Park King: An IoT-based Smart Parking System

C. Ajchariyavanich1, T. Limpisthira1, N. Chanjarasvichai1, T. Jareonwatanan1, W. Phongphanpanya1, S. Wareechuensuk1, S.
Srichareonkul1, S. Tachatanitanont1, C. Ratanamahatana2, N. Prompoon2 and M. Pipattanasomporn3,4
1International School of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, THAILAND
2
Department of Computer Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, THAILAND
3
Smart Grid Research Unit, Department of Electrical Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, THAILAND
4 Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech – Advanced Research Institute, Arlington, VA, USA

Abstract—As many universities around the world are Since a smart parking system is quite well-known in the
currently promoting the smart campus campaign, one possible technology field, lessons learned from existing projects can be
area to be revolutionized is the parking system. By integrating very well serving as the basis to better design and improve our
Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, university’s parking project. To start with, the team searched for examples of smart
systems can be automated and parking spaces can be managed
parking systems. The self-service car parking control system
efficiently. In this paper, we present the development and
prototyping of Park King – an IoT based cloud-integrated smart by Aida Engineering, Ltd. [1] deploys an automated parking
parking system for a smart campus. Park King consists of: (i) flap, thus removing a worker from the parking site. Daimler
the IoT module that allows monitoring the availability of each AG [2] has developed the Parking Reservation App that
parking spot and controlling a parking flap; and (ii) a web-based allows reservation of parking spot(s) for Mercedes
application that allows users to reserve a parking space in subscribers. The parking service system from Advantech Co.,
advance. The system overview, its functional and non-functional Ltd. [3] is deployed as the self-check-in/check-out system to
requirements, tools and technologies used, prototype reduce the amount of worker in the parking building. The
development/deployment, together with results from field intelligent parking solutions from Siemens [4] utilize sensor(s)
testing and demonstration, are discussed in this paper. It is
to detect whether a parking lot is occupied on the side of the
expected that this system can serve as a guideline and provide
an insight into the development of a smart parking system in a street. The car parking solution from Smart Parking Ltd. [5] is
university campus and/or a smart city. the automated parking system that lets users check the
occupancy of the parking site. TheParkingSpot [6] is the
Keywords— Internet of things (IoT), smart parking, smart airport parking reservation website to reserve the spot using
campus, smart city. boarding pass. The automatic car parking system from Shin
Woo UBiCos [7] is a vertical-type tower. Authors in [8] also
I. INTRODUCTION
discuss a smart parking system using IoT devices and mobile
In a typical university campus, there are many parking application to manage the parking spot. Another smart parking
buildings located around the campus. For example, system is discussed in [9] that relies on a mobile application
Chulalongkorn University in Thailand has three parking for reserving the parking spot. Cloudparc [10] also equips its
bulidings. These parking buildings have no intelligence and smart parking system with data analytics to detect vehicles
are operated manually by cashiers and security guards. By using cameras and predict the parking spot occupancy.
conducting surveys and interviews the users at Chulalongkorn
University, i.e., students, faculty members and staff who drive Based on the above examples, our team targets to develop
and park at the university, the team realizes that the main and prototype the IoT-based smart parking system for parking
user’s pain point is to search for an available parking spot. spot reservation at a university campus. The uniqueness of this
That is, it takes more than 15 minutes to drive inside a parking work is the integration of IoT devices and a cloud-based server
building to realize that there is no parking spot available. In to allow monitoring and control of the entire parking system
addition, for a vehicle to enter the university parking at a university campus. With this approach, the traditional
buildings, a parking sticker is required, which is manually parking sticker/paper can be eliminated and replaced with an
checked by a cashier who looks for the sticker at the front electronic QR code. Furthermore, the prototyped smart
windshield of a vehicle. parking system is in line with the smart campus initiative and
the cashless society theme being implemented at many
Hence, the team has identified the following problem university campuses around the world, like Chulalongkorn
statements to be addressed: University.
• How might we revolutionize the current parking system II. TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION
at a university campus with IoT technologies to create
a more convenient environment for students, The system overview, tool/technology building blocks, as
professors, and staff? well as functional and non-functional requirements of the Park
King system are discussed below.
• How might we allow users to make reservation for a
parking spot before arriving at a parking building? A. System Overview
Park King is a system consisting of hardware and software
• How might we improve the parking sticker system? designed to manage the entire parking system at a university
• How might we minimize the parking staff required? campus. Key Park King functions are: to check the availability
of parking spots, to reserve a parking spot in advance and

