The purpose of this paper is to understand the performance of various in-ground sensor technologies and how this can impact the effectiveness of on-street parking management. This will extend to a discussion of the social and economic benefits of introducing sensors into a congested Town Centre.
Smart Cities (Sometimes referred to as Digital Cities), is the contemporary thinking with regards to Municipal Management of assets. However most local government executives are rarely furnished with the correct information as to how this can be implemented in a robust and integrated fashion. Integration is the basic premise to this concept; however further scrutiny of various vendor's solutions shows they often have a very disaggregated architecture with a common marketing angle - not a common IT platform.
In-ground Parking sensors are being heavily marketed as a key part of the Smart City solution, however each vendor provides widely varying levels of performance which is not measured against recognised standards.
Parking sensors provide two principle functions: (1) Real Time information of parking occupancy - useful for parking guidance applications; (2) Improved enforcement efficiencies.
Each type of sensor tends to perform better on only one of these aspects. However with the proliferation of nano-watt powered circuit boards and improved technology, some sensors may soon be excelling at both Occupancy and Enforcement.
This paper explores the three most common technologies used in this field:
- Infrared
- Magnetometers
- Nano-radar
The preliminary findings of this study indicate that the most accurate solution in the market will be the emerging nano-radar technology. However some magnetometers are performing extremely well and will likely be equally suitable as a long-term solution.
Nano-Radar is much more expensive to procure than magnetometers. This is likely a result of the significant research required to overcome its complexities - thereby reducing the number of suitable chip manufacturers. However in the long term, as this solution is based on commonly available electronics, is expected to become more cost effective.
Infrared technologies appear non-viable despite their long history in commercial applications. Therefore its vendors have resorted to including a backup magnetometer as part of their sensor solution. Considering that there are magnetometer providers that rely solely on one technology type (and are performing well), it should be considered unnecessary to operate a sensor with both an Infrared sensor and a Magnetometer.
Parking sensor performance in Australia varies widely. Some Municipalities experience an overall accuracy of 75% in sensor performance. Some experience 97% - 98%. Others have mixed levels of accuracy depending on the average turnover of vehicle movements occurring across the sensor.
Many Municipalities have installed large networks of sensors only to find their performance slipping dramatically after 2 years (or less) once the batteries start to drain or the electronics deteriorate. This adds a high level of risk to the average Council that is trying to demonstrate initiative in regard to Smart City Solutions.
Sensors are expected to provide great benefit to Municipalities that suffer excessive parking demand. The obvious benefit includes an improvement to enforcement efficiency. However it is evident from existing case studies around the world, that technology can be used to improve parking turnover - which has shown to reduce ' parking search times' , ' kilometres travelled looking for a space' and ' vehicle emissions' . These alone may support the introduction of in-ground parking sensors.
Therefore it is recommended to undertake detailed trials of sensor technology - keeping in mind the principles of the technology and how best to evaluate it.
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Glenn Caldwell
Parking professional.
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Noor M – Jan 1, 2018:
Thanks for providing some honest information on sensors