IoT-Based Smart Parking System
Md. Saiful Islam
Id: 2018-3-50-035
Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering
East West University
Abstract - The day by day industrialization of the
developing
countries has led to the rise in the need for vehicles. This
results in the emerging of new vehicles into the market.
there's an increase in the number of vehicles but not increase
in the parking space. Most time is wasted in search of the
vacant parking place. Main reason for the parking problem
in busy areas. so as to solve the problem, the necessity of
automatically parking system, online (using internet)
parking slot booking, multi-story parking garage etc., are
increased. the most aim of this project is to create an online
parking slot booking and also provide protection with
various security algorithms from intruders. In today’s life
working a prototype of a web smart parking system is
developed, and a mobile Application is developed which can
allow the user to find vacant parking slots using their
phones. during this modern world, where world’s population
is crossing around 17 billion and still increasing people’s
needs are constantly increasing at every minute. Shopping
malls, Movie theatres are acquiring large ground and other
people are going to face problems about parking their
vehicles resulting in long traffic jams on main roads and
frustration faced by the car drivers. Therefore, to beat these
problems smart parking systems are coming in nowadays.
Using IOT, solutions are made to beat problems. This paper
will provide brief idea about how smart parking systems are
important and various inventions made during this area.
Keywords:- Industrialization, Parking system, Mobile
application, IOT.
I. INTRODUCTION
Vehicle parking is one of the most important issues
prevailing these days in developed and developing cities.
One that owns automobiles faces a lot of difficulties while
parking. This paperwork resolves the most important
problems in vehicle parking. Our system aims to resolve the
issues in automotive parking by using the android
application. The proposed methodology could be a good
automotive parking booking system that provides the
customers with a simple method of reserving a car parking
lot on-line. This helps to urge the better of encountering a
vehicle parking space in public areas that unnecessarily
time-consuming. Hence this paperwork offers an online-
based reservation system wherever users will read varied
slots and choose the world to look at the availability of
space. An infrared (IR) sensing element is an electronic
device that measures and detects infrared in its close
surroundings. the space between the vehicle and the parking
XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE
slot is measured using these sensors based on the emitted
radiation intensity. These sensors use the essential principle
referred to as Reflective Indirect Incidence. Sensors and
Control Unit (SCU) supported the data received, collects the
knowledge or data of the vehicle from the user and build
appropriate decisions. These sensors are wont to detect
varied obstacles like a pillar, wall, fence, and human therein
particular automotive parking slot. Two sorts of sensors are
used specifically the Electromagnetic sensor and Ultrasonic
sensor. Ultrasonic sensor uses sound waves to measure the
vehicle-object distance. Electromagnetic sensor undergoes
detecting obstacles at an enormous range extent. The
Internet of things (IoT) allows us to link, collect, and
interchange data.[1]
II. METHODOLOGY
A. (Relevance of the project)
advanced technology is the importance of the IoT-based
Smart Car Parking System. It includes the newest
technology and concept that is assured of profitable
outcomes. Due to its design and implementation of every
concept on IoT-based Smart Car Parking, it makes it very
easy to manage and supervise. due to the well-organized
structure, this Car Parking System are often easily handled
by the owner and all the staff members who implement this
system in their parking area. In this Car Parking System, the
sensors that we use are of low cost, and also the system
gives real-time data and application. This makes the user
identify the available and unavailable slots for parking
easily. Lastly, this IoT-based Car Parking System can
significantly benefit both the users and the parking lot
owner.
B. Problem Statement
Optimized Parking: This Smart Parking System makes the
user save time, resources, to find the best and safe parking
slot available and also the effort in finding the parking slot.
Also, this system utilizes the parking area properly in filling
the parking lot efficiently by all entities like commercial and
corporate.
Reduced Traffic: As time reduced in finding parking slots in
the parking area and this makes lower in traffic flow
Increased Safety: This Parking System increases the security
that prevents violation and suspicious activity in the parking
area as it gathers real-time data and also license plate
recognition cameras that help parking employees and
security guards.
Decreased Management Costs: As this Parking System  Servo Motor (2)
makes the parking activity more automated and less manual
that saves cost on labor and resource exhaustion.[2]
III. LITERATURE SURVEY
One of the primary experimental paradigms of an automatic
2. Online tools
parking system was developed on an electrical automobile
Ligier at INRIA (i.e. French Institute for analysis in
engineering associate Automation) within the mid-1990s.  Adafruit IO
“Internet of Things based Smart Parking System” Shelena
Soosay Nathan, Aida Nabilah Mohd Khairudin, Muhammad 3. NODEMCU (ESP8266)
Najmi Afiq Saiful Bahri, Muhammad Alifuddin Jaafar  The NodeMCU is an open-source firmware and
Multidisciplinary.Applied Research and Innovation 1 (1),  development kit that helps you to Prototype your product
45-52, 2020 - This smart parking allows customers to within a
optimize shopping time by helping them find a nearby  few Lua script lines. ESP8266 has powerful on-board
parking spot, provide real-time information on parking space processing and storage capabilities that allow it to be
and provide smart payment services. This study aimed at integrated with the
developing an Auto Gate Smart Parking System which
applies the concept of the Internet of Things. The
methodology used in the development is the Input Process
Output model in steps which include analysis requirement,
design and testing, and evaluation. This system uses an Auto
Number Plate Recognizer (ANPR) through Raspberry Pi to
detect the vehicle’s plate number and with the help of an
ultrasonic sensor, Raspberry Pi camera, database, and an
Arduino board. Testing was conducted by registering the
vehicle plate numbers into the database through Google
Form and the system was tested with the registered plate
number vehicle. It has shown that the system had effectively
recognized the vehicle’s plate numbers which makes it easy
for parking for small organizations to control their parking
area. The system provides convenience to users as no direct 4. IR Sensor
An IR sensor is basically an electronic device which is used to
interaction is needed for access. Given the current situation detect the presence of objects. Infrared light is emitted by this
in facing Covid19, it is very important to have contactless device. If this device does not detect any IR light reflected back
systems.[3] this means that, there is no object present. If the light is detected
IV. PROBLEM STATEMENT by the sensor then there is an object present.
To implement IOT Based Smart Car Parking System Using
NODEMCU ESP8266 With the increase in the population,
the number of vehicles increases and due to unmanaged
parking, it leads to many problems. In center cities, people
face difficulties as increasing number of vehicles creates
congestion, wastage of space, time, traffic problems,
carnapping, car vandalism, and many other difficulties.[4]
V. OBJECTIVE
1. The main objective of this project is reducing the
risk of finding parking slots in any parking area.
2. Using the IoT-based parking system you can easily
access the parking slot availability over the
internet.
3. This project helps the drivers of the cars to park
their vehicles with minimum wastage of time with
accurate information of the availability of the
5. SERVO MOTOR
space.
4. Enhance security by simplifying the parking Servo Motor is a rotator device that allows the control of
system. linear as well as angular motion. A Servo Motor is used for
5. Smart system that parks several vehicles with the the opening and closing of the gate. Servo drive sends
least space possible.[5] electrical signals to the Servo Motor for producing motion.
[6]
VI.IMPLEMENTATION SETUP:A. COMPONENTS
REQUIRED
1. Hardware

