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I have implemented an algorithm to detect the bus's route and its direction at the server side based on crowd sourcing. So there are two groups of users of the system:

  • The producer is someone who will ride on the bus and sent the essential data (latitude, longitude, speed, time) to the server.

  • The consumer is the waiting passenger who want to know where the location of the bus is.

I want to make a case difficult to occur so can I use impede in this context?

It must be noted if a car drives a bus route with the same behaviour, the algorithm will define the vehicle as a bus and try to detect its route and direction. But to impede this case, the number of the stops in the history table to define producer's behaviour as a bus of the Verkehrsbetriebe Halle (Halle Transport Authority) can be raised.

p.s: Behaviour means: The served stops by the producer's bus.

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  • "But (in order) to prevent this from happening"
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 11:09

2 Answers 2

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I would phrase it thus:

It must be noted that if a car drives along a bus route while exhibiting the same behaviour, the algorithm will define the vehicle as a bus and will try to detect its route and direction. In order to decrease the likelihood of this, the number of the stops in the history table that is used to define a producer's behaviour as that of a bus of the Verkehrsbetriebe Halle (Halle Transport Authority) can be raised.

I'd use the bolded phrase to produce the meaning you want. I also changed the passage a bit, although proofreading is off-topic here; the lang-8.com site is a good venue for proofreading.

Another variant:

It must be noted that if a car drives along a bus route while exhibiting the same behaviour, the algorithm will define the vehicle as a bus and will try to detect its route and direction. In order to prevent this from happening, the number of the stops in the history table that is used to define a producer's behaviour as that of a bus of the Verkehrsbetriebe Halle (Halle Transport Authority) can be raised.

One more version:

It must be noted that if a car drives along a bus route while exhibiting the same behaviour, the algorithm will define the vehicle as a bus and will try to detect its route and direction. In order to avoid this case, the number of the stops in the history table that is used to define a producer's behaviour as that of a bus of the Verkehrsbetriebe Halle (Halle Transport Authority) can be raised.

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    I think these three suggestions (prevent, avoid, decrease the likelihood) all work better than impede. A usage note in NOAD says: "Prevent suggests precautionary or restraining measures, and is also used to describe a nonhuman agency or cause that hinders something; Impede, on the other hand, means to slow the progress of someone or something by a deliberate act; it implies that obstacles are more serious and suggests that movement or progress is so slow that it is painful or frustrating." In an algorithm, words like prevent and avoid would work better than impede or hinder.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 11:55
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    @CopperKettle: I think the best one for my case is In order to decrease the likelihood of this since this behaviour can occur somehow and I am not able to prevent or avoid this case completely.
    – TheBook
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 12:16
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    These are all better than impede. However, I think the word that really belongs in that sentence is "detect" or "distinguish". The sentence is saying that the algorithm will use the number of stops on the route to distinguish between a car and a bus driving the same route.
    – user10365
    Commented Dec 23, 2015 at 12:30
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In addition to several good suggestions in CopperKettle's answer, I'd like to add a couple more ideas based on your comment (which suggests that you prefer In order to decrease the likelihood of this).

  • (But) to keep the number of this case low/at the minimum, the number of the stops ...
  • (But) to reduce the number of this case, the number of the stops ...

NOTE: Some speakers might want to avoid using two the number of's in the same sentence, but in my humble opinion, it's absolutely fine.

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