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receive a QR code, and to scan the QR code to access the C. Functional and Non-functional Requirements
parking building and park at the assigned spot. See Fig. 1. Park King has been designed with the following functional
requirements: the system shall allow the user to register
his/her information into the system and add vehicle into
his/her account. The system shall allow a user to see the
number of available spots in real time, allow a user to reserve
the parking spot, and cancel his/her reservation if a user does
not arrive at the reserved spot within 15 minutes after the
reservation is made. In addition, the system has been designed
to allow a user to reserve only one parking spot at a time. The
user can also make online payment through e-banking
application.
Non-functional requirements are as follows: the system
shall operate on any web browsers, communicate with the QR
code reader and parking flap wirelessly, and automatically
Fig. 1. Park King’s system overview. back up all user’s data. With regard to the payment, the system
shall redirect to payment page after scan the QR code, and
keep track of only the transaction number after the payment.
B. Tool/Technology Building Blocks
The system should disable and enable the parking flap within
Our key tool/technology building blocks include hardware three seconds or less. The system shall allow the user to update
(i.e., sensor/controller module) and a web-based application, his/her data, view his/her reservation history, and allow only
as discussed below. admin to alter the parking spot information.
Hardware components are: (i) a QR code scanner that III. USE CASES AND ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP MODEL
allows a user to check-in using a system-generated QR code
after the reservation is made; (ii) a parking flap (controlled by This section explains the project’s use cases and data
a servo motor) that syncs with the online reservation system model.
so that it can open and close when the reserved vehicle arrives; A. Park King’s Use Cases
(iii) an ultrasonic sensor that checks if a vehicle is still parked
at a parking spot; and (iv) NodeMCU to monitor and control The project’s use case diagram is shown in Fig. 2. There
all three devices mentioned above, and connect them to the are five use cases, which can be explained as follows.
Internet. Arduino IDE was used to program NodeMCU to Use Case 1-User registration: The initial step for a user
retrieve distance readings from ultrasonic sensors and send to use our IoT-based parking management system is that the
control command to a servo motor attached to a parking flap. user must register for our web-based application.
NodeRed was used for retrieving information and sending
control commands to IoT devices via MQTT protocol. Table Use Case 2-Vehicle registration: A user must also register
I summarizes the hardware components of the system. his/her vehicle by providing the license plate number,
vehicle’s make and model, and picture(s) of the vehicle.
TABLE I. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE COMPONENTS
Use Case 3-Check for an available parking spot: When a
Name Description user would like to park at a parking building, the user must
QR Code reader Read the QR Code to gather the arrival and departure first login into the website and check if the parking spot is
times of a vehicle at the reserved parking spot. available.
Parking Flap + Open and close at arrival and departure of the user Use Case 4-Parking Spot Reservation: When a user would
servo motor who reserves a parking spot.
like to reserve a parking spot, the user must choose a
Ultrasonic Measure the distance between the ceiling and the
Sensor floor/vehicle to check the existence of a vehicle.
registered vehicle, a parking building, and a payment method
for reservation. The system then validates the user’s
NodeMCU CPU board to control hardware components and
provide Internet connectivity. cancellation frequency. After which, the system checks if
there is an available parking spot at the selected parking
building. After everything is verified, a parking spot is
Software tools used to develop the Park King’s web reserved and a QR code is generated for the user to enter the
application are Atom by GitHub that enables the team to work selected parking building.
collaboratively without being at the same place; JavaScript as Use Case 5- Payment: When a user would like to leave,
the back-end development coding language; the user must pay a parking fee before leaving the parking
HTML/JavaScript/ CSS as the front-end development coding building. The system will check the QR code and the parking
languages; as well as NodeJS. With respect to the database, spot status to determine the fee and allow the user to make
Microsoft Azure—an open platform to manage relational- payment.
based databases—was used. The tool allows developers to
easily manage the database with simple SQL commands and
has many useful features, including real-time data sync, data
query, and cloud integration.

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Fig. 2. Park King’s use case diagram.

B. Entity-Relationship Model Reserve relationship: This relationship is responsible for

The Entity-relationship model consists of four entities, i.e., collecting the user’s reservation information including
customer, vehicle, parking building and parking spot, and two reservation ID, QR code in, QR code out, time in, time out
relationships, i.e., reserve and transaction receipt. These and paid status. This relationship links the vehicle entity and
entities and their relationships are discussed below. the parking spot entity together.

