Nedap, T-Mobile and Dura Vermeer have joined forces for a pilot project in the field of smart parking. In 's-Hertogenbosch, ten parking spaces have been fitted with special sensors.
The sensors measure whether or not the parking spots are occupied. They will be tested for about three months.
Many applications
It involves ten parking spaces at De Gruyter Fabriek in Den Bosch. The consortium consisting of technology company Nedap, construction group Dura Vermeer and T-Mobile, expects to provide cities and other hotspots with smart parking on a large scale in the future. Eventually, an app should make it possible for individual users to find an empty parking space in the city. Cities and municipalities can regulate traffic flows based on the current parking situation and enforcement agencies can read exactly where offenders are parked. An additional advantage, the initiators believe, is that payment discipline goes up significantly when people know that sensors are active.
Network
Until now, Nedap installed its own network at spots where the company placed the sensors. Now that T-Mobile offers nationwide coverage with its NarrowBand IoT network, this offers a larger-scale perspective. Entire neighbourhoods could potentially be fitted with parking sensors. That's where construction company Dura Vermeer comes in. NarrowBand IoT is a new global standard. It combines extremely low energy consumption with a rare good range, such as in remote places, high in the sky or even underground.
Important benchmarks within the trial are the battery life of the sensors, the range and the stability of the connection to the network. In addition to the trial in 's Hertogenbosch, the consortium plans to conduct a 'field trial' in five municipalities in the coming period. In these, interesting parking challenges will be tested together with the municipalities.
Nedap, formerly called the Nederlandse Apparatenfabriek, has developed a system, the SENSIT system, which consists of smart parking sensors that use dual detection technology: both magnetic field and infrared. The accurate occupancy information available through this solution is displayed in the RTA app. It also offers the ability to pay parking charges without additional SMS charges. The real-time information can additionally be used to display the number of available parking spaces on dynamic referral signs. Recently, Nedap supplied 2000 sensors for a Smart Parking project in Dubai.
Advin
Advin also has a role to play. The engineering firm helps incorporate and translate municipal issues in the areas of mobility, liveability and parking into the smart parking solution. This could include providing real-time and reliable insight into the use of parking spaces in public spaces, organising less search traffic for parking spaces and encouraging double parking use, all in relation to the application of smart parking sensors.
By: Kelly Bakker
Source + photo: Dura Vermeer/Nedap
