Automatic Qiblat Direction Using PDA GPS

AUTOMATIC QIBLAT DIRECTION USING PDA GPS

NOOR BADAIUAH BINTI ASAN

This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication Electronics) With Honours

Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

UNZVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTROMK DAN WJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESARAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

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(HURUF BESAR)

mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini diiimpan di Perpustakaan dengan symt-syarat kegunaan seperti

1. Laporan adalah halanilik Universiti Teknilcal Malaysia Melaka.

2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja

3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran imtara institusi pengajim tinggi.

4. Sila tandakan ( 4 ) :

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*CATATAN : Jika laporan ini SULIT atau 'IERERD, sila lampirkan swat daripada pihak berkdorganisasi berkenaan

"I hereby declare that this report is the result of my own work except for quotes as cited in the references."

Signature

"I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is sufficient in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic Engineering (Telecommunication

Electronics) With Honous."

Signature

Special dedication to my loving parents, Hj. Asan bin Abdullah and Hjh. Minah binti

Sidek, for giving me birth in the first place, for unconditional support and

encouragement to pursue my interests, even when the interests went beyond

boundaries of language, field and geography. My best thoughts are extended to

my parents, who taught me that education is the rest duty of both parents and

children. Also to my siblings, my kind hearted supervisors Mr. Azmi bin Awang

Md Isa and Miss Nurmala Irdawaty binti Hassan, all lecturers in Faculty of

Electronics and Computer Engineering (FKEKK) and also to my dearest fiiend,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Alhamdulillah, all Praise to thank to Allah SWT the Almighty for giving me

the Rahmah to finish my Project Sarjana Muda successfully.

I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to all those who gave

me the possibility to complete this PSM. I am deeply indebted to my main supervisor

Mr Azmi bin Awang Md. Isa whose help, stimulating suggestions and

encouragement helped me in all the time of research for and writing of this thesis.

My sincere gratitude and many thanks goes to him for his endless support and ideas,

during which he has been patiently supervising my progress and encouraged me to

do this project the right way.

My sincere thanks are due to my second supervisor, Miss Nurmala Irdawaty

binti Hassan for her excellent advice and helped me not to get lost during the

development of this thesis. I also would like to express my deep gratitude to her

whose really supports me during the preparation of this thesis. Other than my

advisors, I would also like to thank the rest of my thesis committee, Faridah Azura

for her friendship and encouragement, who gave insightful comments and reviewed

my work on a very short notice.

Last, but definitely not least, I want to thank my beloved parents, Hj. Asan

bin Abdullah and Hjh. Minah binti Sidek for unconditional support and encouragement to pursue my interests. Lastly, to everybody that has been involved in

vii

ABSTRACT

The Qur'an states that Muslims must Solat (Muslim prayer) in the direction of

Mecca at certain times of the day. However, most Muslims have dificulty to perform

their duty when they are in traveling because there is no such equipment available to

determine the direction of Qiblat. Because of that, this project was developed for

Muslims to determine the cment Qiblat direction automatically by using Personal

Digital Assistant (PDA) or Pocket PC with Global Positioning system (GPS)

capability. This project can determine the current Qiblat direction automatically for

users, who are on moving vehicles (Mobile) such as airplane, ship, train etc or who

are in building (Static). For mobile condition, the Qiblat direction can be obtained by

pointing the PDA in fiont of the user or mobile vehicle direction and the arrow of the

compass will be pointing to the Qiblat automatically. For static condition, the Qiblat

direction can be obtained by pointing the device (PDA) at any direction. The

Graphical User Interface (GUI) based software has been developed using Microsoft

Visual Basic.NET. The GPS receiver provides information of users' current location

and the information will be synchronized with the developed s o h e in order for

the whole system to be operated correctly. This project is divided into 6 application

which is contains Prayer Times, Local Time, Location Info, Qiblat Direction,

Directional Finder and Calendar. This project focuses to improve the development of

Qiblat Direction, Directional Finder, and Calendar application. The other three

applications can be referred to '"Mobile Prayer Times for PDA Application" thesis by

