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An Effective Approach for Smart Parking Management

Article in Ingénierie des systèmes d information · October 2022

DOI: 10.18280/isi.270511

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 Ingénierie des Systèmes d’Information
Vol. 27, No. 5, October, 2022, pp. 783-789
Journal homepage: http://iieta.org/journals/isi

An Effective Approach for Smart Parking Management

Tawfeeq Shawly1*, Ahmed A. Alsheikhy2, Yahia F. Said2, Husam Lahza3
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi
Arabia
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Northern Border University, Arar 91431, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

https://doi.org/10.18280/isi.270511 ABSTRACT

Received: 2 June 2022 Drivers and motorists get annoyed when it takes a long time to find a vacant space in a
Accepted: 31 August 2022 parking lot. Looking for parking has become a headache as the number of vehicles in urban
cities and the cost of land concurrently increase. There is an urgent need for innovation in
Keywords: smart parking systems. Currently, investors and contractors pay laborers to operate and
smart management system, smart cities, maintain smart parking systems. Staff duties may include opening and closing gates, giving
efficient method, image segmentation, directions to drivers and motorists, and managing payments associated with the lot. This
digital services, automatic services article proposes a feasible, dependable, and smart algorithm for managing a parking system.
This algorithm utilizes image processing techniques to provide real-time data. No labor is
required to operate and handle the system. The system itself automatically handles all
operations except maintenance. Furthermore, this algorithm is more cost-effective than
other similar systems and equally effective. Numerous simulation scenarios were carried
out on MATLAB to verify its developed approach. A comparison evaluation juxtaposes the
proposed approach with other solutions in the literature. This evaluation clearly indicates
that the presented method outperforms other solutions in terms of technologies being used,
devices being utilized, and cost.

1. INTRODUCTION Each smart city uses a different framework based on their

data and communication technologies to provide government
Smart cities were once only imagined in science fiction services, public services, and municipal services [2, 3]. One
movies, but recently, the dream of building smart cities has common trait, however, is an intelligent network of connected
become possible with evolving technologies. These smart devices that allows a city’s function to be data-driven [2, 4, 5].
cities utilize different technologies to provide civic services These connected devices create a sustainable city. The
and solve problems. They are data-driven, meaning smart technologies that resident’s access through smartphones and
cities collect and analyze data to create and implement real- hand-held devices can make cost-of-living more affordable,
time solutions. Figure 1 depicts a general perception of the improve the quality of life, and provide more efficient
characteristics of a smart city. solutions and services when properly programmed [6-10].
While some governments, like those in Barcelona and New
York, have implemented numerous technologies to transform
traditional cities into smart ones, others have started building
new cities based on smart city models. Neom, Saudi Arabia is
one such smart city. Figure 2 illustrates a proposed view of
Neom by the end of 2030 taken from the Saudi government’s
Vision 2030. The expected budget for building this city
exceeds 500 billion dollars. Currently, different companies
have initiated their works in Neom, and the infrastructure is
expected to be ready for residents by the end of 2024. The cost
is worth it. In New York City, the authorities save billions of
dollars every year by placing different smart solutions such as
smart grids for electricity, Wireless Network Sensors (WSNs)
for parking lots, and smart garbage solutions. Every smart city
utilizes different technologies to:
1) Improve the safety and security of the residents.
2) Attracting companies to invest in order to increase the
growth of the economy.
3) Make the surrounding environments more efficient.
Figure 1. Concept of the smart city [1]

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 4) Provide numerous municipal services through different proposed method. The discussion and results are presented in
technologies. Section 4, and Section 5 concludes the paper.

