossing that is

when the railroad intersects with the road (Regulation

of the Director General of Land Transportation

SK.770 / KA.401 / DRJD / 2005). The following is

data on railway level crossings on the island of Java

shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The list of level crossings on the island of

Java.

No. Partial Crossing Amount

1. Guarded Crossing 969

2. Unattended Crossing 2923

3. Wild Crossing 410

Total 4302

With the large number of the railroad - crossing

on the Java and the number of unattended and illegal

the crossing road, train accidents have become a

major factor at the level crossing.

Due to the number

of accidents that often occur at railway crossings, it is

necessary to create a railroad gate

to warn other land

transportation users, they

can stop before the railroad

gate to give the train a chance to run as stated in (Law

of the Republic of Indonesia No. 72 of 2009 regarding

Railway Traffic and Transportation).

The automatic

Supraptono, E., Samsudi, ., Sudana, I., Rohman, S. and Pradipta, E.

Automatic Railway Barriers Security System Design using Inductive Proximity Sensor based on Atmega 328.

DOI: 10.5220/0009011103410348

In Proceedings of the 7th Engineering International Conference on Education, Concept and Application on Green Technology (EIC 2018), pages 341-348

ISBN: 978-989-758-411-4

341

railroad-crossing gate is not only to replace human’s

job as a crossing guard, but also to reduce the costs

that must be incurred

for the salary of the crossing

road guard.

The automatic railroad-crossing gate is

also prioritized to maintain railroad crossings without

guard posts.

The previous studies on the automatic

railroad-crossing gate have used the automatic

railroad-crossing gate using infrared sensors (Sarnia

and Yusnita, 2015),

(Kumar et al., 2017),

(Krishnamurthi et al., 2015), (More et al., 2015),

(Pangestu., 2017: 282-291).

Detection using

ultrasonic sensors has also been performed (Firdaus,

2016) and optocoupler sensors (Santoso et al., 2013),

(Banuchandar et al., 2012).

Furthermore, the motion

detection has also been installed on the detection

system (Fayyadh et al., 2015). The results of the

detection of infrared and ultrasonic sensors are very

sensitive. Therefore, it has not been optimal in

detecting trains.

While, the results of detection using

motion detection are not optimal because the results

of the study are affected by the condition of light.

With some shortcomings of the previous studies

which are very sensitive to passing objects, sensors

that can detect trains specifically metal or iron to

detect trains are needed, because most cars passing

the railroad are made of metal or iron, with that

The

research employed proximity inductive sensors

atmega328. This present study investigated these

following aspects:

1. Proximity sensor as a detection of train arrival, so

that train detection can be more specific (can only

detect objects made of metal)

2. Train speed measurement system as the

information for vehicles crossing the railroad.

The aim of this study was to design a more specific

train detection system.

2 METHOD

The experimental method was employed in this

study.

According to Jaedun (2011: 5), the

experimental method is causal study whose evidence

is obtained through comparison / comparison

between these following things:

a. The experimental group (which receives treatment)

with the control group (which does not receive

treatment);

b. Subject condition before being given treatment

with after being given treatment.

Experimental study is also a study conducted

intentionally by researchers

by giving a certain

treatment / to the subject of the study in order to

generate an event / situation that was examined what

are the consequences.

The procedure of this study can

be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: the procedure of the study.

2.1 Arduino Uno

Arduino Uno is an arduino board that uses an

ATmega328 microcontroller.

The Arduino Uno has

14 digital pins (6 pins can be used as PWM outputs),

6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB

connection, a power supply connector, an ICSP

header, and a reset button.

Arduino Uno uses

ATmega16U2 which is programmed as a USB-to-

serial converter for serial communication to a

EIC 2018 - The 7th Engineering International Conference (EIC), Engineering International Conference on Education, Concept and

Application on Green Technology

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computer via a USB port.

The physical form of

arduino uno is shown in Figure 2 (Suyatno et al:

2017).

Figure 2: Arduino uno.

2.2 Inductive Proximity Sensors



Figure 3 Inductive proximity sensor.

The detection of the presence of

train employed an inductive proximity

sensor.

The inductive proximity sensor combined an

electromagnetic coil used to detect the presence of a

conductive metal object.

The sensor ignored the

objects that were not of metal.

An inductive sensor as

shown in Figure 3 is a non-contact electronic

switch.

Inductive sensors are used to detect metals

and graphite. Sensors were used for these following

things: monitoring and measuring speed speed,

sensing the final position and pulses of engine

rotation (Miftahu, 2013: 258-261)

2.3 DC Servo Motor

Servo motors are DC motors as appeared in

Figure 4 that have high quality.

