Automation of Multi-level parking lots and feasibility of mechanized automatic multi-level parking lots in Indian scenario

INTRODUCTION : With increasing population along with growing trade and commerce opportunities in many cities the number of vehicles on road is growing sharply. Increase in vehicle population in the face of the limited road space used by a large variety of motorized and nonmotorized traffic has heightened the need and urgency for a wellthoughtout policy on the issue of road safety and congestion. Though there are parking lots available in these cities, the capacity of the parking lot, due to limited space constraints it is not sufficient to cater to the present and ever increasing demand. In the absence of adequate parking facilities, the vehicles are parked on the side of the street leading to a major bottleneck in the smooth flow of traffic. In addition, high population density, large number of pavement hawkers, sidewalk encroachments, heterogeneous nature of traffic and commercial area development along all the major roads(which can be seen in all the major cities of India) have compounded the problem of congestion on the main as well as internal roads of these cities. Since many cities have no planned parking space available, currently the city traffic police allow parking of passenger vehicles on the side of the road thereby eating away a sizeable portion of motorable road. The precious time of citizens is wasted due to traffic jams and if this problem is not solved at this stage, and then it would become a serious and complicated problem in future. Multilevel parking lots at strategic places and a rational parking fee are inevitable for solving the problem of finding parking space for the growing number of vehicles. The earliest known multi-storey car park was built in 1918. It was built for the Hotel La Salle in Chicago, IL at 215 West Washington Street in the West Loop area of downtown. It was designed by Holabird and Roche. The Hotel La Salle was demolished in 1976, but the parking structure remained because it had been designated as a landmark status and the structure was located several blocks from the hotel it was built to service. The Hotel LaSalle multi-storey was demolished in 2005 after failing to receive landmark status from the city of Chicago. There are two basic technologies available for multi-level parking

In this report we would like to discuss the automation of conventional multi-level parking lots and also look into the feasibility of completely automated multi-level parking systems specifically to the Indian scenario.

AUTOMATION OF CONVENTIONAL MULTI-LEVEL PARKING LOTS: Conventional multilevel parking system can be underground, above ground or both under and above ground structure. The above ground structures are usually Opendeck parking structures, which typically have at least two sides that are minimum 50 percent, open to the outside. The open parking structure is preferable to enclosed structures for above ground, as it does not require mechanical ventilation and specialized fire protection systems. The design for conventional multilevel parking include Entry and exit ramps and/or car lifts Aisle/circulation space between vehicles Car park area

To alleviate the aforementioned problems in the introduction and to increase the convenience of the commuters, automation of multi-level parking lots is an optimum solution. With the implementation of such parking system, patrons can easily locate and secure a vacant parking space at any car park deemed convenient to them. In this automated car parking system, there are two important steps, 1. allocating a slot for parking 2. charging/ticketing system. The automation design discussed in this report has a display board which shows a vacancy slot for a car as well as displaying bill of parking a car has parked. Whenever a car is ready to move out of parking area the system displays the charge/amount to be paid for the use of parking slot.

commercial,industrial,apartments,institutions/universities,etc.,Hence it is a low cost apparatus as it mainly uses a microcontroller which is programmable, which is easy to install in any of the above places mentioned. This system is effectively in use in most of the European countries and many of the American states. This design is mainly characterized by low manual operation as well as efficient equipment can be installed any of the commercial, industrial, apartments, institutions/universities etc. which see huge traffic flow. Hence the apparatus involved is cheap and mainly consists of a programmable microcontroller, which is easy to install in any of the above places, it can be easily implemented and maintained in India. Methodology: Wireless sensor network usually consists of a large number of low cost sensor nodes that are deployed in sensing area. These nodes can sense, sample and process information gathered from their surroundings. They form an ad hoc network to exchange information and transfer data to remote data servers that can process the information. Wireless sensor networks are already applied to many fields such as military affairs, environment monitoring, city traffic control, warehouse management, smart home, etc. This report introduces a parking management system based on a wireless sensor network, which has several advantages over both implementation and maintenance. Furthermore, most of the nowadays parking management systems only have control at the entrance and exit of the park, while they do not deal with the management of parking spaces or vehicle guidance. Although some parking management systems in various countries adopt cashless parking payment scheme to improve efficiency, they ignore the demand of drivers to park their cars quickly and safely. Drivers can enter the parking lot without stopping their cars, but may spend much more time on looking for idle parking spaces. However, making use of the sensing ability of the various sensors commercially available, the parking management system based on a wireless sensor network is capable of monitoring and managing each parking space and providing particular guiding services. In the parking management system we developed, a sensor network is deployed in the parking lot. Three kinds of sensors are installed, which are parking space monitoring nodes, parking guiding nodes and a sink node. The monitoring node is installed near each parking space to detect its occupied status. Guiding nodes control the LEDs display on the turnoffs of the road to help drivers finding an idle parking space. Sink node takes charge of collecting data from the whole network and transmitting the data to a management station, which is set in the monitoring room of the park. All of these nodes communicate through wireless channel, and self-organize into an ad hoc network. According to the topological structure of the parking lot and the occupied status of each parking space, the management station computes the guiding information and transmits it to proper guiding nodes.