 NodeMCU ESP8266
 IR Sensor (5)

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 2. After finishing the account creation process, log in to
our account and click on ‘AIO Key’ in the top right corner
IV. Circuit Diagram to get our account username and AIO key.

When we click on ‘AIO Key,’ a window will pop up with

our Adafruit IO AIO Key and username. Copy this key and
username, it will be needed later in the code.

The circuit diagram for this IoT based smart parking

system project is given below.
Setup:
In this Smart Parking System using IOT, we are using five IR
Sensors and two servo motors. IR sensors and Servo motors
are connected to the NodeMCU. NodeMCU controls the
complete process and sends the parking availability and
parking time information to Adafruit IO so that it can be
monitored from anywhere in the world using this platform.
Two IR sensors are used at the entry and exit gate so that
they can detect the cars at the entry and exit gate and
automatically open and close the gate.
WORKING ON PIR MOTION SENSOR 3. Now, after this, we need to create a feed. To create a
feed, click on ‘Feed.’ Then click on ‘Actions,’ and then on
Two servo motors are used as entry and exit gates, so ‘Create a New Feed’ as shown in the image below.
whenever the IR sensor detects a car, the servo motor
automatically rotates from 45° to 140°, and after a delay, it
will return to its initial position. Another three IR sensors are
used to detect if the parking slot is available or occupied and
send the data to NodeMCU. Adafruit IO dashboard also has
two buttons to manually operate the entry and exit gate.
VII.Adafruit IO Setup for IOT Parking System
Adafruit IO is an open data platform that allows
to aggregate, visualization, and analyze live data on the
cloud. Using Adafruit IO, we can upload, display, and 4. After this, a new window will open to enter the Name and
monitor our data over the internet, and make our project IoT
Description of the feed. The writing description is optional.
enabled. we can control motors, read sensor data, and make
cool IoT applications over the internet using Adafruit IO. For
test and try, with some limitation, Adafruit IO is free to use.
We have also used Adafruit IO with Raspberry Pi previously.
1. To use Adafruit IO, first, we have to create an account
on Adafruit IO. To do this, go to the Adafruit IO website
and click on ‘Get started for Free on the top right of the
screen.