This motor was

equipped with a control system.

In its application,

servo motors were often used as closed loop controls.

As a consequence, they can handle position changes

accurately as well as speed and acceleration

settings.

Servo motor wiring system consisted of

three parts: Vcc, Gnd, and Control (PWM).

(Dr.

Widodo Budiharto, 2013: 81-82)



Figure 4 DC Servo Motor.

2.4 Sensor Placement Design

Figure 5 shows the sensor placement design.

The sensor design placement to the passing train, the

inductive proximity sensor was placed on top of the

bar and faced the ground. Therefore, the sensor did

not get

interference from other objects which caused

the railroad crossing bar to close even though there

were not trains passing by,

the

sensor placement design can be seen in figure 5.

Figure 5 Sensor placement design.

2.5 The Design of the Railway

The security system design of the railway-

crossing bar employed

a mock train as the

object, using

three inductive proximity sensors as

the main sensors.

Each sensor had a distance from the

railway-crossing bar and each function for the

system.

The door bar will be driven by a DC servo

motor, the design of the design can be seen as shown

in Figure

Automatic Railway Barriers Security System Design using Inductive Proximity Sensor based on Atmega 328

343

Figure 6: The design of the door bar

2.6 Railroad-crossing Bar Design

The railroad - crossing bar as appeared in Figure

7 was the safeguard used at a railway crossing to close

the train track.

According to the Regulation of the

Director General of Land Transportation SK.770 /

KA.401 / DRJD / 2005, the railroad - crossing bar

must be equipped with

1. A flashing red LED signal or two red LED lights

that turn one alternately,

2. The sound signals or sign on lights that indicate

the direction of the train’s arrival.

Figure 7. The design of railroad-crossings in this

study.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The design of the system in this study consisted of

the manual and automatic system. The design of

manual system can open and close the railroad gate

according to the command of the manual button.

The

automatic design system can work automatically

without the need for commands from the humans or

guard of the railroad – crossings. The railroad –

crossing gate can open

and close automatically

using

three inductive proximity sensors.

The design of the automatic railroad – crossing

gate had two railroad tracks that expand for 30 cm,

and have two railroad tracks that form a semicircle

with the diameter of 36 cm.

So, the length of the

railroad track can be calculated by the following

formula:

The length of track = 30 × 2 + π × d

= 60 + 3.14 × 72

= 286 cm

Circling the railroad tracks with the length of 286

cm took around 13 seconds. Therefore, the train speed

can be determined as follows:

v = s / t → 286/13 = 22 cm / s

To operate the automatic system, the distance of

the sensor placement to the railroad crossing gate

must be determined, with the waiting time of the

system after the train is detected by sensor 1 until it

reaches the gate for 5 seconds, with a train speed of

22 cm / s,

then the distance of the sensor placement

can be calculated as follows:

s = v × t → 22 × 5 = 110 cm

The distance of 110 cm is a predetermined

distance from the railroad gate until the placement of

the first sensor. The time for the detection of the first

sensor 1 until the second sensor was 1.5 seconds. The

time required for the railroad-crossing bar closed until

the train reached the railroad-crossing bar was 3.5

seconds.

The distance of the sensor placement to the

crossing of the actual train crossing with the fastest

train on the island of Java is 80 km / hour based on

the data on train-api.info page (22 April 2015). The

website shows that the speed of the fastest trains

operating on the island Java is Argo Sindoro train

(Gambir - Semarang) with the speed of 445 km / h.

The train took within 5 hours 30 minutes from

Gambir to Semarang.

The desired time when sensor

1 detects the train is 5 minutes. It takes 1 minute 30

seconds for the sensor to detect the train, and 3

minutes 30 seconds then the train reaches the train

crossing. The sensor placement can be determined as

follows:

Sensor 1 detects trains

t = 5 minutes = 0.083

then, s = v × t → 80 × 0.083 = 6.64 km

EIC 2018 - The 7th Engineering International Conference (EIC), Engineering International Conference on Education, Concept and

Application on Green Technology

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Sensor 2 detects trains

t = 3 minutes 30 seconds = 0.058

then, s = v × t → 80 × 0.058 = 4.64 km

then from the calculation of the formula it can

be seen that the distance between sensor 1 and sensor

2 is 2 km.

3.1 Functional Test Results of the

Inductive Proximity Sensor

Functional test of inductive proximity sensor

aims to determine the level of accuracy of the

sensors in detecting trains.

The tests were

conducted 20 times. 10 tests used metal-coated

trains and 10 tests used non - metal coated

trains.

Each test was carried out by giving

different distance between the sensor and the

train.