System Architecture: The entrance and exit of the parking lot in our system are similar to the traditional ones. A display screen at the entrance tells the number of remaining idle parking spaces. A management station, which runs parking management software, is set in the monitoring room. The wireless sensor network in the parking lot contains three kinds of sensor nodes, which are monitoring nodes, guiding nodes and sink node. Monitoring nodes are deployed upon or aside every parking space. Guiding nodes are deployed at every junction within the parking lot.

Overview of the wireless sensing network for automation of a multi-level parking lot The functions of the devices in the parking management system are as follows. 1) Monitoring node: The monitoring node detects the status of parking space with ultrasonic sensor and transmits or receives messages through RF communication module. It also receives commands from the management station to carry out some procedures such as time synchronizing, debugging, working status reporting and so on. 2) Guiding node: Equipped with an RF communication module and a display module, the guiding node receives guiding information from the management station and shows it on the LEDs display. This can help guiding vehicles to find idle parking spaces with less time. Furthermore, it can also transmit report messages and receive commands like monitoring nodes . 3) Sink node: The sink node collects parking status reports and delivers them to the management station. It acts as a gateway between wireless sensor network and networks outside. 4) Management station:

The management station takes charge of managing and maintaining the whole system. It processes the data received from the sink node, counts parking fees, and displays necessary information on the monitor. The management station sends parking-space guiding messages to guiding nodes and updates the display screen at the entrance of the parking lot in time. When the system is running, all sensor nodes form a tree-like topology autonomously for data gathering. The monitoring nodes check the availability of each parking space and transmit the report messages to the sink node. The sink node collects the report messages and delivers them to the management station, and then user can get the visual status information of the whole parking lot on a monitor screen. The management station calculates the guiding information for each guiding node and sends the guiding messages to them through the sink node. The guiding nodes will receive the messages and display the guiding indication. When a new coming car, parks in a parking space, the monitoring node would find that the parking space is occupied in a short time and send a report message to the sink node. Other nodes on its way to the sink node would forward the message as soon as possible. After receiving the report, the sink node would notify the management station of the change. Consequently, the management station would re-calculate the guiding information and send it to the proper guiding node.

Hardware architecture: The hardware architecture of sensor nodes is shown below and an actual photograph of the a sensor is given on the right.

Hardware architecture of parking monitoring nodes

A basic implementation of the system is discussed next. The sensor node used for parking space monitoring is a micro device equipped with a microprocessor, a wireless communication module

and a sensor for detection. The microprocessor is ATmega128L , which is an 8-bit MCU working on a 7.3728 MHz system clock and has a 128K bytes in-system programmable flash memory, a 4K bytes RAM and a 4K bytes EEPROM on the chip. The processor provides three interfaces, which are SPI, ADC and GPIO, and uses them to communicate with CC1000, ultrasonic sensor and temperature sensor separately. The sensor nodes also support both standard parallel and serial communication interfaces, thus we can use parallel interface for nodes programming and serial interface for debugging. The wireless communication module is CC1000 , which is a low power RF module and can provide a 19.2Kbps communication speed of Manchester encoded data. The sensing module consists of an ultrasonic sensor and a temperature sensor to check if a parking space is occupied or not. Software architecture: A basic software architecture to control the entire automation network is shown below. This is a route map for the software implementation and can be implemented in any of the commercially available or open source operating system softwares depending upon the convenience and availability of the system designer.