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5. Click on ‘Create,’ after this; we will be redirected to we
newly created feed.For this project, we created a total of nine
feeds for exit gate, entry gate, slot 1 entry & exit, slot 2
entry & exit, and slot 3 entry & exit.After creating feeds,
now create an Adafruit IO dashboard to show all of these
feeds on a single page. To create a dashboard, click on the
Dashboard option and then click on the ‘Action,’ and after
this, click on ‘Create a New Dashboard.’
In the next window, enter the name of our dashboard and
click on ‘Create.’
6. As the dashboard is created now, we will add our feeds to
the dashboard. To add a feed, click on the ‘+’ in the top
right corner.
First, we will add two RESET button blocks for Entry and
Exit gate and then seven TEXT blocks for parking details.
To add a button on the dashboard click on the RESET
block.
In the next window it will ask you to choose the feed,
so click on the entry gate feed.
4
In this final step, give your block a title and customize it
accordingly. Change the press value from ‘1’ to ‘ON’. So
whenever the button is pressed it will send the ‘ON’ string to
NodeMCU, and NodeMCU will perform the further task. If
you don’t want to change the press value here then you can
change the condition in the program.
After this, follow the same procedure to create another
block for the exit gate.
To create the rest of the blocks follow the same procedure,
but instead of creating a RESET block, create a TEXT block
so that you can show the parking details.After creating all the
blocks, my dashboard looks like below. You can edit the
dashboard by clicking on the settings buttons
VIII.Programming NodeMCU for IOT Parking
System
To program NodeMCU with Arduino IDE go to File
>Perferences–>Settings.
Enter https://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/
package_esp8266com_index.json into the ‘Additional
Board Manager URL’ field and click ‘Ok’.
 #include "Adafruit_MQTT_Client.h"
Then include the Wi-Fi and Adafruit IO credentials that you
copied from the Adafruit IO server. These will include
the MQTT server, Port No, User Name, and AIO Key
const char *ssid = "WiFi Name"; // Enter your WiFi Name
const char *pass = "Password"; // Enter your WiFi
Password
String time1= "89";
#define MQTT_SERV "io.adafruit.com"
#define MQTT_PORT 1883
#define MQTT_NAME "User Name"
Now go to Tools > Board > Boards Manager.
#define MQTT_PASS "AIO Key"
Set up the feed you're publishing to. Here Agriculture
Data is the feed name.

Connect the Entry and Exit Servo Motor to the D4, D5 Pins
In Boards Manager window, Type esp in the search box, of the NodeMCU, and select the out pins of IR sensor as
esp8266 will be listed there below. Now select the latest INPUT.
version of the board and click on install.

Inside the void loop, time client.update() function is used

to update the date and time whenever we request NTP
servers. After getting the data, we store the hour, minute,
and second in three different integers.

After installation is complete, go to Tools >Board >and

select NodeMCU 1.0(ESP-12E Module). Now you can
program NodeMCU with Arduino IDE.Complete code for
this Smart Parking System using IOT is given at the end of
this tutorial, here we are explaining the program step by step
so that you can easily understand the working of this code Digitally read the entry and exit IR sensor pins and check if
these pins are high. If pins are high, then move the servo
First, include all the required libraries. ESP8266 Wi- motor to open the entry and exit gate. Then increase the
Fi and Servo.h libraries are already installed in the IDE. You count for entry gate and decrease the count for exit gate and
can download the NTP client and Adafruit MQTT libraries publish the data to the Adafruit IO dashboard.
from the below links:
NTPClient.h
Adafruit_MQTT.h
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <Servo.h>
#include <NTPClient.h>
#include <WiFiUdp.h> Check the slot 1 IR sensor. If it is ‘1’ and Boolean function
is false, then get the entry time from the NTP server and
#include <NTPClient.h>; save it in EntryTimeSlot1 variable. Publish the variable data
#include <WiFiUdp.h> to the Adafruit IO feed.
#include "Adafruit_MQTT.h"

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If the IR sensor pin change to zero and Boolean function is
true then publish the exit time to Adafruit IO feed.