Different distances between sensors and

trains were aimed to find out the maximum range

of the inductive proximity sensor. Table 2 shows

functional test results of the inductive proximity

sensor.

Table 2. Functional Test Results of the

Inductive

Proximity Sensor.

No.

Distance Train Detection

results

1. 0.1 mm Metal coated Detected

2. 0.1 mm Without

metal

Not detected

3. 0.2 mm Metal coated Detected

4 0.2 mm Without

metal

Not detected

5. 0.3 mm Metal coated Detected

6. 0.3 mm Without

metal

Not detected

7. 0.4 mm Metal coated Detected

8. 0.4 mm Without

metal

Not detected

9. 0.5 mm Metal coated Not detected

10 0.5 mm Without

metal

Not detected

11. 0.6 mm Metal coated Not detected

12 0.6 mm Without

metal

Not detected

13. 0.7 mm Metal coated Not detected

14. 0.7 mm Without

metal

Not detected

15. 0.8 mm Metal coated Not detected

16. 0.8 mm Without

metal

Not detected

No.

Distance Train Detection

results

17. 0.9 mm Metal coated Not detected

18. 0.9 mm Without

metal

Not detected

19. 1 cm Metal coated Not detected

20. 1 cm Without

metal

Not detected

3.2 The Functional Speed Test Results

and Train Speed Measurements

The functional tests of the train’s speed and speed

measurements were performed to determine the speed

control performance and if the train speed

measurement can function properly. Potentiometer

10 K 10 has been installed on the toy train, the testing

was performed for 10 times by changing the

predetermined resistance values: 10 KΩ, 9 KΩ, 8 KΩ,

7 KΩ, 6 KΩ, 5 KΩ, 4 KΩ, 3 KΩ, 2 KΩ, 1 KΩ on the

potentiometer to determine the difference in speed.

The functional test of train speed measurement

was conducted by using the design that has been

designed to detect train speed. This test was

conducted to determine the accuracy of the system in

measuring the speed of the train. The train

speed measurements generated from the system were

compared to the manual train speed measurement

using the calculation of this following formula v =

௦

௧

where s is the predetermined distance, the distance

between sensor 1 and sensor 2 is 30 cm, while t is the

time taken by the train to travel from sensor 1 to

sensor 2, in the calculation of the travel time from

sensor 1 to sensor 2 manually, the resulting time was

taken using the stopwatch. Table 3 shows the results.

Automatic Railway Barriers Security System Design using Inductive Proximity Sensor based on Atmega 328

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Table 3. The Results of speed testing and train speed measurement.

No. Resistance

Voltage

(Theory)

Voltage

(system)

Speed

Measurement

(theory)

Speed

Measurement

(system)

Difference

1 10 KΩ 3 V 2.9 V 22 cm / s 21.7 cm / s 0.3 cm / s

2 9 KΩ 2.7 V 2.7 V 20.5 cm / s 20.4 cm / s 0.1 cm / s

3 8 KΩ 2.4 V 2.4 V 19.3 cm / s 19.5 cm / s 0.2 cm / s

4 7 KΩ 2.1 V 2 V 18 cm / s 18 cm / s 0 cm / s

5 6 KΩ 1.8 V 1.7 V 16.9 cm / s 16.7 cm / s 0.2 cm / s

6 5 KΩ 1.5 V 1.5 V 15.2 cm / s 15.1 cm / s 0.1 cm / s

7 4 KΩ 1.2 V 1.2 V 14.5 cm / s 14.5 cm / s 0 cm / s

8 3 KΩ 0.9 V 0.8 V 13 cm / s 12.9 cm / s 0.1 cm / s

9 2 KΩ 0.6 V 0.6 V 12 cm / s 11.9 cm / s 0.1 cm / s

10 1 KΩ 0.3 V 0.3 V 10.5 cm / s 10.7 cm / s

0.2 cm /

3.3 The Results of the Performance Test

of the Design System

Testing of the design of the automatic railroad –

crossing gate system was an overall test of the design

system.

The testing of the design was conducted to

determine the performance of the automatic railroad

– crossing gate system. The overall design testing

was

carried out by running the system according to

the program, namely by passing the train through

sensor 1, sensor 2, and sensor 3 by testing it for 10

times with a fixed and unidirectional train speed.

This

test was conducted to find out the feasibility of

the

automatic railroad – crossing gate system. The result

of the performance test of the design system

explained in Table 4.