Software architecture of parking monitoring nodes The software system consists of two layers, which are application layer and system layer. The application layer has a serial of modules such as vehicle detection, data collection, routing and time synchronization to provide necessary services for parking place monitoring. The system layer contains some supporting modules for applications, such as MAC control, data dispatching and forwarding, local debugger, etc. The significance of extracting some functions to form a system layer is that these modules can be ported to other different applications easily. Advantages of automation:

The compact parking system has been successfully designed for automating the parking system in huge complexes, Trade centers, Multiplexes etc, and the problems due to non availability of adequate space for parking of four wheelers is solved out. Ensures high security in contrast to conventional parking system, if any disturbances occurs to the normal operation buzzer provided sounds and also as the total status present at the administration ,he comes and directs the user as the per the operation required. If anyone tries to misuse the system, the administrator safeguards it ensuring protection to the vehicle user.

MECHANIZED MULTI-LEVEL PARKING LOTS: Automated parking is a method of automatically parking and retrieving cars typically using a method of allocating the slots to the cars. As the system removes the need for driveways and ramps, the floor area and the volume of the parking station itself can be more efficiently used. Automated parking systems can be designed to fit above or below ground, allowing for flexible usage of land space; this means the footprint can be reduced to one-third of the land required by conventional car parking solutions. Cost effective on a number of fronts, automated parking also offers significantly improved service to the customer. Automated parking systems are about making the best use of available space above and below ground. With less environment impact and time impact, reduced opportunities for theft and vandalism and real cost benefits, automatic parking is the new watchword in urban planning. Merits and Demerits of mechanized parking lots: MERITS Reduced ground space requirement as compared to conventional parking systems. Low parking and retrieval times approx. 2 to 5 minutes per car depending on the configuration. Reduced noise levels in such systems, when compared to conventional parking system. Minimal maintenance required. Safe operation; safety devices conforming to the EU standards used. Reduced chances of fire hazard and no risk to human lives. Time taken for a car to be parked is less compared to the conventional system. The whole structure can be customized as per customers requirements and limitations. These systems can be built for maximizing space and volume utilization.

DEMERITS However, the disadvantage is the cost of the mechanical equipment within the area that is needed to transport cars to the parking spaces. At peak periods when a wait may be involved before entering or leaving. The wait is caused by loading passengers and luggage at the entrance and exit locations of the car park rather than at the parked stall. This loading blocks the entrance or exit from being available to others. However the retrieval of vehicles can be faster in an automatic car park depending on the layout and number of exits. There are several types of mechanized multi-level car parking system which can be implemented depending up on the requirement and various constraints of the construction site. The Equivalent Car Space (ECS) that can be accommodated at the parking site would vary with the technology used. We will discuss the implementation, merits and disadvantages of the different types of parking systems. Elevator type or Tower type
The elevator type often called the Parking Tower, is designed to automatically move the vehicles on a pallet vertically on the elevator, it then transfers it horizontally left or right for storage. Very fast retrieval time is accomplished in less than two minutes. This system is suitable for medium or large scale buildings. It can also be used as a stand alone tower for a parking garage business. Since it is controlled by an integrated computer system, the overall operation can be viewed with one screen and its operation is very user friendly. Cost: Rs. 2.75 lakhs/ECS Advantages: Minimal land use. An area of 25x22 can park up to 72 vehicles. Low noise and vibration. Elevators never touch guide rails, use of urethane rollers minimize noise when transferring pallets from elevator to storage area. Entry and exit is very quick and convenient. We incorporate a built in turntable on the elevator and retrieval time is less than two minutes. Completely equipped with multiple sensors and triple safety devices. A self malfunction diagnostic control provides you with an excellent level of safety. Has the capability of holding cue memory when multiple patrons come to retrieve there vehicles during rush hours.

