Parking Management System Using Mobile

Application
Michel Owayjan1,2, Bahaa Sleem2, Elio Saad2, and Amer Maroun2
1
Department of Mechatronics Engineering
2
Department of Computer and Communications Engineering
American University of Science & Technology
Beirut, Lebanon
[email protected], {bahaa.sleem, elio.saad.94, amer_maroon}@hotmail.com, [email protected]

Abstract— In recent years, malls containing a concentration of Implementing advanced parking guidance system significantly
shops and restaurants flourished in cities all over the world. This reduces time at the parking. The infrared sensors used in this
concentration is the cause of problems in parking spaces and system check the status of the lot and send the information to
traffic jams. This paper introduces a parking management the AVR controller (Atmel, San Jose, CA, USA). The AVR
system using mobile application to address the parking problems
sensor senses the existence of a car at the parking space and
in malls. The contribution in this system is two folds. The
hardware part which consists of custom-made sensor units based displays the information on LED screen for the user. It leads to
on a phototransistor with an infrared transmitter that is reducing the time for the driver to find an empty space and
responsible for determining if a certain parking space is occupied reducing the chances of entering into the wrong space which
or free. The units connect to a central controller wirelessly using might lead to traffic jam. Moreover, Wanner et. al. [4] present
Arduino microcontrollers with Ethernet shields. The central a wireless sensor network solution is discussed for parking
controller is a server hosting a database that is accessible through management system. In [5], an interface between software and
the developed mobile application. The mobile application is hardware module for car parking management systems is
developed using the Eclipse IDE and runs on the Android provided. This system provides an advanced management for
platform. It connects to the database using JSON (JavaScript
cars and leads to a secure and organized parking. Many tests
Object Notation) format. The users are able to use this
application when they enter the mall. They can locate free and experiments are implemented to show the viability of this
parking spaces, check the parking fees, locate their cars, and smart parking system. Academic and industrial communities
even pay using the mobile application. A prototype for a parking are very interested in wireless sensor networks that can be
mall is developed and tested. The functionality of the system is implemented in different settings to get information and use in
also tested and the results are encouraging. different systems [6].
A vision-based automated parking system to describe a
Index Terms— Parking Management System; Mobile situation of managing a parking area is used in [7]. The system
Application; Arduino; JSON; Proximity Sensor. depends on coordinates in order to detect the free spaces and
I. INTRODUCTION indicate their locations. The functionality of the system for a 4
space car park is shown. After implementing the system, it is
In the past few years, cities in all countries are concluded that this system is able to detect the free places and
experiencing a huge growth in the number of cars used for indicate their locations in the parking area [7]. O'Donovan et al.
transportation [1]. A general trend toward increased mobility [8] proposed a system that could be used to monitor cars in a
and the concentration of shops and restaurants in malls have parking area. The driver can be informed, using this system,
created parking problems and traffic jams. Frustration with about the number of free parking spaces and their locations.
parking is a major concern for all stakeholders involved [1]. Problems caused by implementing the wireless sensor network
Parking Management Systems were developed to help people system in parking areas are explained, and solutions are
find parking spots quickly, thus reducing traffic jams and the proposed. On the other hand, Jin et al. [9] proposed a solution
resulting frustration, and enhancing the visitor’s experience for the security issues available at the parking systems and
[1]. eliminated the need of user interaction to simplify the parking
Yanfeng and Cassandras [2] show the importance of procedure. The near field communication technology is used in
parking management as a policy tool in suburban downtowns, order to identify the user’s car.
especially in north-eastern Illinois. First, they compare Gwo-Jiun et. al. [10] validated the use of wireless sensor
conventional parking policy to actively managing parking. networks by developing SPARK: Smart Parking Management
Then they discuss the success of the parking management in System. The system possesses advanced features, such as
downtown using the key strategies taken in Oak Park. Wanner remote parking monitoring, automated guidance, and parking
et al. [3] gives an advanced solution for managing and finding reservation mechanism. Hirakata et. al. [11] developed Spot
free parking lot and guides the user to the car in order to deal and Park, a parking and event management system. It provides
with the traffic and parking management problem. a way for users to find parking using their mobile devices. The

