Smart-Parking Car Essay Example

Background of research

Due to the increase of traffic congestion and urban population, smart parking is deemed as a sustainable solution, from economic interests and in the research field. Because of ICT evolution, it has become easier for drivers to find satisfying parking spaces efficiently using smart parking services. Still, the ongoing and existing works on smart parking are not only transdisciplinary but also complicated.
Cities that have more on-street parking spaces have started espousing smart parking with the aim of preventing drivers from cruising for free parking. Besides that, smart parking services have been deployed by a number of cities on the basis of economic initiatives. Information from smart parking applications can help motorists reduce the time they take to search for parking space, reduce costs in terms of fuel consumption, reduce environmental pollution, and ease traffic congestion. As a result, this improves the use rate of public transportation as well as cities’ revenues. As mentioned by Lin et al. (2017), if drivers could find a parking space rapidly, they reduce the idle time spent on the on-street parking. More importantly, smart parking makes traffic more fluent, expands cities’ capacities and improves urban mobility.

Current state-of-the-art 

The majority of the modern-day parking lots do not have a standard system that could help in searching for parking spaces. The existing systems rely heavily on human interaction with the physical entity as well as space. Most of the existing parking lots rely on the inefficient Human-to-Human Interaction (HHI). A number of techniques have previously been proposed to solve these problems such as RFID, Zigbee, Short Messaging Services, and so forth. As pointed out by Shaikh et al. (2016), smart parking can help reduce traffic congestion in urban areas and reduce pollution since it becomes easier to find a free parking space. In Melbourne, Smart Parking’s SmartGuide solution has played a crucial role in making the car parking process less stressful, quicker and easier. The SmartGuide system detects all the parking spaces’ occupancy status, and then directs drivers to vacant bays in an accurate and clear manner (Smart Parking, 2014). The guidance signage informs the drivers how many parking spaces are vacant on each floor. A green overhead indicator shows the driver where there is an available space. As mentioned by Jog et al. (2015), smart parking utilizes data analytics, wireless communication technology, sensors, and other systems to solve issues associated with parking. With the help of sensors, smart parking solutions could be utilised to locate a vacant parking space; thus, reduces wastage of fuel and saves customer’s time.

Research Objectives/hypotheses

• To determine how smart parking system can be used to locate and secure a vacant parking space
• To investigate smart parking systems as well as their technologies
• To determine how the smart parking system reduces the searching time
• To determine how the smart parking system add value for parking stakeholders by simplifying the parking experience
• To establish how the system allows drivers to make intelligent decisions through real–time status applications

Research methodologies

The research will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to collect data. At first, a literature review will be to explore the existing literature with the goal of finding an idea regarding the research topic and to also to identify where to focus more. Besides that, the literature review will be used to present the research topic and support the claim of new material. Quantitative data will be gathered through experiments and surveys with the aim of finding patterns and coming up with evidence-based conclusions. For this reason, a self-administrated questionnaire will be used to collect data from the public, drivers and officials in the department of transport. On the other hand, qualitative data will be gathered through semi-structured interviews.

References

Jog, Y., Sajeev, A., Vidwans, S. & Mallick, C., 2015. Understanding Smart and Automated Parking Technology. International Journal of u- and e- Service, Science and Technology, vol. 8, no. 2, pp.251-62.

Lin, T., Rivano, H. & Mouel, F.E.L., 2017. A Survey of Smart Parking Solutions. In IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems., 2017. IEEE.

Shaikh, F.I. et al., 2016. Smart Parking System Based on Embedded System and Sensor Network. International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 140, no. 12, pp.45-51.

Smart Parking, 2014. Smart Parking transforms parking experience in Melbourne. [Online] Available at: https://www.smartparking.com/keep-up-to-date/press-releases/smart-parking-transforms-parking-experience-in-melbourne [Accessed 3 August 2017].