iParkings welcomes you to Punta Carretas Shopping @ Montevideo, Uruguay

Programming Floor Plans

iParkings is not only composed by standalone sensors, there is lots more behind that, a series of computers that studies each component, and decides what to show in each display, then we have also a series of databases that will record each movement of each parking bay, with this info the parking will evaluate assistance, time customers stay at shops, etc.
Part of the implementation consists in programming each parking zone, numbering each bay, and identifying it on a floor plan as we show below.

Identifying each parking bay over floor plan.

Punta Carretas Shopping Mall Update 4.12.2010

iParkings at Punta Carretas Shopping mall is about to change the way customers find place at the parking. We already turned on some zones to test the impact this system will have, and we got some interesting changes, congestion inside the parking is almost gone, and we know that as soon users become familiar with this system, no more congestions will occur, inside pollution and fuel consumption will be reduced in about 60%. Customers will be more happy and will have more time inside the shopping.

In this final stage, we will inter-communicate each one of the parking zones, using a BUS connection method, passing through 800 parking sensors, 800 led lights, 30 data controllers and collectors, 17 inside led displays, 40 outdoor led modules (each totem has 8 light displays), 5 totems, lots of information will be driven through this communication cable, about 200Mb (200 high quality images) per hour...
Wiring each zone together has to be made very carefully, taking care to always respect Bus topology, getting away from possible electrical interferences, and assuring that each change on a sensor will get instantly processed by the servers that will then change the display panels.

Just to understand more, we are attaching how this connection will be made through zones.

Punta Carretas Update: Totem Installation

Today, we installed the first of a series of 5 totems @ Punta Carretas.
Each Totem will display the actual available places in each parking zone, this will be the initial information a driver will have before entering the parking.
All of the totems are connected to the main server.

iParkings starts to program Controllers @ Punta Carretas

Programming Controllers @ Punta Carretas Shopping Mall

One of the most critical steps is being performed at the present time, each controller will group 32 sensors and leds, and they must get the empty parking space height in order to detect when a car is parked or not.
This steps is perfomed by using a computer attached to the controller, and we also verify each sensor integrity running several performance tests. Only after, the controllers are ready to be interconected with the main iParkings server which will constantly monitor and control each one of the parking spaces.

Punta Carretas Shopping Mall Update

Final Steps in Mounting Led Displays

75% of Punta Carretas Parking Zones are ready to turn on, tomorrow is a special discount date at PC, so we thought it could be a good idea to test the system; occupancy will be at its highest level this weekend.

As we didnt comunicate each zone together yet, we will test it in offline mode.

Each sensor will act as an individual component, turning the led red if a car parks or green if the place is available. We are all expectant waiting the moment leds turn on.

[http://t.co/Sfa30CD]

We will inform on monday.

Led Display Testing and Programming

Led displays are programmed to be able to show real time occupancy data.
Before installing them, they are carefully tested.