978-1-5090-6011-5/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

system is composed of three main parts: the mobile web- reduce traffic at the entry gate of each floor, because after
application, the database, and the admin website. The user getting this information the client can choose the floor with
interface is adapted based on the user type, of which are three: fewer cars at the entry gate and also in the floor itself. When
visitor, staff/student, and admin. the client decides in which floor he/she can park his/her car,
The next section in the paper introduces the proposed he/she uses the “choose floor” button available on the
solution which is a parking management system using mobile application to choose the floor at the application so he/she can
application. Then, the materials and methods used in the design enter the parking. This method allows the owner of the parking
and development of the system are described. Afterwards, the to benefit from reducing the traffic at the entrance of his/her
results of the testing of the system are discussed along with parking.
conclusions and future works. When the client enters the parking, a map appears on
his/her mobile application showing him/her the empty and full
II. PROPOSED SOLUTION places in this floor so the client can choose one of the free
The objective behind introducing this system is to have a spaces to park his/her car. When the client parks his/her car,
well-organized parking system. The system automates the the time is saved into the database to calculate, at the end, the
parking process. When a user reaches the parking, he/she will time spent by the client at the parking lot and tell him/her about
be automatically connected to the parking network, the amount of money related to this time. The time at which the
establishing connection between the client mobile and the user enters the parking is taken from the web server in order
mall/center network. Starting with the gate; the gate could be not to let the user change the phone’s time and cause problems
controlled by the application where the user can open the gate to the system. When the client decides to leave, the navigation
before entering and leaving. Note that the existing parking starts to show him/her the road in order to reach his/her car.
system is maintained, which means that if there is a user that This method is used by taking the distance from the mobile
does not have a smart phone, he/she might use the existing phone of the client to three routers in order to locate the user
system. Furthermore, the user checks the application for a and then let him/her move step by step to his/her car. Using
vacant parking space. Moreover, the space where there is a car this method, the client does not spend a lot of time to find
parked is also shown. The user chooses a place to park, and his/her car; he/she simply pushes the “find my car” button and
he/she is able to see this location on a real map showing the the navigation starts till he/she reaches his/her car
exact place and whether it is close to the elevator or to the
section that he/she is visiting. The user is just allowed to
choose one space which is reserved for the user and is shown
in blue, differentiating it from other spaces. After choosing a
location, a timer records the time spent at this mall. The user is
allowed to choose the time interval he/she wants and is
notified as soon as this time interval ends (e.g. one hour).
Every one hour, the user is notified that he/she has parked for
one hour and specific amount of credit is withdrawn from
his/her account. Note that the user must buy a prepaid card to
pay his/her parking fees. After spending a long time at the
mall/center and when the client decides to leave the mall,
he/she simply clicks on “find my car” button.

