Parking Space Detection
Parking Space Detection
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Abstract for a parking space, travelling at an average of 10 mph and
covers only half a mile in the meantime. The result is frequent
traffic congestion. When the drivers are in search of a parking
Successful implementation of Parking Space Detection space, the possibility for accidents increases as they give less
can effectively reduce a lot of problems related to traffic attention to the road [1]. A sophisticated car parking system
congestion in urban areas. Wastage of fuel and time in can only solve these problems. That is why numerous research
search of a vacant parking space will be significantly works are taking place in this area all around the world. Empty
reduced and the complete utilization of the available parking slot detection is the first phase of any smart parking
system. The second phase is sharing this information to the
parking areas can make our cities really smart. Parking drivers who are in search of parking lots. There are many
slot detection and user notification are the two major methods used for detecting empty parking slots [2].
sections of a smart parking system. The empty parking
space detection was initially done by deploying a number
of sensors in the parking lot. It is highly expensive and RELATED WORK:
complicated to install. But the advancement of image
Smart solutions for car parking in urban areas and the
processing has enabled us to use images of the parking related technologies have been improved tremendously
area to find out empty spaces. In this paper a comparative over the past few decades. Wherever there is a significant
study of the various parking space identification amountof traffic some form of car parking system is also
techniques has been done. Also the image processing needed. Rapid rise of urban population and the increase in
traffic congestion has escalated the demand for the
based system models has been presented as a replacement
researches in the smart parking system domain during the
for sensor based systems. A very efficient and simple past two decades. By taking the advantage of some modern
technique for parking slot identification based on optical tools in information and communication engineering, the
character recognition (OCR) has been introduced in this parkingspace information can be shared effectively in real
paper. The camera installed in the parking lot captures time.
the image of the parking area with specially numbered For example, Parking Guidance and Information (PGI)
parking spaces. The OCR system recognizes the numbers systems [3]-[5] through variable message signs provide
which are not hidden by a vehicle parked over it and this real time parking information to the drivers who are in
search of a parking lot. In order to gather information
information is used for identifying the empty spaces. about occupancy of parking spaces the system uses special
sensorswhich are deployed mainly at the entry gates and
exit gates of the parking lot. These types of systems can
be deployedin the car parking lot of commercial shopping
Keywords: -Parking space detection, Image Processing, malls and trade centers and can be installed easily
Optical Character Recognition
The remaining portion of this paper is organized as follows:
INTRODUCTION: Section III explains the overall system model of a typical smart
parking system. A study of different sensors detecting the
So many researches on traffic congestion analysis reveal empty parking spaces is done in this section. In Section IV, our
that an estimated 70 per cent of all drivers currently on the proposed OCR based system is introduced as an efficient
road are searching for effective parking. This will intensify alternative for existing algorithms. Results and conclusions are
traffic congestion as the vehicles spend more time on the road.
given in the last two sections.
Drivers may also tend to drive at low speed when they are
searching for a parking space. Researches in this area have
found out that vehicles spend an average of 15 minuteslooking SYSTEM MODEL:
Modern Parking Space Detectioncan be broadly divided into Inductive Proximity sensor:
two based on the technology used for identifying the empty An inductive proximity sensor can detect metal objects
parking spaces in a parking lot; (1) Sensor based methods and approaching it by using the principle of mutual induction.
(2) Image processing based methods. Here in this paper we It can be deployed at the entrance and exit of the parking
make a comparative study about different parking spot lot for identifying the entry and exit of vehicles in the
detection techniques and we also propose an advanced parking parking area. This sensor is usually buried underground at
spot identification technique using OCR algorithm of image the entrance as well as the parking space. Most of the
processing. Inductive Proximity Sensors usea coil and an oscillator for
producing an electromagnetic field in the close
surroundings. The vehicle which is a metal body can cause
a change in the magnetic field which will in fact cause a
damping of oscillation amplitude. The rise or fall of such
oscillation beyond a given threshold value changes the
output of the sensor. This sensor will only detect the
A. Sensor Based Methods presence of metal bodies such as vehicles and will be
inactive if some living or nonmetal objects enter its Image processing based parking space detection proposed
proximity. The main demerit is the complexity in the by Yusnita and Norbaya and so many other similar papers
installation and maintenance of the sensors in the parking introduce algorithms using imagesegmentation and detection
lot. techniques. Here a round white image will be drawn on each
parking slot manually. This will enable the system to
automatically identify the location of every parking slot in the
Active Ultrasonic Sensor: image. The absence of the white circle in the image will be
considered as the occupancy of a vehicle in the parking space.
a) A special sensor that can be used for detecting the
presence of a vehicle is an ultrasonic sensor. These sensors
will generate ultrasonic pulse waves which are used in
them for measuring the distance between the object and
the sensor. The sensor transmitter sends ultrasonic pulses
and the reflected pulses are received by it for measuring
the time delay. By using this time delay between the
emission and reception, the distance betweenthe sensor
and the target will be calculated. The ultrasonic sensor can
accurately detect the presence of objects in the parking
spaces but it has no provision to distinguish between the
occupancy of a vehicle and some other objects. That is,
even the presence of an animal or a person will be treated Fig. 3. Schematic of Image Processing Based Parking Space
as a vehicle occupying the space. Also, the system is very Detection.
costly as we need sensors for each and every parking spot.
The installation and maintenance of the system is
complex.
The first module is system initialization which will
automatically set up the boundaries of every parking space in
RFID Sensor: the entire parking area. A camera is used for capturing the
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) ) isused for automatic image of the parking area and then it is stored in the memory.
identification of objects with the help of radio waves. RFID It is taking place in the image acquisition section. The
uses a tag or a chip which will be installed in the vehicle and acquisition unit is connected to an image processing unit that
will send a code which will be received by an RFID reader runs a MATLAB program. The third module is image
present in the parking area and the data can be used for segmentation, which uses thresholding technique. Then the
accurately identifying the arrival of a vehicle. When the image is enhanced by using morphological functions which
vehicle enters the parking area, the data stored in the RFID will remove pixels that does not belong to the selected object.
chip will be received by the RFID reader. Only vehicles with Image detection is the last module, which identifies the round
correct RFID tag will be identified. Vehicles without the brown image on each and every parking space. Based on the
RFID tag will be blocked from entering the parking area. output of image detection section the empty parking lots can
Although this a very simple and effective technique, the be identified. Fixing of the camera at a proper location is very
installation of RFID tags in each andevery vehicle is a highly critical in this method. Any variation in the orientation of the
complex process. camera will cause errors in the output.
RESULTS:
CONCLUSION:
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