IoT-SmartParking

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About:

This is a group project developed for the Internet of Things (IoT) course of University of West Attica (UniWA).

This project expands on a pre-existing idea of automatically tracked parking spots that notify users of availability into a completely autonomous system used in private parkings (i.e. shopping mall parking).

The goal for the project is to be "endlessly" expandable while utilizing cheap and long-lasting sensors.

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Hardware Requirements:

Requirements for Sensor Node:

• 1 HY-SRF05 Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
• 1 ESP8266 Wi-Fi MCU
• 1 Arduino

Approximate Node Price ≈ 10-14€

Requirements for Gate System¹:

• 1 RFID Reader
• 1 ESP8266 Wi-Fi MCU

Approximate Node Price ≈ 10-12€

Requirements for Middleware²:

• 1 Raspberry Pi

Approximate Price ≈ 20-25€

NOTICE: There are many different types of sensors that you can use for this purpose. We choose the most affordable/efficient ones.

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Architecture:

IoT Architecture:

• The user can register their RFID card/tag on the system via the web application¹
• The user can check the parking availability at any time
• The gate system¹ sends the data for verification through the middleware²
• When a vehicle is detected or a parking spot is freed, the sensors will send the data to the middleware which will forward the data to the cloud
• The web application will automatically update the availability

Sensor Node Architecture:

• The nodes work independently
• Each node sends its own data to the middleware
• Upon reaching the middleware, it forwards them to the HTTP server

NOTE: In this project we are forwarding the data directly to the HTTP server

Indicative Use-Case:

1. User registers RFID card/tag on the system via the web application¹
2. User can check the web application for all available parking spots in the system
3. User arrives at a gate system¹ with a vehicle and scans the card/tag on the RFID reader
4. After the system verifies that the card/tag is valid/registered, it allows the user to enter the parking space¹
5. User parks the vehicle on any available parking spot in the system
6. System detects the vehicle and automatically updates the web application

Footnotes

1. The system does NOT NEED to have a GATE SYSTEM. It can also operate simply as a tracker for available parking spots. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. The middleware is not necessary as long as the sensors have IP protocol accessibility, thus we did not use it. ↩ ↩²