Recently UTHM participated ITEX2018 and won Silver for a project entitled “Automatic Electromagnetic Radiation Level Detection and Monitoring System“.

Raqib will be one of the first IoT solutions for Hajj and Umrah developed by FAVORIOT, an IoT Startup from Malaysia.

Every year, more than 2.3 Million people will congregate to Mecca and perform their Hajj – most likely for the first time in their life. It’s expected during the 4-5 days of the peak period, pilgrims will travel from Mina to Arafah to Mudzalifah and Mina again, the place will be packed with almost 6 people per square kilometer.

In 2015 stampede tragedy, at least 1,621 people killed, as hundreds still reportedly remain missing. Iran says it had 465 pilgrims killed, while Egypt lost 182, Nigeria 168 and Indonesia 126. Others include India with 114, Pakistan with 100, Bangladesh with 92, Mali with 70, Senegal with 54, Benin with 51, Cameroon with 42, Morocco with 33, Ethiopia with 31, Sudan with 30, Algeria with 25, Ghana with 12, Chad with 11, Kenya with eight and Turkey with seven. Without proper identification, it’s very difficult to identify the victims.

For the first newcomer, this is a foreign place which can look very confusing with white tents all over the place and people wearing white robes for men and covered women. The Hajj authorities and Travel Agencies really had a hard time monitoring their own Jemaah.

There are two groups of lost people. The first consists of pilgrims that are lost temporarily and soon they find their families or go back to their own tour group. The second type consists of pilgrims that unable to return to their families because no one has come forward to search for them and these are handled by the police who take the necessary action.

Most people generally get lost between Asar and Isha prayers. About 40% of the total numbers of people lost are children. 35% are women and 25% are elderly people. Women easily get lost when they end up splitting up from their husbands or male relatives when going to pray in the women sections of the Grand Mosque. There are other factors such as overcrowding inside the Holy Mosque. Women generally get lost because stewards move them away from male prayer areas on to places designated for women. These women get separated from their families and end up losing their way .

Not many people that come from abroad are familiar with the Grand Mosque. Most cases that occur in the Grand Mosque tend to happen on the ground floor level. Very few people get lost outside in the courtyards. [Quoted from Arab News]

Raqib is the latest service from FAVORIOT to solve the problems pilgrims going to Mecca to perform their Hajj and Umrah. Problems such as missing pilgrims due to loss of direction in foreign places, people from all around the world with the danger of disease outbreaks, the complexity of managing a huge number of pilgrims, and the situation whereby cause anxiety to family members back home. Thus, Raqib provides a wearable device for pilgrims that can be monitored through mobile apps by their family members or through Pilgrim Monitoring System for the Hajj authorities or travel agencies