Milesight Beaver IoT-enabled Real-Time Bus Monitoring System

Background

At the 2025 Milesight Beaver IoT Hackathon, participants were challenged to develop real-world solutions using the Beaver IoT platform. SHN entered the competition with a project idea that modernizes Japan's long-distance bus transportation process with an IoT-based automation system, and emerged as the final winner for its innovative solution and meticulous attention to details.

Location: Japan

Milesight Partner: SHN

Challenges & Needs Analysis

Manual Data Collection

Drivers currently record passenger boarding/arrival numbers on paper at each stop. Paper records are later manually collected and compiled at depots.

Regulatory Reporting Requirements

Japan's Ministry requires detailed monthly reports from long-distance bus companies. The current manual process makes compliance reporting inefficient.

Limited Operational Visibility

There is no real-time monitoring of bus locations, passenger counts, or cabin conditions. Management lacks live data for fleet oversight.

Solution

SHN developed a Beaver IoT-based real-time monitoring system for long-distance buses that automates data collection and reporting. The solution integrates GPS tracking (UR35), passenger counting (VS121), environmental monitoring (EM300-TH), and interior surveillance (MS-C2973 IP camera) through a LoRaWAN gateway (UG65). All data is processed locally on the UG65 device to reduce infrastructure load.

The system provides depot and headquarters staff with a Japanese-localized dashboard displaying real-time bus locations, passenger counts, cabin conditions, and minute-by-minute interior snapshots. It automatically generates the detailed monthly reports required by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, replacing current manual paper-based recording methods.

System Architecture Overview

A diagram illustrates the Milesight IoT ecosystem. It shows various sensors and devices, including an environmental sensor (EM300-TH), a passenger sensor (VS121), an IP camera (MS-C2973-PD), an industrial router (UR35), and a LoRaWAN gateway (UG65). The gateway processes data locally. The system feeds into a database, generating a dashboard and monthly reports, with GPS data also integrated.

Devices

• EM300-TH: Environmental sensor that monitors cabin temperature and humidity in real-time.
• VS121: Passenger counting sensor. (Note: OCR text mentioned 'Pressure sensor', but context indicates passenger counting.)
• MS-C2973-PD: IP camera that captures interior snapshots (updated every minute) and records video to microSD.
• UG65: LoRaWAN gateway that processes GPS data and camera snapshots locally to reduce cloud load.
• UR35: Industrial router providing primary VPN connectivity via bus network, backup SIM for failover, and 2 available PoE ports for additional cameras.

Platform

Milesight Beaver IoT: Integrates real-time sensor data to power the monitoring dashboard and automate regulatory reporting.

Beaver IoT is Milesight's open-source IoT platform that lets users intuitively create unique IoT applications to collect, visualize, and analyze data, or custom develop integrations for extended possibilities.

[Learn more about Beaver IoT]

Results & Key Features

Automated Monitoring & Data Collection

Replaces manual passenger counting and paper reporting with real-time sensor tracking of locations, passenger flows, and cabin conditions. Provides a live dashboard with a Japanese interface for fleet oversight.

Regulatory Compliance

Automatically generates ministry-required reports. Eliminates manual data errors and processing delays.

Scalable IoT Architecture

Edge-based processing ensures reliability. Modular design supports fleet expansion and enables future sensor/feature additions.

Cost Savings

The solution brought tremendous monetary savings by drastically reducing manual labor.

Dashboard Insights

A screenshot of the real-time bus monitoring dashboard displays key metrics. It includes a map showing bus locations, gauges for cabin temperature and humidity, and numerical displays for 'Total Boarding Count', 'Passengers on board', and 'Total Alighting Count'.