Customer entity: This entity is responsible for collecting TransactionReceipt relationship: This relationship is
user information, including username, password, email, first responsible for collecting the user’s transaction information
name, last name, customer type (i.e., student, faculty/staff and including transaction ID, fee, payment method and total
guest), customer picture and cancellation history. parking time. This relationship links the vehicle entity and the
parking spot entity together.
Vehicle entity: This entity is responsible for collecting the
vehicle information, including plate number, car brand, car IV. PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT AND SOFTWARE QUALITY
model, car color and car picture. This entity also has a ASSURANCE (SQA) TESTING
relationship with the customer entity. This section discusses the prototype Park King system,
Parking building entity: This entity is responsible for which comprises both the hardware prototype and the web-
collecting parking building information including building based application, as well as SQA tests and results.
name and parking capacity. A. Hardware Prototypes
Parking spot entity: This entity is responsible for The sensor module was developed using NodeMCU and
collecting parking spot information for each building, an ultrasonic sensor. See Fig. 3. The sensor module prototype
including floor number of the parking spot, the parking spot was powered by batteries, and was placed on the ceiling of a
number, information from a sensor at a parking spot, and the parking lot where it could sense the presence of a vehicle.
parking spot status. This entity also has relationship with the The distance between the sensor location (i.e., ceiling) and
parking building entity. the roof of a vehicle/the ground level was measured. These
distances were used to identify the presence of a vehicle.

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in to the wall outlet. In addition, it can be seen from Fig. 5

that the sensor readings are sometimes noisy. Hence, an
appropriate threshold must be identified to classify whether
the vehicle is present or absent.

Fig. 5. Readings from the ultrasonic sensor installed at the test parking spot.

Fig. 3. The sensor module prototype and its deployment at a parking spot.
B. Prototype: Web-based Application
Park King’s user interface (UI) was designed as a web-
The scaled-down version of the parking flap prototype based application to accomplish all the functions specified in
was made from a cardboard and plastic materials. See Fig. 4. the functional requirement section (Section II(b)). These are
Its control unit (inside the cardboard box) comprises ranging from logging in to checking and reserving a parking
NodeMCU connected with a servo motor. The objective is to spot. It is our goal to have a minimal and user-friendly UI, so
demonstrate how responsive the flap can be in responding to that users can quickly understand and use the system without
the command issued by the system. having to read any user’s manual. In addition, the web-based
application must work seamlessly along with the hardware
prototypes discussed earlier. Figs. 6-8 illustrate the Park
King’s UI examples.
After a user logs in, the first page is the home page, as
shown in Fig. 6 (left). It contains information about available
parking spots in each parking building, including number of
available spots, the lowest floor with an available spot and the
parking spot ID to be assigned to the user if a reservation is
made. To reserve a parking spot, the user can click “Reserve”
button on the top right. The reservation page appears (See
Fig. 6 (right)), where the user can select his/her vehicle and
the parking building he/she wishes to park, and submit the
request.
Fig. 4. The parking flap prototype.

A laptop camera was used as a camera for scanning the

QR code when a user checks in and checks out of the system.
The line graph in Fig. 5 shows an example of the recorded
distances from the ultrasonic sensor installed at the test
parking lot during six hours of one evening. It can be seen
that during minutes 0-21, the measured distance was around
250 cm, which implies that the vehicle was not present. The
vehicle returned during minutes 22-45, during which the
measured distance reduced to around 100 cm. The vehicle
then left again during minutes 46-82, and returned again at
minutes 83.
With respect to lessons learned from the hardware
prototype deployment at the test parking lot location, since
the sensor module operated on Wi-Fi and sent real-time
sensor readings to the database at one minute intervals, the
batteries depleted within a day and a half. Therefore, future Fig. 6. ParkKing web application: home page (left); and reservation page
implementation will require the sensor module to be plugged (right).