Faridah Azura binti Yahaya. It is highly hoped that this system could facilitate

viii

ABSTRAK

Al-Quran menyatakan bahawa setiap Muslim wajib menunaikan Solat

(Sembahyang Muslim) menghadap ke arah Mekah pada waktu-waktu yang tertentu

setiap hari. Walau bagaimanapun, kebanyakan Muslim menghadapi masalah untuk

menumikan kewajipan mereka ketika perjdanan jauh kerana tiada peralatan untuk

menentukan arah Kiblat. Oleh kerana itu, projek ini telah di bangunkan untuk

Muslim mengetahui arah Kiblat semasa secara autornatik dengan menggunakan

pembantu digital persendirian (PDA) atau PC Poket dengan kebolehan Sistem

penentuan global (GPS). Projek ini boleh menentukan arah Kiblat secara automatik

untuk pengguna yang berada di dalam kenderaan bergerak (Mobil) seperti di dalam

kapal terbang, kapal, kereta api dan sebagainya mahupun yang berada di dalarn

bangunan (Statik). Bagi keadaan bergerak, arah kiblat dapat diperolehi dengan

menghalakan PDA di hadapan pengguna atau pada

arah

dan anak panah kompas tersebut akan menunjukkan arah Kiblat secara automatik.

Bagi keadaan statik,

arah

pada sebarang arah. Perisian Pengguna grafik antara muka (GUI) dibangunkan

menggunakan Microsoft Visual Basic.NET. Penerirna GPS akan memberikan

informasi kedudukan semasa pengguna clan informasi tersebut akan diseragamkan

dengan perisian yang dibina untuk membolehkan sistem tersebut beroperasi dengan

baik. Projek

ini

Waktu Tempatan, Maklumat Lokasi, Arah Kiblat, Pencari Arah, dan Kalendar.

Projek ini fokus untuk meningkatkan pembangunan aplikasi Arah Kiblat, Pencari

Arah, dan Kalendar. Tiga aplikasi yang lain boleh merujuk kepada tesis "Mobile

Prayer Times for PDA Application" daripada Faridah Azura binti Yahaya. Adalah

diharapkan sistem ini dapat memberikan peluang kepada pengguna Muslim untuk

CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE

PROJECT TlTLE

STATUS REPORT FORM STUDENT DECLARATION SUPERVISOR DECLARATION DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT ABSTRAK CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS LIST OF APPENDICES

I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Background

1.2 Project Objectives

1.3 Problem Statements

1.4 Scopes of Project

1.5 System Operations

1.6 Organisation of Thesis

n

Falaq (Astronomy) Knowledge's

Traditional Equipments

Falaq (Astronomy) Equipents

2.3.1 Theodolite

2.3.2 Compass with Telescope (Ushikata)

2.3.3 GPS (GARMIN GPSmap 76CSx)

Traditional Method to Determine Qiblat Direction

2.4.1 Istiwa

2.4.2 Constellation Method

Spherical Trigonometry

2.5.1. TheEarth'sShape

2.5.2. Great Circles, Antipodes

2.5.3. Parallels and Meridians (Lines of Latitude

and Longitude)

2.5.4. Cardinal Directions, Latitudes, and

Longitudes

2.5.5. Basic Spherical Trigonometric Fonnula

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

PDA with Built-In GPS: 5466-1 -ETEN x500

(Glofiish)

