User:JanetOrlene/sandbox

NorthStar is an Intelligent, Real-time, Child Safety and School Bus Tracking & Monitoring Solution using GPS+RFID+Webcam+SMS. It was conceived and born in June 2009, as the first product of Magnasoft's products group. The founders of NorthStar, Bobbie Kalra, Shyam Ramamurthy and Kunal Ashar, wanted to create a product that would (a) help parents get peace of mind about their children on school buses and manage their time better, and (b) help school authorities run safer, more efficient and cheaper transport services for their children.

After a year and a half of development in stealth mode, NorthStar was launched to the public, and schools across India enthusiastically began adopting it as a part of their transportation offerings. Today, NorthStar is available in most of the top schools in cities across India, including in Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nasik, Indore, Vishakapatnam and Nagpur, and in many more tier II cities across India.

Magnasoft is more than a decade old, and combines the power of GIS technology with extensive subject matter expertise to implement powerful spatial technology solutions that integrate seamlessly with the IT framework of organizations. From data capture and conversion, to application development, to Enterprise Integration and Photogrammetry, Magnasoft's expertise covers the complete terrain in spatial systems.

Magnasoft is mentored by Global Technology Ventures, a premier venture capital company.

WHAT IS NORTHSTAR?

Magnasoft NorthStar is a school bus and child safety, security tracking and monitoring system that is widely used by schools. It works with schools that have:

Fixed bus routes, and established pick-up and drop-off locations A set of varying bus routes, and varying pick-up and drop-off locations No fixed bus routes at all, and varying pick-up and drop-off locations A need to monitor the misuse of their fleets and reduce transportation and fuel costs No fixed routes or stops, but want NorthStar to provide predictable, accurate and efficient routes and stops Automatic attendance requirements to increase safety and efficiency Increased safety needs because of RTO or government requirements and regulations Limited resources for transport management, yet want to keep their buses and children safe Reputations to maintain with their parents, by providing international quality safety services International facilities, parents and children, who expect better quality of service

It uses both traditional and state-of-the-art tools, technologies, systems and processes to manage the safety and security of all its users, including:

Web-based tracking, monitoring, alerting and reporting A state-of-the-art "school bus black box" with sensors that work in real time A powerful, fault-tolerant "farm" of servers to process billions of bytes of information in real time 99.9% availability and uptime of services during schools hours A manned "Command Center" that monitors school buses and children during schools hours Instant alerts of times of arrival, delays, accidents, breakdowns over 5-second SMSs Automatic voice call alerts of times of arrival Live video of the inside of school buses to monitor children and drivers Automatic attendance both inside the bus and at school gates Integration with third party school management systems "Virtual Transport Administrator" to manage the school's transportation safety needs

WHAT IT DOES

Enables parents to receive instant SMS alerts when bus is within 10 minutes of the designated pick up and drop off points Notifies parents via SMS when the child boards and alights from the bus or enters/leaves the school Enables school authorities, fleet owners and parents to keep track of the bus online. Helps transporters and authorities to plan and manage the bus routes better, saving money and ensuring smooth and quick rides to the destinations. Sends instant SMS alerts to parents, authorities and transporters in cases of accidents Tracks the attendance of the child both on the bus and through the school gates Monitors the driving habits of drivers, and alerts school authorities of unsafe driving habits and trends Monitors the routes and stops that a bus takes, and alerts school authorities in cases of violations Monitors the misuse of the school bus and fuel, and alerts authorities in cases of problems Allows school authorities and parents to remotely view the inside of the school bus to monitor unruly children, misbehavior missing children and rash driving

HOW IT DOES IT

NorthStar integrates a "school bus black box" with sensors into the bus to ensure safety and security of your children while they are on board the bus.

The black boxes continuously (every 5 seconds) stream monitoring and tracking signals to the remote, integrated central server farm.

The data from the black boxes of buses is:

Analyzed in real time for violations, accidents, traffic jams, over-speeding, etc., Monitored for speed, fuel, route, stop and other changes, Scrutinized in real time to detect missing, truant or absent children Converted into SMS alerts that are sent to parents, authorities and transporters Stored or emailed as historical MIS reports for offline analysis Audited at the end of each day to rate and rank the best schools and drivers