Student develops mobile app to monitor driver behaviour


23 Jun 2009

A student at NUI Galway has developed a system to remotely monitor driver behaviour using GPS and accelerometer functionality on off-the-shelf 3G mobile handsets.

The system developed by Kevin Burke from Athenry has won the Accenture Academic Innovation in Computing Award.

The prototype system is capable of detecting when and where drivers exceed driving speed limits and potentially identify when they execute dangerous driving manoeuvres.

The developed system, which was tested using handsets and network services sponsored by O2, also allows a user to monitor the occurrence of such events on an intuitive Google Map interface.

Kevin’s final-year project supervisor, NUI Galway lecturer Liam Kilmartin, said: “What Kevin has very cleverly done is to capitalise on existing technology and take this functionality into another realm.

“The project is highly innovative and has great commercial potential. Kevin worked very closely with an Enterprise Ireland-funded research team here at the College of Engineering and Informatics, so we are looking forward to seeing if and how this type of technology application can be developed further towards commercialisation,” Kilmartin added.

Burke was one of eight short-listed national finalists in the competition, which is open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students who have developed an innovative software solution as part of their studies.

The winning submission was based on Kevin’s final-year project as part of Electronic and Computer Engineering at NUI Galway.

By John Kennedy 

Pictured:  NUI Galway student Kevin Burke, winner of the Accenture Academic Innovation in Computing Award, with Ian Cassidy, senior executive, Systems Integration and Technology, Accenture