Advantages of PDA with Built-In GPS

Disadvantages of PDA with Built-In GPS

Wintec WBT- 100 Multi-Function (4-In- 1) GPS

Receiver

111 PROJECT METHODOLOGY

3.1 Overview

3.2 Definition of Qiblat

3.3 Determining Qiblat Direction

3.4 Concept of Qiblat Pole

3.6 NMEA - National Marine Electronics Association 33

3.7 How GPS Data String Reads 34

3 -8 Workflow Description 35

3.8.1 System Design 3 6

N

4.1 Introduction of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

4.1.1 Overview Visual Studio 2005

4.1.2 Objectives Using Visual Studio 2005 4.1.3 Creating a Pocket PC 2003 Smart Device

Application

4.2 GPS Setup

4.3 Program Development Cycle

4.3.1. Performing a Task on the Computer 4.3.2. Program Planning

4.4 Automatic Qiblat Direction

V PROJECT

FINDING

5.1

Last

5.2 Achievement for PSM Project 52

5.3 Results on Software 54

5.4 Application Using PDA with Built-In GPS 70

5.5 Analysis 72

5.5.1. Consistency of Global Positioning Systems

(GPS) 75

xii

6.1 Discussions

6.2 Explanation on Analysis 6.2.1. Qiblat Direction 6.2.2, Calendar Converter 6.3 Consistency of the GPS 6.4 GPSSignalErrors

6.4.1. GPS Signal inside the Building

6.4.2. GPS Signal inside the Moving Vehicles 6.5 Improvement and Suggestions

6.6 Conclusions

REFERENCES

xiii

LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE

PAGE

2.1 Estimation of the Difference Angle between the Qiblat and 16

Sunset Direction for Malaysia

5.1 Results of GPS Measurement in a Wide Open Area 76

5.2 Results of GPS Measurement inside the Mosque (Without 80

Electronic Compass)

5.3 Results of GPS Measurement inside the Mosque (With 83

Electronic Compass)

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

TITLE PAGE

A Simple Scheme of Sacred Geography in the Published

Text of the Kitab Al-Masalik of Ibn Khurradadhbih (3rd /

9th Century)

Qibla Indicator, Persian, 1 8'b Century

Overall Block Diagram of the S o m e Development with

PDA with Built-In GPS

Rubu' Muj ayyab

Theodolite

Learn How to Use Theodolite

Compass with Telescope (Ushikata)

GARMIN GPSmap 76CSx

Sun's Direction above the Ka'bah Show the Qiblat

Direction

Orion Constellation

(a) Al-Judah (Bajak / Ursa Minoris) (b) Polaris

Constellation

Finger Guideline for Angle Value

Great Circles, Small Circles, and Antipodes

The Spinning Earth.

(a) Parallels (Lines of Latitude, E-W) (b) Meridians (Lines

of Longitude, N-S)

Latitude and Longitude

The 5466-1 -ETEN X500-Glofiish Model

Wintec WBT-100 Multi-Function (4-In-1) GPS Receiver

Direction to Ka'bah

8 Conditions on Determination Qiblat Direction

Concept of Qiblat Pole

The Constellation of NAVSTAR Satellites and Their Orbits

Latitude and Longitude from GPS Data String

Work Flow of System Design

The Microsoft Visual Studio.NET Logo

Overall Flow Chart of Designing in Microsoft Visual

Basic.NET

Create New Project and Solutions by Using the New Project

Window and a Name for the Smart Device Application

Tools Required by Microsoft Visual Basic.NET

Deploy GPSolat Using Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC

Emulator

Program Developing Process

Flow Chart for Digital Qiblat Direction

Qiblat Arrow and Position of Ka'bah

Main Menu of Mobile Prayer Times and Qiblat Direction

Program

Second Menu for GPSolat

The Menu for Qiblat Direction

The Message Box for Qiblat Direction

Magnetic Qiblat Direction Program

Mobile Qiblat Direction Program

Menu for 'Direction Finder'

Mobile Direction Applications for 'Direction Finder' (a)

Previous Menu (b) Latest Menu

Save the Destination and Start the Mobile Direction

Application for 'Direction Finder'

The Direction and the Distance for the Magnetic Direction

Remove Destinations

Previous Gregorian to Hijri Calendar

Calendar, Date Converter Gregorian Date to Hijri Date and

Special Event

The Hari Raya Puasa / Aidilfitri Event.