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS

The project fundamentally consist of two parts, the user
interface part (the android mobile application), and the control
part. To design a parking system, the project should be divided
into stages; each stage is related to the steps that the client
should follow in order to benefit from the system. Those parts
are related to each other in order to have a coherent system that
facilitates the client’s problems (Fig. 1). At the entrance of
every parking, due to the ticket dispensers, the number of cars
Fig. 1. System design.
waiting in queues increases and causes traffic. That is why
calculating the number of cars waiting at the entrance gate, the At first, the circuit of the sensor and the amplification part
number of clients at the parking searching for a place, the of the distance covered by the sensor are made very small and
number of clients who have found a place and the number of simple to be able to sense the existence of the car. The value
clients that exit the parking has been worked on. This allows of the sensor is sent to the router using Arduino and Ethernet,
the new client to know about the number of clients waiting and in order to be read from the application. At the application
searching at each floor so that he/she can choose at which floor stage, the work begins by receiving the number of cars at the
he/she can park his/her car. This method is used in order to entry gate and the number of cars in each floor to be displayed
at the main activity of the application. This work is done using telling the client that he/she is not at the entry gate of the
JSON that allows the application to read a certain string from parking so the gate does not open. Then, the range covered by
the web using a router. JSON: JavaScript Object Notation is the sensor available at each lot is specified in order to
an open standard format that transmits data between a server eliminate any conflict with the other lot’s sensor.
and web application, as an alternative to XML. When a client enters the parking lot, the system checks if
The “choose floor” button allows the user to choose in he/she is an old or a new user. The SQLite database in the
which floor he/she can enter. The design of the map shows the mobile application is used to create a database for the
client if each space is free or reserved, and at the same time it application itself. This database consists of saving the
lets him/her choose the space where he/she can park his/her information (especially the time left that is related to his/her
car. When the client parks his/her the current time is taken amount) about the client when he/she enters the parking for
from the web server and then saved at the application to be the first time. When he/she enters the parking next time the
used later for the payment method in order to calculate the system checks if the database is empty so the client is new, or
time spent by the user at the parking so the team is able to if it is filled with specific information the client is an old user.
deduct money from the user’s account. After choosing his/her In addition, a web server database is created to save all the
space, the client fills certain information (first name, middle information of all the clients entering the parking. This work
name, last name, phone number and plate number) to be saved is done by using JSON in the android eclipse to communicate
in the web server database using Wamp server in order to have with the server. When the client chooses the space where
certain references for each user. This helps the owner to he/she decides to park his/her car, a code is written to check if
contact his/her clients if something wrong occurs at a specific the sensor of this space has changed its value from zero volt to
situation. Wamp Server: is a windows web development five volt to verify that the client has really parked at this
environment. It allows creating web applications with PHP. specific space. This is done by communication between the
The user is given a certain time that is free of charge until Arduino and the mobile application. If the value of the sensor
he/she parks his/her car. Then the application asks the client to related to the space chosen by the user is 1 at the Arduino
recharge his/her amount by buying a recharge card and filling code and at the same time it has the value “true” on the eclipse
the code number at the corresponding field in the application. code, the system allows the user to continue using the system.
Each hour costs the client a certain amount of money. A fee of Concerning the payment method, a database is created
1000 L.L. is used for each one hour as an example. The client using the Wamp server, containing all the recharging codes to
is notified about the remaining time, especially when this time be compared with the corresponding one entered by the client
is less than an hour so he/she is able to reach his/her car and and verifies that it is valid and not used before. If this code is
leave the parking before the end of his/her remaining time, used before, an error message appears on the phone screen
and if the client decides to stay at the parking, he/she can telling the user that the code is wrong and asks him/her to
recharge his/her amount again. The time left is saved in the enter another code. In addition, while the client is at the
database to be used when the client comes back again to the parking, he/she receives notifications telling him/her about the
parking. remaining time especially when this time is less than one hour
Concerning the navigation, when the client decides to go to to give him/her time to recharge again his/her amount or exit
his/her car and leave the parking navigation starts to guide the parking.
him/her to his/her car. At first screenshots of the parking are
taken and the road for the client to follow in order to reach IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
his/her car is marked. After that real triangulation consisting Before the whole project is tested, each of the hardware
of finding the place of the client using routers, then calculating and the software is examined. The sensors implemented, the
the distance between the client and the routers in order to Arduino microcontroller interfacing with the sensors, and the
guide him/her step by step to the car is made. When the client software parts are tested to be sure that everything is
reaches his/her car and goes to the exit gate, the application functioning and performing the desired task. The project was
asks him/her to push the “open barrier” to leave. At this stage, tested on a mock-up that is formed from two floors where
verifying that the client has paid the amount of money related each floor is capable of having six cars to be parked. The
to the time spent at the parking is checked. If not, the moment the user is connected to the mall/center Wi-Fi, he/she
application asks the client to go back and recharge his/her is capable of examining the parking lots from his/her cell, able
amount to be able to leave the parking. to manage the parking fees and determine the location where
In a parking system, it is very important to take into he/she has parked the car, all using the mobile application.
consideration the measurement side of the project. At first, it Once the client is present in the mall/center, before getting
was very important to validate the existence of the client at the connected to the mall/center Wi-Fi, the system takes the
entry gate of the parking, so the area covered by the router to permission to establish this connection. After the client’s
cover the entry gate is reduced, so when the client presses the agreement, if the client is a new user (Fig. 2), he/she must
“choose floor” button, a specific code is written to check if the enter his/her initials (first name, middle name, last name, plate
mobile phone of the client is connected to the router available number and phone number), otherwise he/she is automatically
at the parking before allowing the gate to open. If this mobile recognized as an old user and skips this stage. In the built
phone is not connected, a message appears on the application model, matchbox cars for trial and for demonstrating the
functionality of the system are used. When a car arrives to the admin features on the mobile application to allow adding,
parking lot, the sensor is activated. Accordingly, the sensor deleting and editing events, as well as changing settings can
status is updated in the database and shown in the mobile each be done (password reset, change email address, etc.). Lastly,
time the application is running, and, automatically, after every the project could be modified in a way to apply navigation in
time interval the client is notified of the time spent at the mall the parking, using Wi-Fi triangulation in order to make the
and notified of the amount of money withdrawn from his parking process easier.
account. The sensor status in the recognition process is based
on the Arduino microcontroller that sends the data to the REFERENCES
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