PARKING SENSORS |
Modern parking guidance systems are helping car park operators
ensure drivers have an easy and streamlined experience
Words | Patric Weis, CUR Systemtechnik, Germany
Above: The Internet
of Things helps
CUR Systemtechnik
streamline the
parking process by
updating users on
traffic flow around
car parks and the
available spaces
inside them
Controlling the flow of traffic
in overcrowded cities and
avoiding congestion and
frustrated drivers is the
major task of parking guidance
systems. They quickly guide visitors
to free parking spaces along the
roads, in outdoor parking areas
and indoor car parks.
Modern car park systems are able
to automatically monitor and control
occupancy rates by detecting cars
with parking sensors from either
above or below the parking spaces.
The communication between the
guidance system and the sensors is
crucial, but these can be outdoors
and difficult to reach. Unlike indoor
sensors, outdoor sensors usually
cannot be connected with cables.
A smart solution for this limitation
is using wireless technology via
Internet of Things (IoT) networks,
which directly integrate the sensors
into the computer-based parking
guidance system.
Smart solutions
The parking guidance software
Visual Control Center (VCC) from
194 Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2020
CUR Systemtechnik is able to
integrate outdoor sensors wirelessly
based on the Long Range Wide
Area Network (LoRaWAN) datatransfer
protocol.
The LoRa technology is optimized
for transferring small amounts of
data over long distances from a few
kilometers in urban areas to over
10km. LoRaWAN parking sensors
run on small, inexpensive batteries
for more than 10 years. In VCC, they
can be mixed with indoor sensors
that are usually connected via RS485
cable technology.
VCC detects critical traffic
situations and automatically reacts
by controlling displays, even if these
are located kilometres away from
the parking area. In modern systems,
this is also done primarily via
wireless IoT communication.
In contrast to sensors, outdoor
displays are usually connected
via LTE wireless broadband
communication because they need
a higher data transfer rate. In VCC,
these outdoor displays can also
be mixed with cabled RS485 or
Ethernet indoor displays.
Modular technology
The parking guidance system from
CUR Systemtechnik is based on a
modular and well-engineered sensor,
detector and display technology.
Besides its ability to communicate with
external third-party devices and traffic
guidance systems, it not only controls
the traffic inside parking areas but
also the traffic situation outside on
access roads in the urban area.
A key feature of the VCC is the
web interface. It offers a REST API,
which provides IoT communication
with external systems and thirdparty
outdoor devices. With this
programming interface, several car
park systems can be combined to a
master panel that coordinates the
traffic around the car parks. For such
requirements, CUR developed the
cross-platform browser framework
VCC Panel, which can be used in
control rooms to monitor traffic in
and outside the car parks. It can also
be used by web designers and app
developers to provide drivers with
information about the current traffic
situation and to calculate the trend
for the next few hours.
Recent installations
CUR Systemtechnik recently started
a pilot project in Stuttgart, Germany,
to integrate third-party LoRaWAN
Go wireless