International Journal of Advances in Applied Sciences (IJAAS)

Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2021, pp. 107~114

ISSN: 2252-8814, DOI: 10.11591/ijaas.v10.i2.pp107-114  107

iPark: automated smart parking system

Rahman Atiqur
Information and Communication Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, P. R. China

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: Parking problems became ubiquitous and are growing at an alarming rate in
every major city. It causes parking problems which cause a traffic jam,
Received Jun 27, 2020 driver’s frustration, and pollution. One time we visit different public places
Revised Feb 4, 2021 for example shopping center, multiplex movies hall & lodging house during
Accepted Mar 11, 2021 carnivals or holidays, it makes the added parking difficult. Checking out a
parking lot results in 40% to 50% of traffic jams. Due to this, car parking, in
turn, causes the traffic issue. There are some problems associated with car
Keywords: parking like the way to control the amount of the car within the parking zone,
monitoring the movement of the car in/outside of the parking zone, check
Communication technologies whether there's an area inside for more cars or not and therefore the safety to
Image processing park. This paper proposes an answer for these problems using the concept of
Internet of things (IoT) the web of Things. iPark is a fully automated system that senses the entry and
Raspberry Pi4 exit of a car, displays the entire number of cars parked within the parking
Sensing unit zone on screen, and the way many free spaces are available within the
Smart city parking lot.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license.

Corresponding Author:
Rahman Atiqur
School of Information and Communication Engineering
Chongqing University of Posts andTelecommunications
Chongqing, 400065, P.R. China
Email: [email protected]

1. INTRODUCTION
Usually, a lot of difficulties attain during a manual car parking scheme similar to control, time
consumption, and gasoline wastage. The prevailing parking system doesn’t provide an efficient thanks to
predicting and spot vehicle occupancy in real-time. Whenever we've to park a car within the parking
structure, we've to manually look for a parking slot. This tricky increases when the parking organization is
full or multi-storied. This originates traffic controlling difficulties and avoidable time feeding in blast epochs.
Hence, the prevailing system doesn’t enable better real-time monitoring and management of obtainable
spaces within the parking lot. All this causes inconvenience for the people. We face various problems
associated with car parking like the way to control the amount of the car within the parking zone, monitoring
the movement of the car in/outside of the parking zone, check whether there's an area inside for more cars or
not and therefore the safety to park. [1] I’ve implemented a sensible system by using various technologies
and advanced researches. The smart parking system is implemented in many environments with various
features, which solves the issues faced within the day to day activities.
The most idea behind the Smart Car Parking System is to assist the user to seek out areas where
parking is out there and therefore the number of slots free therein area. My recommended system reduces the
time taken to see space for the vehicle. It also helps in reducing fuel consumption. [2] My recommended
system uses ultrasonic sensors to sense the car. [3] There are three tired functionalities, rock bottom level
comprising the sensing functionality, a middle tier handling data forwarding, and therefore the upper-tier
handling data storage, processing, and client interfaces. My recommended system uses image processing

Journal homepage: http://ijaas.iaescore.com

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using the ANPR technique to detect the license plate of the car. [4]-[6] I've also added the functionality to
calculate the wages automatically. The utilization of iOS technology combined with the recent advances in
wireless applications is that the key to unraveling emerging parking problems. [7]
Road Map: In Section 2 We talk about the literature review. Section 3 presents the Smart Car Parking
System’s implementation details and describes how the system Works. Section 4 are about the idea of
dataset.Section 5 gives an overview of all resultset found in my systems and Section 6 concludes the paper.

2. LITURATURE REVIEW
The succeeding is some papers that were referenced for the development
a. “Automatic Multilevel Car Parking System” in Int. J. of Electrical and Microelectronics Research, ISSN
2348-6988 Vol. 3, No. 2, pp: (438-441), Mon.: April-June 2015 by Gupta A., Jaiswar A., Agarwal Ha.,
Shankar Ch. [1]. In this article, the authors have presented and labeled the idea of an “automatic car
parking system”, which can inevitably sense the entrance and leaving of the cars, number of cars shown
on the LCD. This automated car parking system decreases the time consumed to check the space for the
cars. At this point, the authors have advised the use of sensors to sense the existence of the car.
b. “Smart Parking System with Image Processing Capability”,
I.J. Intelligent Systems, App., 2012,3, 41-47 available online Ap 2012 in MECS by Reza, M.F. Ismail,
A. A. Rokoni, M.A.R Sarkar [2, 5, 6, 7]. This article has presented the Smart Parking Systems which
take the info about vacant parking spaces, process it, and then place the car at an assured spot. As well,
the authors have announced an idea of an ophthalmic character recognition technique, i.e. “ANPR” for
license plate recognition of vehicles.
c. “Android-based Smart Parking System” in Int. J. of Innovative Research in Computer Engg Vol. 3, May
2015 by Pallavi M., Radha De., Samiksha Na., Shubhangi M., Shraddha Sa. [3]. in this article, the
authors have offered a plan for an “Android-based smart Parking System” that controls the sum of cars
to be parked in the selected parking zone. This is completed by computerizing the Parking and unloading
of the vehicle with the aid of an Android Application. An Android application will aid the operator to
catch out the precise parking slot assigned to him in the parking zone. Information will be read locally.
Commands to the assigned parking slot will be displayed to the operator [3].
d. “ASPS using Internet of Things (IoT)” in Int. Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Vol. 5, No.
12, Dec 2015 629 ISSN 2250-3153 by Mr. Basavaraju S. R [4]. In this publication, the author has
presented an idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) which shows a vigorous role in attaching the adjacent
environmental kits to the setup. The Author has recommended the use of groupings of IoT like detecting,
processing as well as connectivity of data. Similarly, the author presented a plan for a Smart Parking
System by creating the use of IoT viable h/w such as Arduino UNO microcontroller which consumes
less power.

3. IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
3.1. System outline
The system structural design displays the diagram of the smart parking system. At the entrance
point, when the car arrives into the parking lot, web camera takes the image of license plates and the image
processing entity is used to transform it into text layout and it is used to assign a parking slot which is then
kept into databank. [4] When the vehicle is parked in the assigned parking slot, then sensing unit perceives
the existence of a vehicle in the parking slot. The Raspberry Pi unit then processes this raw data and hold it
into a database through the internet via Ethernet Port. [4] Figure 1 graphycally shows all the things.
The iOS application offers the precise route of the assigned parking slot to the operator. The
application then proceeds the assigned parking slot number as an input and shows the route that the operator
needs to track to touch the parking slot. [3] The data is retrieved locally. Figure 2 graphically shows how the
iOS application works.

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Int J Adv Appl Sci ISSN: 2252-8814  109

Figure 1. System model of recommended smart car parking system

Figure 2. iOS application

3.2. Sections
The recommended system is alienated into following five sections:

a. Perceiving parts
The Ultrasonic Sensors are cast-off to sense the existence of the vehicle. Ultrasonic sensors are
vicinity sensors. These sensors sense the existence of the somatic object without coming in communication
with that object, so the lifecycle of these sensors is greater [8]. In this recommended system, we use HC-
SR04 ultrasonic distance calculating sensor which is competent to sense an object at distance covered from
1.5cm to 50.5cm. Ultrasonic sensor entails transmitter, receiver, and regulator unit with a trigger, echo, and
I/O pinches. The data restrained by the sensors is composed [9].

b. Raspberry Pi device
It is the general-purpose computer unit, which processes the data composed by sensors and brings
up to date the database. [10] The resultant modifications are redirected in the database and shown on the front
termination. The Raspberry Pi unit processes the data directed from the sensors then sends it to the database
with Ethernet ports using the internet. The data directed by the sensors are analog data. [11] The Raspberry Pi
unit transforms that raw analog data into a digital layout. The digital data is cast-off and a default variety for
car parking is agreed upon. A predefined range is associated with the range restrained by the sensors.
Depending on this standing of a parking lot is determined.

c. Ethernet ports
For linking the Raspberry Pi unit to the database, Raspberry Pi’s Ethernet port is used. The
Raspberry Ethernet port connects the Raspberry Pi Unit to the internet in a few minutes. [12] An Ethernet
port is attached to the Raspberry Pi board which assists connectivity to the internet over the Ethernet. The
Ethernet port doings as a gateway for the arrangement which is useful to contact online repositories. I have

iPark: automated smart parking system (Rahman Atiqur)

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used standard Ethernet libraries delivered by the Raspberry Pi unit to read and write the information. The
Raspberry Pi unit is associated with the database via the internet. [13]

d. Image processing
I have used a method known as “RFID reader” in my recommended scheme. [14] The RFID reader
is a device that usages optical character recognition on images to read car registration plates. [15]-[17] with
the help of an inbuilt RFID camera, the system will capture a picture of the number plate of the car and I
have designed a code that transforms it into text format which is further kept in the database inevitably. The
javaanpr.jar file is cast-off for image processing. This file comprises numerous inbuilt libraries that are used
for matching and processing the image [18]-[21]. The RFID Image retraction technique comprises of
following steps:
− Number plate region detection
− Plate fragmentation
− Feature mining and standardization of characters
− Recognition of characters

e. iOS application
An iOS application is developed using Eclipse. The iOS application aids the operator to find out the
precise parking slot assigned to him/her in the parking zone. Data is retrieved locally. Instructions to the
assigned parking slot are displayed to the operator [22].

