international journal of electronics and communication...

International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET), ISSN 0976 –

6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online) Volume 4, Issue 5, September – October (2013), © IAEME

201

AUTOMATED CAR PARKING SYSTEM WITH NFC ACCESS

Harsh Kotak1, Prithvish Mamtora

2, Dhruv Mehta

3, Grishma Vithalani

4

1, 2, 3

(EXTC, D.J. Sanghvi College, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai, India)

4(Biomedical, D.J. Sanghvi College, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai, India)

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to propose a comprehensive concept review at developing an automated

parking system for cars. This proposed system improves the presently used parking system by

enhancing its security features and simplifying the parking process by eliminating the need for

manual intervention. For authentication and owner car identification, the parking system uses Near

Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is a set of standards for smart phones and similar

devices to establish radio communication with each other by bringing them into close proximity or

touching them together, usually no more than a couple of inches. NFC Module is widely present in

today’s smart phones and thus can be used to eliminate the need for parking tokens and/or cards. On

the other hand, the automation and space management is managed by the ARM microcontroller by

controlling the mechanical motors in transporting the car to an appropriate parking space.

Keywords: ARM Cortex M3, LCD display, NFC, PN532, Rack and pinion

1. INTRODUCTION

To understand the need and advantages of using Near Field Communication in the parking

system and also to understand the basic idea of proposed system, let’s take a look at the two things

separately.

1.1 NFC Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for smart phones and similar devices to

establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close

proximity, usually not more than a few inches. Present applications include contactless transactions,

data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi or

Bluetooth. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip,

called a "tag".

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS AND

COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (IJECET)

ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print)

ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online)

Volume 4, Issue 5, September – October, 2013, pp. 201-206 © IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijecet.asp

Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.8896 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

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NFC is a means of sending data over radio waves. In that sense it is similar to Wi-Fi or

Bluetooth, but unlike those protocols (and like RFID); NFC can be used to induce electric currents

within passive components as well as just send data by communicating with active devices.

NFC can work with passive devices that don't require their own power supply i.e. a NFC tag.

NFC's data-transmission frequency is 13.56MHz. NFC can transmit data either at 106, 212 or 424

Kbps (kilobits per second). NFC standard has three modes of operation: the peer-to-peer mode that

lets two smart phones swap data, a read/write mode in which one active device picks up info from a

passive one, and card emulation, in which an NFC device such as a smart phone can be used like a

contactless credit card [2].

1.2 Automated Car Parking System An Automated Car Parking System is a mechanical system designed to minimize the area

and/or volume required for parking cars. It is like a multi-story parking garage, it provides parking

for cars on multiple levels stacked vertically to maximize the number of parking spaces while

minimizing land usage. This Automated System, however, utilizes a mechanical system to transport

cars to and from parking spaces (rather than the driver) in order to eliminate much of the space

wasted in a multi-story parking garage. It is more similar to an automated storage and retrieval

system for cars.

2. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

The parking system is fully automated and can be called as a robotic valet parking

system. The driver drives the car into an entry (transfer) area. The driver and all passengers exit the

car. The driver taps his NFC enabled smart phone at an automated terminal nearby. The NFC Reader

terminal reads UID of the NFC enabled smart phone then sends the commands to microcontroller

and microcontroller assigns an empty parking slot. When driver and passengers have left the entry

area, the mechanical system lifts the car and transports it to a pre-determined parking space in the

system. The rack and pinion mechanism for linear motion is used to transport the car to the parking

slot. Since the structure of the parking garage is circular, linear motion along X-Y direction and

rotational motion in X plane is used to park the car.

Fig 1: Proposed parking System



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Fig. 1: Rack and pinion arrangement

The driver retrieves a car by again tapping his smart phone into an automated NFC reader

terminal. The system calculates the payment to be collected according to the parking period. The

driver makes the payment. The Parking System then lifts the car from its parking space and delivers

it to an exit area using the same rack and pinion mechanism. Also, the retrieved car has been oriented

according to the exit route to eliminate the need for the driver to back out.

Thus this fully automated Parking System theoretically eliminates the need for parking

attendants by using NFC as means of Authentication and owner car identification.

3. SYSTEM WORKING

While parking the driver places his car at the starting platform at the entrance of the parking

lot. He then brings his NFC enabled smart phone or a NFC tag near (5cm approx.) the NFC reader

module controller. The NFC reader module is based on PN532 breakout board which consists of

PN532 reader/writer IC. Every tag or smart phone has its own Unique Identity Number (UID) which

is used for authentication.

The NFC breakout board reads the 7 byte identity number from the tag or NFC enabled smart

phone and forwards it to ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller using Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

mode. ARM microcontroller compares this UID with other UIDs stored in the memory. If there is no

match the microcontroller understands that there is a new car which needs to be parked and the

microcontroller initiates the parking process else it understands that the car which has already been

parked and needs to retrieved and it initiates the retrieving process [1] [3].



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Fig 2: Block Diagram of the system

During the parking process the microcontroller first stores the UID in the memory, calculates

the nearest empty slot and waits for the user to press start button. When the start button is pressed the

microcontroller gives commands to the motor driver circuit accordingly and the LCD interfaced with

cortex M3 will display “Parking in Progress”. The motor driver circuit drives the motors according

to the commands received and the car is parked at the nearest empty location assigned by cortex M3.