Do similar steps as above for slot2 and slot 3 sensors.

Here we are directly checking for a specific word in our

subscribed feed, and if the word matches with our specified
word, i.e., ‘ON,’ it will rotate the servo motor to open the
gate.

Do similar steps as above for the Exit gate.

This is how the parking details are published on the Adafruit
IO dashboard. It will show the entry time and exit time for
every slot. This dashboard also has two buttons to manually
open the entry and exit gate.

So this is how a Smart Parking System using IoT can be

built. You can add more sensors to increase the parking slots
and can also add a payment system to automatically pay the
parking fee. Comment below if you have any doubts
regarding this project.
IX. Code:

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7

X. TEST RESULTS
 Smart Parking System reduces the time to locate a
vehicle in parking areas and hence it reduces fuel
consumption.
 It also eliminates the unnecessary travelling of vehicles
across the filled parking slots in a city.
 Developing Smart Parking Systems within a city solves
the pollution problem.
 Fuel saving (According to a recent report, Smart
Parking can result in 2,20,000 gallons of fuel saving till
2030 and approximately 3,00,000 gallons of fuel saved
by 2050).
XI. ADVANTAGES
Smart parking can reduce business by making it easier to
detect empty parking spaces, therefore lowering the threat of
distracted driving. Through the use of detectors that descry
whether space is empty or engaging and lights that indicate
this, smart parking technology can help motorists detect
spots. Rather than checkup for empty spaces, motorists can
fluently assess vacuity through red and green lights. This
would also help them plan their parking initiative, advising
the motorist behind that they're going to pull into space.
XII. DISVANTAGES
So, one of the key disadvantages of magnetometer-based
smart car parking sensors is rapidly decreasing battery life
with the increasing accuracy requirements. Besides that,
modern electric vehicles often do not have ferromagnetic
parts at all.
XIII. FUTURE SCOPE
 The Future Scope is to adopt this Smart Parking System
(SPS) so that availability of parking slots could be viewed
on a mobile phone Application or even on a satellite
navigation device so that drivers will always be aware of
whether there are available parking slots or not.
 And enhance to send notifications to the user's mobile
phone when a vehicle enters a particular shopping mall
and some streets in a city etc.
 AI, ML: AI-based smart parking solutions include special
IoT tools that can count the number of parked vehicles and
empty parking spaces in a parking lot. It detects if there is a
car presence in a parking space and sends the information to
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the management platform. The best part is that this based
solution collects and formats the information in real time.
XIV. CONCLUSION
The idea of sensible cities has continually been a dream.
There are advancements made over the past number of years
to form sensible town dreams into reality. The advancement
of the web of things and cloud technologies has given rise to
new potentialities in terms of sensible cities. Sensible
parking facilities have continually been the core of
constructing sensible cities. The system provides a true time
method and knowledge of the parking slots. This paper
enhances the performance by saving users time to find
associate degree acceptable parking zone. It helps to resolve
the growing downside of a holdup. As for the long-run work
the users will book a parking zone from a far-off location.
GPS, reservation facilities, and registration code scanners
will be enclosed in the future.
REFERENCES
[1] Pradyumna G., Omkar B. And Sagar B., “Introduction
To IoT”, International Advanced Research Journal In
Science, Engineering And Technology, 2019.
[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
344679774_SMART_AUTOMOTIVE_PARKING_SY
STEM
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KPWEmBj0w
[4] Adil H., Abderrahim M. And Larbi H., “Designing And
Managing A Smart Parking System Using Wireless
Sensor Networks”, Journal Of Sensor And Actuator
Networks, 2020.
[5] Denis Ashok, Akshat Tiwari, and Vipul Girje, “Smart
Parking System using IoT Technology”, IEEE, 27 April
2020.
Department of Electronics & Communications Engineering
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Zahidur Rahman
Lecturer, Dept. of ECE