Zigbee Smart Parking Architecture

This article covers the basics of Zigbee smart parking architecture and describes its various elements.

Introduction:

In metropolitan cities, vehicle drivers often struggle to find vacant parking spaces, especially during rush hours. This can be time-consuming, leading to traffic congestion and air pollution. To address this, smart parking systems have been developed.

Many smart parking systems utilize wireless technologies like WiFi, Zigbee, and LoRa. Zigbee and LoRa are particularly popular due to their low power consumption, which can result in battery life of approximately 10 to 15 years.

Figure 1 illustrates a Zigbee-based smart parking system.

Let’s delve into the various elements of this architecture.

Figure-1: Block diagram of zigbee based Smart parking architecture

As shown, the smart parking architecture system mainly comprises three parts:

• IR sensor based zigbee nodes: The entire parking region is divided into different areas, each containing one or more parking slots. An IR sensor-based module is installed in each slot.

  • An IR sensor consists of an IR transmitter and an IR receiver.
  • When a vehicle is present, the IR light reflects back with a large magnitude.
  • When a vehicle is absent, little to no IR light reflects back, resulting in a lower magnitude.
  • This change in magnitude is monitored by a microcontroller.
  • Each parking slot board transmits this occupancy information wirelessly (via Zigbee) or through wired connections (RS232/RS485) to the Zigbee gateway.

• Zigbee gateway: The gateway contains a microprocessor, memory, and other peripherals. It interfaces with a server or IP networks via an Ethernet connection.

  • It connects with the Zigbee end nodes installed at parking slots using Zigbee frequencies (2.4 GHz or 868/915 MHz).
  • It also has connectivity with WiFi and cellular networks.
  • Zigbee nodes regularly provide parking slot information to the gateway, giving it a real-time view of occupancy. This information can be accessed by drivers upon request through UI applications.

• Mobile or desktop based UI application: The GUI application can run on a desktop or smartphone and can be developed using languages like Visual Basic or .NET.

  • The mobile phone interfaces with the server over the internet.
  • This enables the mobile app to obtain live parking slot information from the gateway.

Advantages of Zigbee Smart Parking Architecture

The following are the merits/benefits/advantages of the Zigbee smart parking architecture system:

• Easy maintenance and management using a simple click in the UI application.
• Long lifespan due to low power consumption.
• Can be monitored using cellular, WiFi, and Zigbee connections.
• Lower costs due to the availability of affordable microcontrollers and peripherals.
• Reduces the burden of finding vacant parking spaces and saves time.