Applied Computer Science, vol. 15, no. 2, pp.

53–62 Submitted: 2019-04-02

doi:10.23743/acs-2019-13 Revised: 2019-04-17
Accepted: 2019-05-18

adoption, appropriation, wireless technology application

Kusay F. AL-TABATABAIE [0000-0002-6632-3596]*,

Sadeer D. ABDULAMEER*

APPLYING ARDUINO FOR CONTROLLING

CAR PARKING SYSTEM

Abstract
With increasing automobiles in the parking space, we could face problems
like unplanned parking, lack of discipline, wasting time and fuel while
looking for free space around the parking ground. These problems could be
solved by applying Arduino for controlling car parking system. The proposed
system will detect an available parking slot in short time, saves fuel, offer
monitoring car parking system with low consumption, easy to implement
and inexpensive.

1. INTRODUCTION

An important factor which leads to a parking problem is human behavior.

Due to time deviation in arrival rate, habitual parking lots cannot be concerned
with the user. So, the users indiscriminately park the car in a parking space, and
some do not have space, and they park outside of parking space.
Fully automated systems are being adopted in industries across the world at
a rapid rate (Al-Tabatabaie & Hama, 2017). Control systems are replacing manual
operators and fully automated machines are replacing human labor. Less personnel
and smarter machines mean less operating and labor costs while increasing the
quality of the products or services offered.
This study will increase the quality of service of parking lots by integrating
a smart system which assists motorists in finding vacant parking slots (Bonde,
Shende, Kedari, Gaikwad & Bokre, 2014). It will provide system with information
to assist in monitoring the vehicles safely.

*Cihan University – Sulaimanyia Campus, Computer Science Departament, Sulaimanyia, Iraq,

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

53
 Arduino will be used as a controller to the system, Arduino is an open-source
prototyping platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software (Official
Arduino website), support allows external USB hardware (an Android USB
accessory) to cooperate with an Android-powered device in a special accessory
mode. When an Android-powered device is in accessory mode, the connected
accessory acts as the USB host (powers the bus and enumerates devices) and the
Android-powered device acts in the USB accessory role. The accessory mode is
ultimately dependent on the device's hardware and not all devices support
accessory mode (Official Arduino website).
Recently there are a number of researches have been done for car parking
using Arduino with different ideas like using Internet of things (IOT) technology
(Ghosh, Prusty & Natarajan, 2018; Kadhim, 2018; Yuvaraju & Monika, 2017),
some researchers used fuzzy design (Ganesh, Deepak, Naveen & Raghu, 2014;
Rashid, Rahman, Islam, Alwahedy & Abdullahi, 2019; Syam, Piarah & Jaelani,
2015), and some researchers used image processing (Al-Kharusi & Al-Bahadly,
2014; Mallikarjun, Harikishan, Sharath & Rakesh, 2019), while others use it
with GSM module using mobile (Ba Sabbea et al., 2018; Rahayu & Mustapa,
2013; Ramani, Valarmathy, Vanitha & Thangam, 2013). The intelligent or smart
parking system must be proposed for searching the vacant or about to vacant
parking space (Aalsalem, Khan & Dhabba, 2015). In smart parking system, users
can access data to determine the availability of spots for parking, then have card
notify the entrance time, at the exit, there will be a small pad to type in the card
number to check how much money have to pay before opening exit gate. Thus,
smart parking will increase the application of existing parking, which leads
to greater income for parking holders. It also benefits the environment and plays
a major role in creating an eco-friendly environment.

2. THE INSTALLMENT SYSTEM

To have proper knowledge about the hardware components as well as the
software components of the project is a must. Arduino Mega 2560 played a vital
part in this project as it contains all the software data in it. The required
hardware components for the project are:

2.1. Arduino Mega 2560

The Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560.

The ATmega2560 is a low-power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR
enhanced RISC architecture. By executing powerful instructions in a single
clock cycle, the ATmega2560 achieves throughputs approaching 1 Minute Per
Second per MHz allowing the system design to optimize power consumption
versus processing speed (Al-Tabatabaie & Hama, 2017; Official Arduino
website) . The Mega 2560 is as shown in figure 1.

54
 Fig. 1. Arduino Mega 2560 board

Where figure 1 shows all pins outputs digital, analog, power and ground, details
as shown in table 1.

Tab. 1. Technical specification for Arduino Mega 2560

Microcontroller ATmega2560
Operating Voltage 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) 7–12V
Input Voltage (limit) 6–20V
Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)
Analog Input Pins 16
DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA
Flash Memory 256 KB of which 8 KB used by boot-loader
SRAM 8 KB
EEPROM 4 KB
Clock Speed 16 MHz
Length 101.52 mm
Width 53.3 mm
Weight 37 g

2.2. RF Module (radio frequency module)

Is a small electronic device used to transmit and/or receive radio signals, as

shown in figure 2. This post is popular to monitor RF for frequency of 433MHz
Transmitter/Receiver modules with Arduino.

