Sensor fusion for transit applications

A control unit associated with a transit system, wherein the control unit comprises:

• an interface unit operable to perform the following:
• receive sensor data from a plurality of sensors in the transit system, wherein the control unit is communicatively coupled with the sensors, and wherein each sensor-specific portion of the sensor data includes at least one of the following:
• a sensor-specific passenger data defining one or more attributes of a user availing a transit service in the transit system,
• a sensor-specific vehicle data defining one or more attributes of a transit vehicle associated with the transit service, and
• a sensor-specific station data defining one or more attributes of a transit station associated with the transit service;
• a memory for storing program instructions and the sensor data received by the interface unit;
• and
• a processor coupled to the interface unit and to the memory, wherein the processor is operable to execute the program instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the control unit to:
• combine received sensor-specific passenger data to generate a system-specific passenger data, received sensor-specific vehicle data to generate a system-specific vehicle data, and received sensor-specific station data to generate a system-specific station data,
• analyze the system-specific passenger data, the system-specific vehicle data, and the system-specific station data, and
• perform at least one of the following based on the analysis of the system-specific passenger data, the system-specific vehicle data, and the system-specific station data:
• facilitate management of passenger-handling capacity of at least one of the transit station and the transit vehicle,
• dynamically plan a trip for the user availing the transit service,
• facilitate detection of fraud for the transit service, and
• dynamically plan a route for the transit vehicle.

A transit system comprising:

• a plurality of sensors to provide sensor data;
• and
• a control unit that is communicatively coupled with the sensors and adapted to implement a method comprising:
• receiving the sensor data from the plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor-specific portion of the sensor data includes at least one of the following:
• a sensor-specific passenger data defining one or more attributes of a user availing a transit service in the transit system,
• a sensor-specific vehicle data defining one or more attributes of a transit vehicle associated with the transit service, and
• a sensor-specific station data defining one or more attributes of a transit station associated with the transit service;
• combining received sensor-specific passenger data to generate a system-specific passenger data, received sensor-specific vehicle data to generate a system-specific vehicle data, and received sensor-specific station data to generate a system-specific station data;
• analyzing the system-specific passenger data, the system-specific vehicle data, and the system-specific station data;
• and
• performing at least one of the following based on the analysis of the system-specific passenger data, the system-specific vehicle data, and the system-specific station data:
• facilitating management of passenger-handling capacity of at least one of the transit station and the transit vehicle,
• dynamically planning a trip for the user availing the transit service,
• facilitating detection of fraud for the transit service, and
• dynamically planning a route for the transit vehicle.