2. RELATED WORK

Dhamane et al. [2] proposed a smart parking system based

on an IoT technology. It used an ultrasonic sensor to detect
vacant spaces and vehicles. A web application was utilized to
display a real-time message about the status of parking lots.
Drivers and motorists could utilize their mobile phones to
search for vacant spaces prior to their arrival. The system
reduced fuel consumption, air pollution, and the time needed
to look for vacant spaces. However, the proposed approach in
this manuscript is more cost-effective than the system
proposed by Dhamane et al. since it requires no human labor
Figure 2. Fictional view of Neom city [11] to operate it and utilizes only one camera to provide real-time
data. Additional features such as a metering system are easily
In big cities such as London, Paris, and New York, finding integrated into this paper’s method with no hidden cost.
vacant spaces to park vehicles is a big problem. Drivers and Waqas et al. [3] developed a smart parking management
motorists are forced to spend a long time searching for a spot system using an image processing technique. This system used
near their offices, hotels, or shopping centers. As the number one of the image processing algorithms to mark virtual vacant
of vehicles increases daily, this problem gets bigger and bigger. spaces in parking lots to extract information about vacant and
Authorities should look for alternative solutions. Many occupied spaces. This information was utilized to guide the
technology service providers suggest different real-time incoming drivers or motorists towards vacant spaces. This
solutions to overcome this issue based on several technologies. method contained two interfaces, one for vehicles and one for
One such technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), is depicted administration. The authors intended to use their system in
in Figure 3. Practical and consistent smart car parking systems areas where there were no such systems. This system
have become essential and crucial. Various solutions for smart consumed much time processing data since it drew imaginary
car parking systems have been developed to utilize all parking lines for a considered parking lot and identified vehicles
spaces efficiently and successfully while the cost of labor [5- whether they were parked correctly or not. The proposed
8]. That said, municipal governments should consider the cost algorithm herein is faster since it just detects the number of
of systems as well. vehicles in the parking areas and the number of vacant spaces.
Sulthana and Badu [5] developed and implemented a real
smart parking system based on an IoT methodology and on-
site deployment. A Global Positioning System (GPS) and a
Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) were
utilized to track vehicles. An Android application, wireless
network sensors, and an active RFID were used to control and
manage gates. A Raspberry Pi device was used to control all
operations. The different components installed and utilized
make this system quite costly, but our proposed system is very
cost-effective. Its cost is almost nothing since it uses one
camera. No sensors are required. Readers can refer to Sulthana
et al. for additional information.
Chougula et al. [7] implemented an automatic smart parking
and reservation system based on IoT technology. This system
was controlled by an Android application to lower human
intervention. In addition, a web application was developed to
Figure 3. Sample of car parking systems using IoT
help drivers or motorists book vacant spaces prior to their
technologies [12]
arrival using either a PC or a smartphone. Furthermore, an
Arduino microcontroller, a Database (DB) server, an RFID,
This manuscript develops and presents an automated and
and a WIFI module were utilized in this system. These
efficient smart car parking approach that can be easily
components render this approach costly, not unlike those
managed and maintained. This algorithm is cost-effective. It
proposed by Sulthana et al. The additional functions it offers
just requires a camera to provide real-time data through images
that send notifications and offer a metering module are easily
or video streams of the considered parking area. These images
integrated into our proposed system.
or video streams are processed to identify the total number of
Elsonbaty and Shams [8] implemented a smart parking
vehicles that occupy spaces in the parking area and to verify
management system that depended on some Arduino
whether vacant spaces exist or not. After that, the electronic
components, an Android application, and an IoT methodology.
devices direct drivers or motorists to the vacant spaces
IR sensors were used to validate vacant space data and
available. Details about the presented and developed system
transmit this data through a communication module. An IoT
are provided in Section 3.
technology was involved to track available locations through
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2
a wireless connection. This system requires several parts to
contains related works and Section 3 provides details about the

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perform the desired functions. One of its drawbacks was that addition, these operations are fully automated. Furthermore,
since its services depended on the internet, the system could several filters are utilized as well to either remove the noise or
be completely off if no internet connection was detected by the improve the quality of captured images or video frames from
system. Our presented system requires no internet service as live video streams. Figure 4 illustrates components of the
the captured images or video streams are fed directly to a host proposed and presented system.
machine through a direct connection media.
Satyanarayana et al. [13] developed an advanced smart
parking system using an IoT technology. The technology
identified vehicles and showed the number of vacant spaces at
an entrance gate of the parking lot. In addition, it provided a
shortest path from the entrance gate to a vacant space and gave
directions to users through a display media. An Optical
Character Reader (OCR) and IR sensors were used to capture
vehicle plate numbers. This approach is similar to our
proposed system. However, the presented method herein is
more cost-effective compared to the implemented system
proposed by Satyanarayana et al. given the use of the single
camera instead of sensors. Interested readers can refer to
Satyanarayana et al. for additional information.
Mangwani [14] developed a smart parking system based on
an IoT method. This system utilized the IoT approach that
enabled drivers to monitor and book vacant spaces. It used a
sensor in every parking slot to send data to a central controller
Figure 4. Components of the proposed system
in a server. It used the internet service to provide real-time
information to drivers. This system could become very costly
The components in Figure 4 can be added to depending on
if the parking area was huge since every parking designated
the requirements and needs of the user. Additional hardware
space required a sensor to be installed in it. The cost of the
can be easily added upon request.
presented approach, in contrast, can be less than $100 for any
The presented algorithm provides several benefits,
size parking lot.
summarized as follows:
Bhoyar et al. [15] developed a smart parking system based
i. Removes human labor cost.
on an IoT technology and cloud computing as well. This
ii. Reduces air pollution.
system claimed to increase the efficiency of an existing cloud-
iii. Provides a sustainable environment.
based smart parking system by developing a new network
iv. Increases the parking revenues.
architecture using the IoT technology. Using this system,
v. Being environmentally friendly.
drivers could search for vacant spaces by utilizing a paid
vi. Automates all operations.
service. This paid service considered parking lots within a
vii. Enhances drivers’ experiences.
determined radius from a driver and displayed the number of
available vacant spaces near him or her. Wireless sensor
Figure 5 depicts a flowchart of the developed and
networks, IoT technology, and an RFID were utilized in the
implemented system.
implemented system. The authors provided no information
about experiments conducted to test and verify their system.
In addition, their system was costly since numerous WSNs,
RFIDs, and IoT technologies were involved along with a cloud
server and a web application. As stated, the proposed system
only requires one camera. No other tools are used unless there
is a need to integrate this approach with additional features or
systems, such as notification delivery for drivers who parked
their vehicles in the parking lots.
Jawad et al. [16] designed and implemented a smart car
parking system. It sent signals to either open or close gates
according to the status and conditions of a considered parking
lot. In addition, it worked based on a piezoelectric sensor,
which detected the weight of vehicles. An Arduino
microcontroller was used to control all operations along with
a seven-segment display. The proposed algorithm is more
cost-efficient than the developed system proposed by Jawad et
al., given its minimal need for equipment.