Transmitter Receiver

Fig. 2. RF “Transmitter/Receiver module”

55
2.3. L293D motor driver

H-bridge is an electronic circuit that enables a voltage to be applied across

a load in either direction as shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 3. L293D motor driver module

These circuits are often used to allow DC motors to run forwards or backward
in robotics and other applications.

2.4. DC Motor

Is a rotary electrical machine, the most common types rely on the forces
produced by magnetic fields as shown in figure 4.

Fig. 4. DC step motor

The DC motor converts from direct current electrical energy into mechanical
energy.

2.5. Ultrasonic sensor

Is Range Detection Sensor to indicate the empty slot in the garage, as shown
in figure 5.

56
 Fig. 5. Ultrasonic range detection

By measuring the distance to find the empty slot in parking to park the car
and help the driver to find the slot easily. The ultrasonic sensor determines the
distance to an object by using sonar. Here’s what happens:
1. The transmitter (trig pin) sends a signal: a high-frequency sound.
2. When the signal finds an object, it is reflected and…
3. The transmitter (echo pin) receives it.

3. METHODOLOGY

The proposed system architecture idea present as shown in Figure 6.

Fig. 6. System architecture idea

The methodology of Automated Car Parking System is made up of 2 major

components: Arduino Mega 2560 and RF Module. The coding of this system has
been done using the ArduinoIDE programming language. The monitor will
display the number of available slots and will have an RF Receiver Module to get
updates about the empty parking slot.

57
 When a car will come, the operator will send an instruction through Arduino
to open the gate using RF Transmitter Module, the ultrasonic will sense which
slot number car barked and through Arduino will update the monitor display
at the entrance. DC motor helps the gates to open up when it gets the signal from
Arduino, Arduino will only get the signal to DC motor using RF Receiver
Module. The timer will be started as soon as the gate opened. The operator will
print slot number, time and the code number in the small paper for the driver to
take it. The code number will be saved in the system against a slot number.
For parking out the user must make payment to be provided with a code to
the operator at the exit gate. After the user makes payment must type the code
number at the numeric pad at the gate to let the operator giving the command to
park out the car. The operator will update the empty slot information to the
monitor display at the entrance using the RF Transmitter Module. The block
diagram for the park system is shown in Figure 7.

Fig. 7. Prototype block diagram for automated car parking system

4. WORKING PROCEDURE

This section will explain the working procedure for the prototype block
diagram in Figure 7 at the computers in the entrance and exit gates. That would
be done by simplifying the work using flowcharts.

4.1. Computer (Entrance Gate)

The monitor will display the available free slots where the user can park, the
calculation would be saved in the computer as follows:

Total slot = n; Busy Slot = a;

After every entry:
a = a + 1; Free Slot = n – a;

58
 The flowchart for the entrance computer is shown in figure 8.

Start

Entrance Computer

Connect with Arduino Update free slot

numbers

Display monitor
Print code and
start stopwatch
Activate RF Module

Activate DC motor
to open the gate

Display No Is there any Yes Display available

“No free slot” free slot? slot numbers

End

Fig. 8. Flowchart for the entrance gate

4.2. Pricing principle and time limit

The pricing principle and time limit for automated car parking system will be
saved inside the computer database, the customer should put the ticket inside the
machine to check how long stayed and gives how much have to pay. This time
as shown in table 2 given below:

Tab. 2. Time limitation plan for car parking system

Time limit
Place name Price per hour (in USD)
(hours)
Shopping Mall 3 1.25
Amusement Park 4 1
Hospitals 2 0.5
Office space Office hours Free for worker only

59
 As shown in table 2, plan for each place required to apply the Arduino
system with a price to pay for each time limitation, where the price will be the
number of exceeding the time limit. For example, the price is 1.25 USD for
parking 3 hours in the shopping mall and it would be 2.5 USD if exceeded 3
hours. However, it would be 3.75 USD if exceeded 6 hours. The same process
would be applied to other places.

4.3. Computer (Exit Gate)

The ultrasonic will record in the map any available slot and update the
computer, the gate will not open unless money has been paid, type in the code
using numeric pad to activate Dc motor to open the gate as shown in figure 9.

Exit Connect
Start Activate Ultrasonic
computer with Arduino

Activate RF Module

Type the code using

numeric pad

Activate
Update free Yes Money No
End DC motor to
slot numbers paid?
open the gate

Fig. 9. Flowchart for the exit gate

5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The CPS (Car Parking system) has been tested and verified for the required
results. The CPS is able to carry out the prime functionality of searching for an
empty parking slot and communicate that path to the car. For data analysis and
results, it has been compared between the normal car parking and CPS prototype
by calculating savings and fuel consumption. The approximate calculations were
as shown in table 3.
Thus, the proposed system relatively is higher than it is in the existing
systems. From the experiment, results shows that when car numbers increases,
will cause to reduce the detection accuracy. The reduction in accuracy was due
to installing one ultrasonic sensor for every three slots. To maximize the accuracy
of the proposed system suggest the installation of 1 sensor per parking slot.
Thus, for each slot, the accuracy of detection is 100%.