Puzzle type or Modular type:

This system can have more than two levels of parking. Its design has a structure that enables use of all parking entrances and exits on ground level. The parking pallet moves left, right, upward, and downward and has always a minimum of one empty slot for movement. Car parker can have multiple levels above, pit style below, or a combination of both. Cost: Rs. 2.5 lakhs/ECS Advantages: Operation is simple, no need for parking attendant. Fast retrieval time, generally within two minutes Extremely safe and reliable with safety sensors and optional automatic gates. Circulation type multi floor parking After entering the vehicle in the parking garage, the parking system is designed to move the vehicles vertically with elevators on each end. The garage consists of several levels where the vehicles are moved horizontally which rotate the pallets in conjunction with the elevators.. The multi floor circulation type is suitable for small and midsized buildings because of its high space efficiency. Cost: Rs. 3.75 lakhs/ECS

Advantages: With eight times the space efficiency of a ramped garage, this system can use the narrow basement spaces to its maximum capacity. Up to six levels can be equipped with this new technology.

With the adoption of the high speed lifting mechanism, the elevating speed has become very quick, thereby significantly shortening the time required for entering and leaving. With the upper entrance design, it is convenient because the builtin turntable allows for easy entry and exit.

Rotary type The perfect solution to park the maximum number of cars in the least amount of space. The design enables you to park either 7,8,10, or 12 vehicles in the space of only 2. There is no need for a parking attendant, just insert the key and press your parking space number and the pallet will rotate either clockwise or counter clockwise. It will automatically sense which way to rotate by space number. Cost: Rs. 1.75 lakhs/ECS

Advantages: Up to 12 vehicles can be accommodated within the space normally taken up by two vehicles. It is not applicable by the regulations of building coverage. There is no need for an attendant because of its simple onetouch operation method. Senses where vehicle is closer and rotates bidirectionally for fast retrieval time. Extremely safe and reliable. Impossible for vehicles to fall with endless chain and pallet drop prevention system.

Types of Lifts that can be used Hydraulic type

A hydraulic cylinder is used to operate this type of lift. Due to the limited length of the cylinder, however, the hydraulic type of lift is limited in terms of height. It is generally appropriate for the parking systems with less than four levels. The hydraulic type of lift requires less pit area and no balance weight, and features a quiet and stable operation.

Wire rope type

The wire rope type of lift provides fast operations and features an extended elevation height that is taller than that of the hydraulic type. It is suitable for parking systems with more than four levels. However, this system requires more pit area than the hydraulic type since the balance weight should be secured.

FUTURE SCOPE When a vehicle arrived for parking, there is a chance of probability to extend this system along with the identity cards .The LCD displays the empty spaces availability of that particular rack. Then user has to enter his password, provided the first digit must be the empty space in which he wishes to park his vehicle thus ensuring protection. Again if he entered correct password then only the exit gate will be opened for him. If the person removes another vehicle then the sensors that are provided beneath every parking place gives a buzzer sound which is being provided and automatically the exit gate gets closed providing security to vehicle owner.By this implementation in the circuit, parking problem is solved an also it prevents vehicle thefts.

PROPOSED AND ONGOING MULTI-LEVEL PARKING LOT PROJECTS IN MUMBAI The BMC, after setting in motion plans for underground parking lots, is now thinking of going vertical.

The civic body has proposed construction of six multistoried car-parking towers at Zaveri Bazaar, one of the citys busiest districts. All six towers will be 25 stories high and will house cars that have to be parked along both sides of bustling streets in the Zaveri Bazaar-Kalbadevi area. The automated car-parks will altogether have a capacity to hold 300 cars. The area, with markets for metal, textile and jewelry trades and both retailers and wholesalers, is always busy with pedestrian and vehicular traffic (both moving and parked). The car-park is expected to not only decongest streets, say officials, but also help the BMCs plans to convert some roads in Zaveri Bazaar to pedestrian-only streets. The BMC has already done up the footpaths with chequered tiles and will soon divert all vehicular traffic to Dhanji Street, parallel to Zaveri Bazaar and connecting Crawford Market and Pydhonie. The six towers will come up near the municipal school behind Mumbadevi temple on a 3000square-metre plot that now has a few municipal chowkies, an open plot and a garden. Local traders have suggested that the garden remain untouched and the towers be built after shifting the existing barracks. The proposed towers will not require an area of more than 45 sq metres per tower. The Bombay Bullion Association has agreed to install street-lamps and beautify the roadside urinals leading to the parking towers. These parking lots will come up on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The contractor will be allowed to operate the towers and collect revenue from parking for five years, after which it will hand the towers over to the BMC. The rates for parking will be slightly on the higher side as compared to the rates at other BMC lots.