(a) Help Menu Application (Emulator) (b) Text for Qiblat

Direction

GPSolat Trial Period Has Expired

Qiblat Direction on Mobile Condition (a) Blue Arrow

Shows the Direction fiom Vehicle Clockwise (b) Red

Arrow Shows the Direction from North Clockwise

Direction Finder on Mobile Condition (The Picture Shows

"You are now about 2.2km fiom tarnan tasek utama")

Distance between Kuantan, Malaysia-Mecca

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1 (Wide Open Area)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 2 (Wide Open Area)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 3 (Wide Open Area)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1, Pole 2 and Pole 3

Referring to Kaabah (Wide Open Area)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1 inside the Mosque

(Without Electronic Compass)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 2 inside the Mosque

(Without Electronic Compass)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1 and Pole 2 Referring

to Ka'bah (Qiblat) inside the Mosque (Without Electronic

Compass)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1 inside the Mosque

(With Electronic Compass)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 2 inside the Mosque

(With Electronic Compass)

GPS Testing Position Float at Pole 1 and Pole 2 Referring

to Ka'bah (Qiblat) inside the Mosque (With Electronic

Compass) xvi 65 66 67 68 69 69 7 1

7

xvii

6.1

L

Indoors

6.2 External GPS Antenna on the Roof and Has a Strong 95

Magnet at the Base for Affixing to a Car Roof

xviii

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

GPRS GMT GPS GUI

mu

s v s

USB

UT

WAAS

WLAN

W A N

General Packet Radio Service

Greenwich Mean Time

Global Positioning System

Graphic User Interface

International Astronomical Union

National Marine Electronics Association

Personal Digital Assistant

Ka 'bah in Makkah Saudi Arabia Random-Access Memory

Read-Only Memory

Selective Availability

Muslims Prayers

Space Vehicles/ satellites

Universal Serial Bus

Universal Time

Wide Area Augmentation System

Wireless Local Area Networks

xix

LIST OF APPENDICES

NO TITLE PAGE

A IEEE Conference Paper, APACE2007, Melaka. 102

B IEEE Conference Paper, International

RF

Conference 2006, Putrajaya, Malaysia

C Penentuan Arah Kiblat 112

D Langkah-langkah Penpiraan Qiblat 115

E Huraian Lokasi Masjid 116

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss about the project background, objectives and scope

of the project, problem statement, system operation and report structure.

1.1 Project Background

The Qur'an states that Muslims must pray in the direction of Mecca at certain

times of the day. For faithful Muslims, it was vital to be able to calculate the

direction of prayer towards Mecca. In the eariy centuries of Islam, Muslim did nat

have tools to determine the Qiblat with precision, Only from third century onwards mathematical solutions for determining Qiblat were available even then their use was not widespread.

A common instrument was the "Qibla Indicator", an adaptation of the

compass designed to indicate the direction of Mecca fiom other major cities. These

often incorporated similar features to the sundial. [I]

From 3rdl9th century onwards, Muslim astronomers working in the tradition

of classical astronomy devised methods to compute the Qiblat for any locality from the available geographical data. For them, the Qiblat was the direction of greater

determination of Qiblat according to this definition is a non-trivial problem of

mathematical geography, whose solution involves the application of complicated

trigonometric formula or geometrical considerations.

EGYPT

w

Figure 1.1 : A Simple Scheme of Sacred Geography in the Published Text of the

Kitab Al-Masalik of Ibn Khurradadhbih (3rd / 9th Century) [2]

However, mathematical methods were not available to the Muslims before

the late 2nd / 8th and early 3rd / 9th centuries, the Qiblat was not generally found by

computation anyway even after the mathematical solutions were available. This is

very well illustrated in the diagram below for Qiblat in the cities of Cordova, Cairo

and Samarqand. [3]

All the material above shows that the early Solat accepted some flexibility in

the determination of the Qiblat and that it was not determined with a compass

precision as the early Muslims did not have the tools to find that precision. In the

Shafie School, facing the direction of prayer is a necessary condition.

Figure 1.2 shows a "Qibla Indicator" which is used for finding the direction

of Mecca. The ornamental plate over the compass is engraved with the names of the

four cardinal points and with a scale of degrees. On the bottom of the compass-box

are engraved lines indicating the direction of the South point of the compass and

Figure 1.2: Qibla Indicator, Persian, 1 8h Century

The importance of the prayer in Islam cannot be understated. It is the first

pillar of Islam that the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned after mentioning the

testimony of faith, by which one becomes a Muslim. It was made obligatory upon all

the prophets and for all peoples. Allah has declared its obligatory status under

majestic circumstances.

