First deployment for Libelium's Smart Parking sensor platform

Spain-headquartered Libelium, a specialist in wireless sensor networks, has announced the launch of its Waspmote-based Smart Parking platform, part of the company’s smart cities solution designed to be buried in parking spaces and to detect the arrival and departure of vehicles. The company says the platform, which will allow system integrators to offer comprehensive parking management solutions to city councils, will shortly be deployed in Santander, Spain.
January 27, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Spain-headquartered 740 Libelium, a specialist in wireless sensor networks, has announced the launch of its Waspmote-based Smart Parking platform, part of the company’s smart cities solution designed to be buried in parking spaces and to detect the arrival and departure of vehicles. The company says the platform, which will allow system integrators to offer comprehensive parking management solutions to city councils, will shortly be deployed in Santander, Spain.

Libelium’s Smart Parking sensors can be buried in parking spaces and communicate with the rest of the sensor network using Waspmote’s ZigBee radio. According to Alicia Asín, CEO of Libelium,  “The first deployment of the platform will be with 742 SmartSantander – a unique city-scale experiment in applications of smart city technology which is already considered as a reference in the Smart Cities field”. In fact, the Network Planning and Mobile Communications Group from the University of Cantabria contributed to the testing and performance improvement of the sensor. Initially, 100 nodes are being installed in a pilot while the next phase will cover around 800 nodes in parking slots and street lights, for measuring environmental parameters, but eventually, around 12,000 sensors will be installed over the next three years.

According to Asín, Waspmote’s outstanding power management and over the air programming (OTA) mean that, once installed, parking sensors do not need to be accessed for years. Motes only need to transmit when a parking event – a vehicle arriving or leaving a space – takes place. With suitable batteries a sensor can operate for five years before it needs to be physically accessed for battery replacement. OTA programming enables the software for entire networks to be upgraded efficiently over the radio network without digging up the parking spaces. The low maintenance involved in smart parking sensor networks means that networks with hundreds of nodes can readily be deployed.

Smart parking sensors communicate with their gateway via radios at either 2.4 GHz or 868/900 MHz. For 2.4 GHz ZigBee connections, mesh networks are implemented with routing motes located in street lights. For the lower frequency radios, it is possible for parking sensors to communicate directly with the gateway as the propagation distance is longer.

Parking & Access Control Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Classification & Data Collection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Boston to install smart parking meters
    March 30, 2015
    Parking in Boston is wet to get smarter and easier for people who part at the city’s 8,000 metered spaces, with the addition of new intelligent multi-space and single space parking meters. Drivers will be able to pay via mobile phone, a credit card, or pocket change. This next generation of meters will also provide real-time data to the City to help Boston Transportation Department (BTD) better manage the space at the curb. The information provided by an upgraded parking system and an analysis of current on
    Read More
  • C-ITS in the EU: ‘It has got a little tribal recently’
    April 16, 2019
    As the C-ITS Delegated Act begins its journey through the European policy maze, Adam Hill looks at who is expecting what from this proposed framework for connected vehicles – and why some people are insisting that the lawmakers are already getting things wrong
    Read More
  • Heart of Slough implements Siemens wireless traffic detection
    February 21, 2013
    As part of the Heart of Slough improvement project, new traffic intersections across seven key sites in and around Slough, UK have been equipped with a total of 162 Siemens WiMag wireless magnetometer sensors by Siemens to help improve the management of traffic using the A4 and travelling to and from the town centre. Complementing the company’s proven loop and radar detection solutions, the sensors provide the Heart of Slough project with an alternative traffic detection system that uses magnetic disturbanc
    Read More
  • Philip Daniel “Dan” Fancher
    September 18, 2012
    Econolite Group mourns the recent passing of Philip Daniel “Dan” Fancher, founder, CEO and president of Wireless Technology, Inc. (WTI), who passed away on September 2, 2012. Dan was born in Tampa, Florida, on November 4, 1944. He spent many years in the electronics industry before inventing, developing and receiving a patent for the wireless technology-based products for his new company, WTI, which was founded in 1984. Dan was also on the front lines of making short-range wireless video transmission availa
    Read More

Highlighted Content