Smart Cities: parking monitoring through smart cameras

One of today's major problems in medium to large cities is pollution caused by urban traffic. There are various factors that negatively affect this problem. First of all, the constant increase in vehicles, and at the same time the reduction, for budget reasons, of the number of free parking areas more or less easily reached. Moreover, due to global events such as the economic crisis, there is a general reduction in the efficiency of local public transport. In this research, we present an approach to this problem that exploits the greater availability of IT structures and devices. The solution presented offers the possibility of improving one of the most burdensome aspects, namely the traffic generated by cars looking for a parking space through an integrated and automatic management of employment levels. The procedure is based on wireless smart cameras for monitoring public outdoor parking areas. The main strengths of this solution lie in the independence and scalability of the proposed architecture. Independence is ensured by the node's modus operandi, in which processing is performed on board the intelligent camera without the need for a video stream or operator intervention. Scalability can be achieved by designing low-cost nodes that can be connected in a sensor network that does not require high installation costs. Moreover, the possibility of making such processing nodes autonomous through the use of a photovoltaic panel allows them to be installed in even more flimsy situations.