3.3. Algorithm
There are seven basic algorithms that the software needs for recognizing a license plate:
− Plate localization – This method is liable for finding and separating the plate on the image.
− Plate positioning and sizing – This method pays for the skew of the plate and amends the dimensions to
the obligatory dimension.
− Normalization –This method modifies the brightness, contrast of the picture.
− Character segmentation –This method is cast-off to find individual characters on the plates of the vehicle.
− Optical character recognition.
− Syntactical/Geometrical analysis – This method is cast-off check characters and positions against
country-specific instructions.
− The averaging of the recognized value over several fields/images is completed to yield a more dependable
and assured outcome. Particularly in the case of any solo image may cover an echoed light flash, be partly
buried, or other short-term outcomes.

3.4. Experimental setup

The succeedings are the hardware and software requests for the recommended scheme:

a. Hardware requests
− Raspberry Pi 4 board
− HC-SR04 Ultrasonic Parking Sensors
− REES52 Finest USB AB Cable
− RFID reader Camera

b. Software requirements
− Arduino IDE installed Raspberry Pi4 device
− JDK- Eclipse
− Databank- MySQL

4. DATASET
The values from the ultrasonic parking sensors are a chunk of the dataset. The concentrated range of
the sensors is 50.5 cm. The blind mess for the sensors is 1.5 cm. [23] the databank has passed for the time at
which the vehicle was parked, the parking slot no. and standing. The standing of a parking slot can be empty
(0), booked (1), parked (2), the input for the RFID camera is an image of the number plate.

Int J Adv Appl Sci, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2021: 107 – 114
Int J Adv Appl Sci ISSN: 2252-8814  111

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The next are the snapshots for the Automated Smart Parking System as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Raspberry Pi integrated arduino monitor display

The beyond screenshot displays serialized monitor display used in Arduino integrated raspberry pi4
tool. When a vehicle is parked in the assigned parking slot, the serialized monitor displays the supreme
distance of the vehicle from ultrasonic parking sensors. The screenshot displays supreme distance that
ultrasonic parking sensors can sense is 51 cm for parking slot p1, p2, p3, and p4. Figure 4, This Screenshot
Demonstrates Parking Status for Parking Slot P1, P2, P3, and P4 Depending upon whether a vehicle is
Parked or Not

Figure 4. Displays the parking status

Figure 5, This Screenshot Displays Distance of Cars from Sensors at what time vehicle is parked in
Parking Slot number P3 and P4. Therefore, It Displays Parking Status=1 for Parking Slot P3 and P4.
Meanwhile, No vehicles are parked in Slot P1 and P2, Their Status Ruins Unaffected. [24]

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Figure 5. Parking status

Figure 6, displays the admin login screen from where the admin can access the whole system using
iOS apps. The Below Screenshot Displays an Unoccupied Parking Lot in the iOS Application. From the
figure, we see that parking lots P, P2, P3, and P4 are vacant for the first time. When a lot is reserved then the
occupied lot screenshot is displayed in the Figure 7. [25]

Figure 6. Admin login page

Figure 7. Displays the empty parking lot

Figure 8 this Screenshot Displays the Parking directions for Parking Slot 1. From this figure, we
observed that when an operator selects a lot P1 then it is occupied.

Figure 8. Screenshot of occupied parking lot

Int J Adv Appl Sci, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2021: 107 – 114
Int J Adv Appl Sci ISSN: 2252-8814  113

6. CONCLUSION
Today, the tricky of parking is remarkable as there is no appropriate idea in place. The present
vehicle parking system is inadequate. To settle this tricky, I have implemented a Smart Parking System
(iPark) which allows the parking of cars and thus lessens the time in use to check the space to be cast-off by
showing the spot where the space for parking is vacant. In this article, a competent car parking system is
recommended which rigorously diminishes the parking difficulties. This article displays how the parking
tricky in crowded spaces can be controlled with a well-thought strategy. It aids the users to catch out the
accessibility of a parking slot in the parking zone, get the accessibility setting, and touch to the assigned
parking slot within the parking zone. It aids to marks the supervision tranquil on the manager side. It also
saves the time of the users necessary for examining a parking slot. Thus, the planned smart parking system is
simple, cost-effective, and more effective as compared to present systems and offers enhanced client service.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise and thanks are to ALLAH Almighty. After that, I would like to express my profound
appreciation concerning my supervisor, Professor Dr. Yun Li for his endless supervision, promising
assistance as well as motivating disputes. I am obliged to the School of Information and Communications
Engineering for their livelihood.

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BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR

Mr. Rahman Atiqur received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) and Master of Engineering
(M.Engg.) degree from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University
of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh. In profession, he worked in the Department of Computer
Science and Engineering, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh as an Assistant Professor since
April 2016. Former he was a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. He is now conducting his Ph.D. research works under the
Chinese Government Scholarships (CGS) Program at Chongqing University of Posts and
Telecommunications, Chongqing, China. His current research interest lies in the field of edge
computing-based IoT systems.

Int J Adv Appl Sci, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2021: 107 – 114