After the car is parked the LCD will display “Parking Successful”. The microcontroller also stores

the location of parking slot corresponding to the specific UID in the memory.

During the retrieving process the microcontroller compares the UID with the existing UIDs in

it memory. When the match is found the microcontroller pulls out the location of the car

corresponding to the specific UID from its memory. Accordingly it gives command to motor driver

circuit to fetch the car and the LCD will display “Retrieving in progress. The LCD will display “Car

retrieved successfully” after the car is fetched from its parking location and brought back to the

starting platform. The microcontroller will than delete that particular store UID from its database and

will wait for next input from the NFC breakout board.

The whole ARM Cortex M3 programming is done in high level language using Kiel uVision

IDE.



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4. ADVANTAGES

i. Using NFC enabled smart phones eliminates the need for additional parking tokens and/or

cards.

ii. As every NFC tag and NFC enabled smart phone has unique ID so the system cannot be

deceived by a forged ID.

iii. Parking space width and depth (and distances between parking spaces) are drastically reduced

since no allowance need be made for driving the car into the parking space or for the opening

of car doors (for drivers and passengers).

iv. No driving lanes or ramps are needed to drive the car to/from the entrance/exit to a parking

space.

v. The parked cars and their contents are more secure since there is no public access to parked

cars.

vi. Minor parking lot damage such as scrapes and dents are eliminated.

vii. Driving around in search of a parking space is eliminated, thereby reducing time and fuel

consumption and thus the engine emissions.

5. LIMITATIONS

i. The user needs to carry NFC enabled smart phone otherwise a NFC tag need to provided to

the user which becomes an additional liability to the parking system.

ii. The initial cost of setup is high.

iii. Since there is a single entry and exit point there will be traffic congestion if several cars

arrive simultaneously.

6. FUTURE SCOPE

While working on the evolution of the system and exploring the ways in which the system

can be designed, we came across few new features that could be added through little alterations in

the system. Following are the things that can be done with few modifications.

i. NFC parking meter can be integrated in the system which can be used to make payments

using NFC enabled smart phone. The fee is charged to a credit or debit card associated with

the mobile phone number.

ii. Multiple entry and exit points can be constructed to reduce the traffic congestion thereby

saving time.

7. CONCLUSION

Thus we have provided a comprehensive review of our Automated Car Parking System. It

helps us to alleviate the shortcomings of current parking systems. Also using NFC for authentication

makes the system hassle free for the user as he need not take care of additional parking tokens as his

NFC enabled smart phone works like one. And even though the initial cost of setup is high, it is

worth as it provides fully automated system with better space management than conventional

systems.



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REFERENCES

[1] The Definitive Guide to the ARM Cortex-M3 (Joseph Yiu, Newnes, 2009)

[2] Near Field Communication and the NFC Forum: The Keys to Truly Interoperable

Communications. NFC Forum, 2007.

[3] PN532/C1 Near Field Communication (NFC) controller

http://www.nxp.com/documents/short_data_sheet/PN532_C1_SDS.pdf

[4] ISO/IEC 18092 Information technology, Telecommunications and information exchange

between systems, Near Field Communication, Interface and Protocol NFCIP-1. ISO -

International Organization for Standardization, 2004.

[5] Near Field Communication in the real world: turning the NFC promise into profitable,

everyday applications. Innovision Group, 2007.

[6] Jie, C. J., Jie, Z. Z., & Jun, W. Y. (2010). The design of multi-function smart card reader

being compatibled with contact cards and contactless cards based on PN532. Application of

Electronic Technique, 5, 049.

[7] Sheng-Fuu Lin, Yung-Yao Chen, "A vision-based parking lot management system"., 2006

IEEE Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. Peter. C, pp. 2897- 902, Oct. 2006.

[8] Pala, Z., & Inanc, N. (2007, September). Smart parking applications using RFID technology.

In RFID Eurasia, 2007 1st Annual (pp. 1-3). IEEE.

[9] Proximity Mobile Payments: Leveraging NFC and the Contactless Financial Payments

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[10] Gurudatt Kulkarni, Rani Waghmare, Nikita Chavan and Sandhya Mandhare, “Security in

RFID Technology”, International Journal of Computer Engineering & Technology (IJCET),

Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 337 - 343, ISSN Print: 0976 – 6367, ISSN Online: 0976 – 6375.

[11] Amrita R.Palaskar and Prof Aruna P.Phatale, “RFID Based Automated Guided Vehicle

System for Transportation”, International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology

(IJEET), Volume 4, Issue 4, 2013, pp. 56 - 61, ISSN Print : 0976-6545, ISSN Online:

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[12] Chitra Kiran N and Dr. G. Narendra Kumar, “Efficient M-Commerce Marketing Application

Based Internet of Things using Near Field Communication”, International Journal of

Computer Engineering & Technology (IJCET), Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 15 - 22,

ISSN Print: 0976 – 6367, ISSN Online: 0976 – 6375.

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