Project Background

One can communicate with a vehicles’ Electronic Control Unit through the vehicles’ OBDII port.  Using this method one can view information on a car such as mileage, mpg, fuel consumption and error codes.  One can also view the air/fuel ratio, timing and many other parameters to observe the performance of a vehicle whether it is for fuel economy or for speed.  This can all be done using a Scantool device that connects to the OBDII port and provides readouts to the user.  Normally this method is mainly used when the vehicle has a check engine light (CEL) lit.  The Scantool can read the data and show the user the error code that the OBDII port is throwing.  However, it is up to the user to now take the code and research what it means and how to fix it on their specific vehicle.  Now, there are ways to read these check engine lights and other data using your android powered device and connecting through a Bluetooth unit.  This method is very effective and allows the user to connect to the internet and find out how to solve their check engine light error. Also, there are applications that will use the android phone as a remote keyless entry system so that one may start, unlock, and lock their vehicle which is especially useful if the vehicle did not come with that feature pre-installed. The drawback to these applications is that there is not one application that performs both functionalities described above. Also both applications need a separate device to perform those specific functions, therefore if one wanted to have both applications, the vehicle may become cluttered with devices.  Finally, the main drawback is that they are expensive.  Unlocking and starting your car from an android device can cost upwards in the 300’s. 

We propose that we use an Android phone to do both functions in one application as well as one device that will connect to the OBDII port and be able to unlock, start and lock the vehicle in question.  And we also propose that this be done wirelessly and information may be sent wirelessly via Bluetooth connection so that the user will not need to have a wire running from their phone to the OBDII port on their vehicle.  This way one can have full control over their vehicle through their phone and look up trouble codes and how to fix them using the android phone connected to the internet. Also the user will be able to save the data that has been read from the OBDII port away into log files on the android device to be viewed later.  Logging data in this way will be a much cheaper and efficient way of keeping track of information on the user’s car and providing remote access to ones vehicle. The system will be able to read a multitude of data and erase error codes.  The system may also be able to start the car, wind down the windows and open the trunk depending on the vehicle.  A complete list of the specifications and requirements of this project will be discussed in the following section as well as a discussion about the motivations and goals for this project.