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Then, the user needs to make payment using the payment The team performed unit testing, integration testing, user
page (as shown in Fig. 7 (left). After the payment is made, the interface testing, as well as user and use case testing.
QR code page (as shown in Fig. 7 (right)) appears. This code
For the unit testing, each component was separately
can be scanned at the scanning station to check-in to and
tested. For example, for the user registration page, the team
check-out from the parking lot.
tried to register with invalid inputs, e.g., invalid email address
(without @ sign), invalid ID (less/more number of digits than
student ID or national ID), etc. All invalid log-in attempts
were caught successfully.
For the integration testing, all individual software
components were combined and tested. The team checked
against different scenarios. One was to see if the software
could prevent the access without logging in. This was done
by implementing the middleware. The test result indicates
that the user was redirected to the login page. The team also
checked to see if the system could prevent a user from
obtaining a QR code before reserving the parking spot. In
this case, the user was redirected to the reservation page if the
user did not make a reservation. Overall, results of all
integration testing were satisfactory.
In addition, all pages of the web application were
Fig. 7. ParkKing web application: payment page (left); and QR code page thoroughly tested. The system was verified to meet all
(right). functionality requirements.
Regarding the non-functionality requirements, Table II
After scanning the code, the reservation status is updated summarizes the team’s performance objectives, along with
to “reserved”. The reservation page appears, which success criteria and test results.
summarizes the information about the reserved vehicle, the
selected parking building, the floor number and the parking Firstly, ParkKing web application were tested to work on
spot ID assigned to the vehicle. See Fig. 8 (left). Fig. 8 (right) any web browser, so the number of web browsers that are
shows the user profile page. The history section of the user compatible with the web-application is limitless. The QR
information page (not shown) contains user’s parking history, code scanning was very responsive. The parking flap was
i.e., the check-in and check-out times, vehicle(s) selected for able to open and close simultaneously with the embedded
parking, the parking fees, and receipts. MQTT commands, and a responding time was found to be
less than a second, which was satisfactory. Internet
connection plays a big role in system performance.

TABLE II. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND TEST RESULTS

Performance Success Test
Metric
Objective Criteria Results
Operating on web Number of web browsers >3 PASS
browser that the system can support
Response time Number of seconds that the <2 seconds PASS
when scanning QR system reacts to the QR
code to open/close code
parking flap
Response time to Number of second to store <2 seconds PASS
automatically the users’ data into the
backup users’ data database
Response time to Number of seconds <2 seconds PASS
change the required to process the
reservation status check-in/check-out after
scanning the QR code
Response time to Number of seconds <3 seconds PASS
enable and disable required to open/close the
the parking flap parking flap after pressing
the button
Allow users to Time required for the users <1-2 PASS
Fig. 8. ParkKing web application: reservation page (left); and user profile understand the to completely understand minutes
page (right). website interface the interface in all aspects
quickly
Allow users to Number of steps needed to <3 steps PASS
C. Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Tests and Results complete each task make a parking spot
with a few steps reservation from the
In this project, SQA was performed to provide the beginning to the end
assurance of the requirement quality, design quality, code
quality and quality control effectiveness within the software.

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Since response times of all the required functions rely heavily parking system into a smart system by integrating IoT
on the Internet, so if the connection is strong and reliable, all technologies. Possible future work includes adding data
non-functional requirements can meet the proposed criteria. analytic features to analyze the parking datasets, for example,
analyzing prime time for parking, comparing utilization of
With respect to the user interface, the team conducted UI
each parking building on campus, and identifying possible
tests to gauge users’ understanding of the UI. The users took
revenue stream based on time-varying parking fees.
less than five minutes to figure out how the whole system
works and was able to use the application without any guide REFERENCES
or user manual. Alert messages appear to inform the user of [1] Aida Engineering LTD., “Self-service Car Parking Control System”
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[2] Daimler AG, “Innovative Parking Solutions. Convenient, customer-
V. CONCLUSION oriented and efficient” [Online]. Available:
https://www.daimler.com/innovation/parking.html. Retrieved: January
Park King was developed by a group of engineering 2019.
students who see an inefficiency in the current parking system [3] Advantech Co., Ltd., “Parking Service System” [Online].
at Chulalongkorn University. Park King is a system that Available: https://www.advantech.com/iretail-
potentially provides seamless experience for reserving hospitality/solutions/detail/parking-service-system. Retrieved: January
parking spots in a university campus. It comprises a web- 2019.
based application that works seamlessly with a set of IoT [4] Siemens, “Intelligent parking solutions” [Online]. Available:
https://new.siemens.com/global/en/products/mobility/road-
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spot availability, make a reservation for a parking spot in Retrieved: January 2019.
advance, and make an online payment. The entire Park King [5] Smart Parking Ltd., “Smart Parking: Car Parking Solution” [Online].
prototype, comprising both hardware and software, was Available: https://www.smartparking.com. Retrieved: January 2019.
developed. The sensor module was deployed at a real-world [6] The Parking Spot, “Airport Parking Made Easy” [Online]. Available:
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Software quality assurance tests were conducted to test the [7] Shin Woo UBiCos., “Automatic Car Parking System” [Online].
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seamless integration of both the Park King hardware
[8] A. Khanna and R. Anand, "IoT based smart parking system," 2016
prototype and its web-based application. Test results were
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requirements. [9] Smart Parking System, “Smart Parking System” [Online]. Available
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[10] Cloudparc, “Smart Parking through Technology” [Online]. Available
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university campus, transforming and networking a traditional

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