Analysis of fixed and mobile sensor systems for parking space detection

This paper analyses the relative merits of fixed and mobile sensor solutions for monitoring street car parking availability. A fixed sensor solution requires placement of sensors under each allocated parking space. The mobile approach uses a ranger mounted on a moving vehicle which continuously monitors the presence of parked cars and spaces. One of the challenges of the mobile sensor solution is to account for the variability of the position of the vehicle across the road. This paper proposes a dual detector solution using sonar and lidar together with differential detection system to mitigate the uncertainty.