However, most Muslims have difficulty to perform their duty when they are

in traveling because there is no such equipment available to determine the direction

of Qiblat. For an instance, Muslims traveling abroad on airplanes are still required to

perform prayers, even though they may encounter difficulties to do so due to high

velocity of the airplane and its orientation. Furthermore, Muslims need to identifjr

their current location in order to know Qiblat direction. It is extremely difficult to

determine the direction of Qiblat due traveling.

This project is divided into two major part; hardware and software. For

hardware part, the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with built-in Global Positioning

System (GPS) is used with the software developed using Microsoft Visual

Basic.NET. PDA with built-in GPS will give the information of the latitude and

longitude. Then, the program that have done develop using Microsoft Visual

Basic.NET will synchronize with the information of PDA with built-in GPS. This

project need to study on how to develop GUI-based software, which can determine

the current Qiblat direction with additional features that can be incorporated into

portable devices such as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or Smartphones with

1.2 Project Objectives

The

final

Positioning System (GPS) and Solat (Muslim Prayers). This GPSolat is divided into

2 main parts which is Automatic Qiblat Direction Using PDA GPS and Mobile

Prayer Times for PDA Application. This thesis covered the Qiblat Direction Using

PDA GPS application and carried out on the following objectives:

a) To improve and design an innovative system for Muslims to determine the

current Qiblat direction in real time automatically by using Personal Digital

Assistant (PDA) or Pocket PC with Global Positioning system (GPS)

capability.

b) To develop multi-function application such as directional finder, calendar,

converter Gregorian to Hijri vice versa, and etc.

c) To develop the GW-based software to make it user-friendly device.

d) To study how GPS works and the functionality of PDA with built-in GPS.

e) To commercialize the project with protection '30 Days trial license key' and

Help Menu.

1.3 Problem Statements

The importance of the prayer in Islam cannot be understated. It is the fkst

pillar of Islam that the Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned

after

testimony of faith, by which one becomes a Muslim. Performance of Solat five times

a day is mandatory to all Muslims. During performance of Solat, Muslims must turn

their face towards the Ka 'bah. It was made obligatory upon all the prophets and for

(0 Prophet!), We see your face turning to the heaven (For guidance). Now shall please you turn then your face in the direction of The Sacred Mosque; Wherever you are, turn your faces in that direction. The people of the book know we21 that this is the truthcfiorn their Lord And Allah is not unmindfirl of what they do. (Sura AI-Baqara, Jm 1: 144) [4]

Recently we are facing some confbsion regarding the methods of finding out

the direction of the Ka'bah. As far as my knowledge goes, this is the

first

confusion has appeared since the inception of Solat more than fourteen hundred

years ago. Moreover, this confusion is apparently confined to North America. I

strongly feel that a thorough discussion and deliberation in a congenial environment

is needed to remove the confusion once and for dl.

The main problem in Islamic astronomy is the accuracy of Qiblat (the

position of facing the 'Ka 'bah' during prayers), There were no accurate methods in

finding the Qiblat. Muslim astronomers and geographers starting from the 8th

century took up for best methods of Qiblat direction using the techniques of

measurement of geographical coordinated and trigonometry that they have acquhd

fiom the Greeks.

However, most Muslims have dificulty to perform their duty when they are

in traveling because there is no such equipment available to determine the direction

of Qiblat. For an instance, Muslims traveling abroad on airplanes are still required to

perform prayers, even though they may encounter difficulties to do so due to high

velocity of the airplane and its orientation. Furthermore, Muslims need to identify

their current location in order to know Qiblat direction. It is extremely difficult to

determine the direction of Qiblat due traveling.

The previous project has their disadvantages and this project will update and

recover their disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the previous of this project is

the Qiblat direction is only can be used on moving condition (Mobile) such as inside

moving vehicles, but not on static condition. When we in the static condition, we