AMCO – Smart Parking System

An integral system for indoor parking lots and on-street parking spaces

This system is an attempt by AMCO: Inspired Technologies attempts to solve the problem of parking space availability in cities. Briefly, they offer an integrated system for effective management and monitoring of parking spaces in order to increase revenue for the municipality and the cost-effective law enforcement.

The following image illustrates the overall functionality of this system.

The system is fully designed and manufactured by AMCO S.A. and consists of:

  • Wireless sensor that checks the availability of every parking space. It operates using a battery that offers more than 5 years autonomy.
  • Repeater, which communicates wirelessly (using RF technology) with sensors and forwards the data it receives to the nearest gateway.
  • Gateway, which communicates with the adjacent repeaters, receives the parking availability data and sends them to the Municipal Control Center.
  • Special Parking Spaces Validator. This device is installed close to the special parking spaces and the drivers validate, using RFID cards, the lawful occupation of the parking space.
  • Pay & Display machines which allow payment by credit card, prepaid cards and coins.
  • Electronic Information Sign, which informs the drivers about the availability of the parking spaces in real time.
  • Smartphone Application. This is an application which navigates the drivers to the available parking spaces and can be installed in a smart phone.
  • Control Center Software. This software receives the data from the concentrators and displays the availability of parking spaces on digital maps.
  • PDA Application for the Municipal Police. This application is installed on the Municipal Police PDAs and is used for issuing citations in case of illegal parking.
  • Back-Office Software for the Municipal Police. This software is used for the electronic processing and management of the parking citations issued by the PDAs of the Municipal Police.
  • Payment Back-Office Software. This software is used for payments managements as well as for financial reporting purposes.

There is no provided information on who uses this application. However, a list of benefits and advantages for its use is defined:

  • Automated control of parking spaces availability and real-time drivers’ information via dynamic electronic LED signs.
  • Navigation to the available parking spaces using a smart phone application.
  • Better quality of life by reducing the time required for the driver to find an available parking space and by reducing the noise emissions by 2 db.
  • Environment protection by reducing the CO2 emissions by 41% and NO2 emissions by 7%.
  • Automated control of street parking violations.
  • Significant reduction of the municipal police patrols.
  • Automated issuing of parking fines by the municipal police using a PDA.
  • Protection of special parking spaces (e.g. disabled people).