60
 Tab. 3. Approximate calculations of experimental results

Parameters of comparison Normal car Car Parking

parking system
Space needed per slot (ft) 15/8 15/8
Maintenance cost per month (USD) 200 87.5
Staff needed at the parking 5 2
Detection of empty slot Have to search Use IR &
manual Ultrasonic sensor
Parking method Manual Path tracking
Fuel consumed per hour per 100 km (liter) 2 1.4
Average distance traveled by a car to park
46.11 38.7
in or park out (km)
Fuel consumed per car to park in or park
0.276 0.085
out a car (litre)
Average time needed to park in or park out
7.5 2.5
a car (minutes)
Average time to wait in a queue (minutes) 5–10 1.5
Time saved (minutes) 6 1

6. CONCLUSIONS

After applying the CPS it is found that the system can be introduced and will
be beneficiary for many countries. The main benefits are time and fuel saving,
it is also providing sustainable parking in an eco-friendly manner. There is less
maintenance cost for this system so it helps the property developer in cost
saving, and reduces the traffic jam. It will help the developers to increase their
income as well as it helps the government by increasing tax revenue. Therefore
we should introduce CPS and enjoy the benefits.

7. FUTURE ENHANCEMENT

It is possible to enhance the system by including different applications, such

as internet booking by utilizing GSM, where the driver can book for the parking
area at home or while in transit to the shopping center. Also, it is possible to
include image processing to the system to recognize the cars by their number
plates, by using this type of technology users can directly pay the car parking
using a mobile phone.

61
 REFEERENCES
Aalsalem, M. Y., Khan W. Z., & Dhabba, K. M. (2015). An automated vehicle parking management
and monitoring system using ANPR cameras. In IEEE 17th International Conference on
Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT) (pp.706–710). Seoul, South Korea.
Al-Kharusi, H., & Al-Bahadly, I. (2014). Intelligent Parking Management System Based on Image
Processing. World Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2, 55–67.
doi:10.4236/wjet.2014.22006
Al-Tabatabaie, K. F., & Hama, K. D. (2017). Remote Automation System Control Using Arduino
Board. International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology (IJLTET),
8(3), 161–167. doi:10.21172/1.83.022
Ba Sabbea, M. O., Irfan, M., ALtamimi, S. K., Saeed, S. M., Almawgani, A. H. M., & Alghamdi,
H. (2018). Design and Development of a Smart Parking System. Journal of Automation
and Control Engineering, 6(2), 66–69.
Bonde, D. J., Shende, R. S., Kedari, A. S., Gaikwad, K. S., & Bokre, A. U. (2014). Automated Car
parking system commanded by android application. In IEEE International Conference on
Computer Communication and Informatics (pp. 1–4). Coimbatore, India.
Ganesh, S., Deepak, S., Naveen, B. M., & Raghu, S. (2014). Fuzzy Based Design of Parallel Park
Assist System Control Strategy. International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer
Science & Technology (IJIRCST), 2(6), 87–95.
Ghosh, S. K., Prusty, S., & Natarajan, P. B. (2018). Design and Implementation of Smart Car
Parking System Using Lab VIEW. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics,
120(6), 329–338.
Kadhim, M. H. (2018). Arduino Smart Parking Manage System based on Ultrasonic Internet of Things
(IoT) Technologies. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7, 494–501.
Mallikarjun, G. H., Harikishan, B. H., Sharath, N., & Rakesh, M. (2019). Low Cost Arduino
Based Smart Parking Lot Controller with Occupancy Counter. International Journal
Adance Scence Engineering, 5(3), 1027–1031. doi:10.29294/IJASE.5.3.2019.1027-1031
Rahayu, Y., & Mustapa, F. N. (2013). A Secure Parking Reservation System Using GSM
Technology. International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering, 2(4),
518–520. doi:10.7763/IJCCE.2013.V2.239
Ramani, R., Valarmathy, S., Vanitha, N. S., & Thangam, R. (2013). Vehicle Tracking and Locking
System Based on GSM and GPS. I.J. Intelligent Systems and Applications, 9, 86–93.
doi:10.5815/ijisa.2013.09.10
Rashid, M. M., Rahman, M. M., Islam, M. R., Alwahedy, O. N., & Abdullahi, A. (2019). Autonomous
4WD Smart Car Parallel Self-Parking System by Using Fuzzy Logic Controller. American
International Journal of Sciences and Engineering Research, 2(2), 1–31.
Syam, R., Piarah, W. H., & Jaelani, B. (2015). Controlling Smart Green House Using Fuzzy Logic
Method. International Journal on Smart Material and Mechatronics IJSMM, 2(2), 116–120.
doi:10.20342/IJSMM.2.2.116
Yuvaraju, M., & Monika, M. (2017). IOT Based Vehicle Parking Place Detection Using Arduino.
International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology (IJESRT), 6(5),
536–542. doi:10.5281/zenodo.375816

62