THE PROBLEM:

We all have faced that when we reach a public place say a shopping centre, we end up seeing
a long line due to peak hours or maybe a weekend. We cannot do anything about it, either we
go home or we have complete our work. We usually go inside and line up. More and more
people come in and line up as going back home will be a waste of time, fuel, and also there is
no guarantee that when they come back some other time the line will not be as long.

THE SOLUTION:

Everyone has a phone now. Small devices can be placed connected to the internet which will
count the number of mobile phones present in a particular range using WiFi. Multiple devices
can be placed to cover a large area and all the people present inside and synced up to work as
one large mesh network. All the data collected would be analyzed and presented in a mobile
app in the form of ‘Number of people present currently,. The app will also track what time the
peak hours are and when the least amount of people come in. This will help people manage
their routines better and also help tourist to analyze how long will a location take to see and the
user does not have to do anything but open the app and look at the stats.

HOW WILL IT WORK:

Every device which has WiFi has a MAC Address which is unique in the entire world. The way
WiFi in phones/laptops work is by sending a request packet which includes the MAC Address.
It does not require any connection to the device to obtain that MAC address and we can use this
as a unique ID for each device in our program.

In a building where the WiFi enabled raspberry pi devices will be installed, those devices will
scan the MAC Addresses and send those MAC addresses to a database server. The server will
then count the amount of MAC Addresses present under the range of the raspberry pi devices
and provide that number of devices as number of people inside the mobile app.
ADVANTAGES

- Using MAC Addresses will eliminate the counting of a single device multiple times.
- Counting the devices does not require any specialized hardware or software in the user’s
device.
- The data provided will be realtime and will be logged to make an analysis about peak
hours and busiest days.

SIDE BENEFITS

- Multiple WiFi scanning devices will enable us to make a rough map of the movement
trend inside a building. For Example: Where are the most people going, How much
upgrade is required in the infrastructure at a specific place, Places the crowd is avoiding
which will help us identify the problems in that area and eliminate the problem.

- It can also help in checking threats near a restricted area. The devices can be identified
by the time they stay inside the range.

INSTALLATION

- The Raspberry Pi devices will be installed at hidden locations say the ceiling.
- Those devices will be connected to the main database server over the
internet using a wired or a wireless connection
- WiFi dongles will be installed in the devices to monitor the MAC
addresses.
- Multiple devices will be installed connected to the same network and
the devices installed in a specific area will be placed in a group to
make a larger radius of scan covering the entire room.
- That room then will be added to the app in form of a card as shown in
the picture.

THE MOBILE APP

A information will be provided in an app in the Google Play Store, The Apple
App Store and on a website.

- The mobile app will display the live counter of the devices available in
the area.
 - It will also show a graph of the number of people all day/week/month
showing what time or when in the week/month is the place busiest.
- We can also integrate the driving directions to the place using Google Maps API and can
accurately provide the time it will take us inside the place.

By: Mohammad Arham

DPS, Ranipur
Haridwar, Uttarakhand