Figure 5. Flowchart of the proposed approach

3. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
The system starts by receiving real-time images or video
The proposed system uses numerous image processing and streams from the installed camera, which is directly connected
segmentation techniques in its operations. It is smart since it to a machine through either a coaxial cable or a fiber cable.
requires no human intervention at all to run its operations. In The connection medium depends on the requirements of the

785
parking lot since the fiber cable provides more data 1. Scan the parking lot every time a vehicle enters or
transmission in less time. If the camera sends images, then leaves.
these images are processed one by one. Otherwise, video 2. If no vacant spaces are available, then:
streams are processed frame by frame and converted into 3. Display a message to inform drivers and keep gate
frames using a built-in function in MATLAB. closed.
The second step is the preprocessing stage in which noise is 4. Else.
removed and the quality of the captured image or video frames 5. Remove noise from captured image.
is enhanced. Then, this data is converted into grayscale. This 6. Transform the resultant image into a gray image.
process prepares data for the processing and segmentation 7. Determine the dimensions of the parking area.
techniques. 8. End of Preprocessing phase.
The next step performs the utilized processing and 9. Assign the total number of parked vehicles to the
segmentation methods in MATLAB using numerous functions. threshold variable.
These functions require some toolboxes to be already installed 10. Subtract captured image of current parking area from
and run in a host machine. In this stage, the captured images the parking map structure.
or frames are resized based on the size of the parking lot. Then, 11. For i = 1: length of parking area
a matrix of two dimensions dependent on the size of the 12. For j = 1: width of parking area
utilized images or video frames is created. Outputs from this 13. Do the following:
stage are used to determine the number of vacant spaces, the 14. Find resultant image from subtraction process and
number of already parked vehicles, and the lanes where these compare it with the threshold.
vacant spaces are located. The processing and segmentation 15. If result > threshold, then:
techniques detect vehicles in the designated parking area, 16. Place 1 in the current index,
determine the total number of available spaces, and assign it 17. Else.
to a parameter (a). Then, a threshold parameter (b) is assigned 18. Place 0.
to the obtained number of detected vehicles in the parking lot. 19. End // refers to the if statement.
The equation to compute the number of vacant spaces 20. End // refers to the inner loop.
parameter (C) in the parking lot is: 21. End // refers to the outer loop.
22. Check which lanes have vacant spaces to, choose the
C=a–b (1) nearest lane to direct drivers to it.
23. Compute the total number of vacant spaces in the
If the value of C is 0, then, it means the parking lot is full. determined lanes.
In this case, the proposed algorithm keeps the entrance closed 24. Open the entrance gate.
and displays a message to inform drivers or motorists about 25. Display instructions for them to park.
the status and conditions of the parking area. When C is > 0, 26. Decrement the total number of vacant spaces.
then, the system determines which nearest lane has vacant 27. Increment the total number of parked vehicles.
spaces available. This lane is given to drivers or motorists 28. End of algorithm.
along with directions to that lane. The presented system then
opens the entrance gate.
The determination of the lane is performed using the
processing and segmentation approaches. The number of 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
vacant spaces in the determined lane is computed using
processing and segmentation methods that determine how Several simulation experiments were conducted in
many vehicles are parked and the total number of vacant MATLAB to validate all of the operations and verify the
spaces in the determined lane. Both values are assigned to correctness of the workflow of the proposed system. These
variables (d) and (e) respectively. The following equation is experiments were carried out on MATLAB R2017b which
used to compute the total number of vacant spaces (F). runs on any machine that uses Windows as its operating
system. This version of Windows is Windows 11 Pro. This
F=d–e (2) machine’s specifications include an Intel chip of 8th
generation of i7, 2 GHz of the clock pulse, and 16 GB of RAM.
After a vehicle enters and parks, the algorithm decrements In addition, it is a 64-bit based system.
the total number of vacant spaces and increments the total A free built-in software in Windows is utilized to draw the
number of parked vehicles as follows: images for the simulation experiments. In these images, a
vehicle is represented by X, as illustrated in Figure 6, which
F=F–1 (3) shows a general parking lot with 3 lanes and 2 gates, one for
entry and another for exit. This parking lot accommodates a
b=b+1 (4) maximum of 40 vehicles. The presented algorithm produces 3
subgraphs when the parking lot reaches its maximum capacity
The pseudo code of the proposed system is as follows: and 4 subgraphs when vacant spaces are detected.
Two scenarios were conducted using the drawn images
Algorithm: Smart Parking and Management System from the software. Scenario 1 represents the parking lot when
40 vehicles are parked in it, meaning it has reached capacity,
Input: Real-time images or live video streams.
and there is no place for a new vehicle. Scenario 2 refers to the
Output: Number of parked vehicles, nearest lane to the
same parking lot when it holds 24 vehicles.
drivers or motorists, number of vacant spaces and directions
to these spaces.