Table

4. Test results of the Work Design system.

No. Train Condition Train passes The gate system LCD display Buzzer

1. Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Watch out for trains" ON

Sensor 2 Closed "Train speed" ON

Sensor 3 Open "Please walk" OFF

2. Non Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 2 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 3 Open "Train crossing" OFF

3. Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Watch out for trains" ON

Sensor 2 Closed "Train speed" ON

Sensor 3 Open "Please walk" OFF

4 Non Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 2 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 3 Open "Train crossing" OFF

5. Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Watch out for trains" ON

Sensor 2 Closed "Train speed" ON

EIC 2018 - The 7th Engineering International Conference (EIC), Engineering International Conference on Education, Concept and

Application on Green Technology

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No. Train Condition Train passes The gate system LCD display Buzzer

Sensor 3 Open "Please walk" OFF

6. Non Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 2 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 3 Open "Train crossing" OFF

7. Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Watch out for trains" ON

Sensor 2 Closed "Train speed" ON

Sensor 3 Open "Please walk" OFF

8. Non metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 2 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 3 Open "Train crossing" OFF

9. Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Watch out for trains" ON

Sensor 2 Closed "Train speed" ON

Sensor 3 Open "Please walk" OFF

10 Non Metal – coated Trains

Sensor 1 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 2 Open "Train crossing" OFF

Sensor 3 Open "Train crossing" OFF

3.4 Discussion of the Functional Test

Results of Inductive Proximity Sensors

The results of the functional test of inductive

proximity sensor showed that the inductive proximity

sensor can only detect objects made of metal. While,

the sensor cannot detect the passing train that was not

coated with a metal.

The inductive proximity sensor

could only work with the distance of sensor to the

train = 0.1 mm - 0.4 mm, at a distance of 0.5 mm - 1

cm inductive proximity sensor could not detect the

train. Therefore, the maximum detection distance of

the inductive proximity sensor is 0.4 mm.

This

detection distance in line with the datasheet on the

inductive proximity sensor which stated that the

sensor can only detect metal objects with a maximum

detection distance of 0.4 mm.

3.5 Discussion of Functional Test

Results of Speed and Train Speed

Measurement

From the data regarding train speed control,

the results showed that the train could be controlled

by using a potentiometer.

The test was performed by

varying the potentiometer resistance value from the

highest resistance value to the lowest resistance

value, the train speed can change from fast to

slow.

From the results of train speed testing, the

highest train speed was at 10 KΩ potentiometer

resistance, a voltage on a dc motor of 3 V and has a

measured system speed of 21.7 cm / s with the

theoretically measured speed is 22 cm/s. On the other

hand, the lowest train speed is at 1 KΩ, the voltage on

the dc motor is 0.3 V and has a speed of 11 cm / s

while the theoretical measurement is 10.9 cm / s.

The test on the train speed measurement

revealed that there is a difference in the error on the

train speed measurements measured by the system

with the theoretical train speed measurement.

The

average of difference in the measurement results by

the system and theory is 1.3 cm / s.

The difference

from the results was obtained from the calculation of

the speed formula using the sensor then it was

inputted into the program and processed by arduino

uno microcontroller compared to theoretical speed

measurement by using a

stopwatch. The difference

was caused by the operation of the

stopwatch during

the manual train speed measurement.

3.6 Discussion of Research Results of

the Overall Performance of the

Design

The results of study revealed that the automatic

railroad-crossing gate could work according to the

expected system design.

The test was carried out by

using a metal-coated and a non metal – coated train

for 10 times.

The automatic railroad-crossing gate

opened and closed the gate manually and

automatically according to the programmed system.

The system could only detect the metal-coated trains.

When sensor 1 detected the train then the buzzer

was

active. The system started calculating the travel time

of the train until it reacheed sensor 2 and the LCD

displayed "watch for the train". When sensor 2

detected the train, it began calculating the travel time

from sensor 1 to sensor 2 and started opening the gate

and LCD displayed the results of train speed

measurement as "Train speed". When sensor 3

detected a train, the system waited until the train was

not detected as a sign the train has passed, then the

Automatic Railway Barriers Security System Design using Inductive Proximity Sensor based on Atmega 328

347

gate of the railroad - crossing opened and the LCD

displayed "please walk".

4 CONCLUSIONS

The design of the automatic railroad – crossing gate

using inductive proximity sensors based on

atmega328 could perform optimally. The results of

the inductive proximity sensor test showed that sensor

detection can only detect metal – coated object and

the maximum detection distance is only 4 mm. The

results of adjusting the train speed using a

potentiometer can also work well and the train speed

measurement system obtained more accurate results

compared to manual calculations. The results showed

that the system and manual speed measurements had

an average difference of 1.3 cm / s. The overall

performance testing of the design system showed that

the system could work optimally. This design has a

manual operation to open the gate manually when you

want to open the gate manually during a system

failure.

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Application on Green Technology

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