Multi-level parking lots owned exclusively by MMRDA: MMRDA's multi-storey parking facility at BKC was constructed on a plot measuring 15,000 sqm, which had been allotted to East India Hotel Limited in 2001.

According to a pre-condition agreed upon by both parties East India Hotel Limited and MMRDA on completion of the hotel project measuring 60,000 sqm, free of cost, MMRDA would be entitled to construct a separate multi-storey structure with a minimum built-up area of 30,000 sqm. The multi-storey car parking facility was constructed and is exclusively owned by MMRDA with a capacity to accommodate 800 cars. MMRDA charges a little higher charges as compared to the parking lots owned by BMC. The following is a comparison of parking charges at different locales within Mumbai.

Hourly rate of parking at MMRDA's parking lot at BKC (G block) - Rs 17 Parking charges for first hour at CR2 mall, Nariman Point - Rs 17 Parking charges for an hour at Atria Mall, Worli - Rs 15 Hourly rate of parking at Inorbit Mall, Malad - Rs 20 BMC rates (May 2010) at various parking lots in the city Two wheelers 1 hr - Rs 1 2 hrs - Rs 2 3 hrs - Rs 3 Beyond 4 hrs - Rs 5 Four wheelers 1 hr - R5 2 hrs - R8 3 hrs - R11 5 hrs - R17 A 14-storied car park with a capacity to accommodate 800 cars will be thrown opened by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) in October. The authority has been planning multi-storied car parks across the Bandra-Kurla Complex for quite some time now. At present, the complex has a parking capacity of nearly 2,000 cars on the street. The facility is not enough for the number of vehicles plying through the busy suburban business hub. A plot ad-measuring 15,000 sq meter was allotted to East India Hotel Ltd in 2001. A hotel was to be constructed on the plot which had a total built-up area of 60,000 sq metres. According to the agreement, the allottee was to construct a separate multi-story building with a

minimum built-up area of 30,000 sq metres, offering about 800 slots for car parking. This car park was supposed to be handed over to the MMRDA free of cost. Accordingly, the car park, with 14 floors and a two-level basement parking facility, is now ready for use. According to MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar, the park will have refreshment facilities, offices, shops and a separate parking area for these establishments. The Birhanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) intends to make traffic snarls in the Dadar and Lalbaug areas, caused by the haphazard parking of state buses bound for Shirdi, Kolhapur, Pune and Goa, a thing of the past. In a meeting held with the traffic department on Tuesday, the civic body gave its conceptual approval to a plan to construct a multi-storey parking facility for state buses and private cars at the junction of Senapati Bapat Marg and Pandurang Budhkar Marg in Lower Parel. The proposal, which first came up a year ago before the then municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak, is yet to get the state governments approval. Based on the design of New Yorks Greyhound bus terminal, this 14-storey parking facility will accommodate 172 state buses and 3,000 cars. It will be developed by DLF Developers and designed by architect Hafeez Contractor on a 16-acre private plot. On the ground floor of the parking, there will be a taxi-waiting area meant for taxi-drops. It can accommodate about 70 to 100 vehicles. The lot will also have a huge concourse area with ticketing counters, restrooms and food kiosks on the ground floor. Separate are provided for car and buses and 10-12 elevators are also proposed for cars. An arriving bus will enter the BMC garage on the ground floor. Construction for this will begin from early-2011. There will be two departure areas on the first and second floors, while the arrival areas will be on the third and fourth floors. The remaining floors would be for the parking of private cars. The first floor, at a height of 7.5m, would be connected to the Elphinstone Road flyover. Vehicles entering the terminal at the ground floor would exit onto the flyover.