Send link
Innovative parking management piloted by a Finnish technology concept
13.06.2007
The P-Innovations research project lead by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is piloting automatic vehicle recognition and dynamic guidance in a parking structure. This innovative parking concept takes place in the city of Tampere. The concept, which utilises RFID remote identification and optical license plate recognition, enables floor specific vehicle amount calculation and vehicle-specific parking guidance. This is the first European parking application that uses passive long-range RFID remote identification for vehicle identification.
VTT and six Finnish companies are together piloting innovative technological
and service concepts in the parking structure located in downtown Tampere. The
project tests and compares the applicability of UHF RFID identification and
optical registration plate recognition for automatic vehicle identification
using fifty pilot users. In addition, the project is researching the use of
variable signals, both signposts and audible signals for situation sensitive
guidance and notification in parking structures. The experiment, which started
in late April, will continue until the end of the year 2007.
The
objective of the project is to identify products and technologies in the
portfolios of the involved companies that can be combined to generate new and
feasible concepts for parking management. Through development of these
concepts the aim is also to generate new business between the involved
companies and improve their market position. The plan is to offer parking
customers improved services by alleviating the parking experience and
supplementing the signalling.
For the pilot project,
floor-specific vehicle monitoring and passage monitoring for contract
customers for comparison was implemented using both passive RFID
identification and registration plate recognition. In addition, guidance for
the automatic cashier used to pay for the parking was implemented using smart
speakers that react to a presence and an FM radio channel that is limited to
the inside of the parking structure was installed. The radio channel can be
used to distribute notifications related to parking and, in practice,
advertising time for local entrepreneurs could be sold.
In
past years Finland has shifted increasingly towards a professional service
business in the management of public parking, which includes expansive
utilisation of technology, high-quality customer service and efficient
business operations. The customer is offered wider service entities where
parking is part of a service chain. In the past few years technologies that
automate different stages of parking have been actively sought to make parking
management and the actual parking experience easier.
There is
an increasing need for parking spaces and competition is tightening. Parking
companies are seeking ways to manage their operations more efficiently and
professionally. The targets are lower costs, faster information flow,
automation, safety and an increased offering of auxiliary services. Better
service also includes flexible pricing whose enabling concepts include, for
instance, the automatic identification of vehicles and dynamic signalling that
are being piloted.
In addition to VTT and Tekes (Finnish
Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), Tampereen Pysäköintitalo Oy,
Idesco Oy, Audio Riders Oy, Vidamin Oy, Finnish LED-Signs Oy and Ramboll
Finland Oy are funding the project. Information
about the organizations
Vocabulary:
Automatic
Vehicle Identification (AVI) refers to the identification of a vehicle’s
identity when it passes or stops at a certain point.
Automatic
Vehicle Monitoring (AVM) refers to external vehicle identification and
determination of a vehicle’s position at desired precision or point in time
using AVI.
License Plate Recognition (LPR) refers to
automatic deduction of a vehicle's registration number based on a digital
photo.
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is a
method for distance reading of information using specialised RFID identifiers
or tags and scanners. There are both passive and active identifiers. Active
identifiers have their own battery while passive identifiers use the energy
that radiates from the scanner. A passive identifier only costs a fraction of
the cost of an active identifier.
Photo:
Automatic
vehicle identification and situation sensitive signalling are central themes
in the Tampere parking experiment.