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 Scenario 2
Figure 8 illustrates the obtained outputs from the proposed
approach. It shows that the parking lot is occupied by 24
vehicles and 16 vacant spaces are available. Figure 9 depicts
the obtained numerical values from the presented method.
For Scenario 3 and Scenario 4, two images of real parking
areas were downloaded from Google, links for which are
available in [17, 18]. Scenarios 3 and 4 demonstrate the
system’s usage in real parking areas with vacant spaces.

Figure 6. Considered structure of the parking lot

Scenario 1
Figure 7 depicts the parking lot at full capacity with no
vacant spaces. In this scenario, drivers are instructed to look
for alternative parking areas. This Figure includes 3 subgraphs
that represent the obtained outputs from the proposed system.
The display message is also included in the Figure.

Figure 9. Numerical results of Scenario 2

Figure 10. Outputs of Scenario 3

Figure 7. Outputs of the proposed system for Scenario 1

Figure 8. Outputs of Scenario 2 Figure 11. Numerical results of Scenario 3

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 Table 1. Comparative evaluation results

Evaluation criteria
Works
Methodology Accuracy Utilized equipment The cost
Dhamane et al. Not Arduino, Radar, GSM sensors, cloud server, Android
IoT costly
[2] mentioned application and Wi-Fi module
Image segmentation and Not
Waqas et al. [3] Camera, web server, DB server, and internet service costly
preprocessing mentioned
Sulthana & Badu Not GPS, GSM, WI-FI module, Raspberry Pi, IR sensors,
IoT costly
[5] mentioned ultrasonic sensors, LED lights
The Proposed Image segmentation and very
> 96% One camera only
System preprocessing cheap

Scenario 3
A real parking lot with an 18-vehicle capacity is depicted in
Figure 10. Two vacant spaces are shown available. The
obtained results from the presented system are included.
Figure 11 shows the obtained numerical results after applying
the presented algorithm.

Scenario 4
Another real parking lot is shown in Figure 12, Figure 13
refers to the obtained numerical results of Scenario 4.

Figure 13. Numerical outputs of Scenario 4

5. CONCLUSION

The implemented system in this article is highly useful as

proved by the outputs of the presented scenarios. It is easy to
operate, maintain, and utilize anywhere. In addition to the
parking services, a smart metering system can be easily
incorporated into the system to determine a payment rate for
Figure 12. Second real parking lot drivers accessing the parking lot. The integration of a
notification system for drivers or motorists is also possible
As shown in all 4 scenarios, the proposed algorithm with some adjustments. MATLAB is used to validate the
successfully managed all possible scenarios and produced proposed method, and its results show that the proposed
perfect results. The presented and implemented system in this algorithm performs as intended and produces accepted outputs.
manuscript is very cost-effective since it just needs one camera
to operate and produce its outputs. Other developed works in
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