I have a parking lot in front of a University building, with the area of aproximatly 100x50 meters. Are there some kind of sensors that could help me to determine which parking places are taken and which are available (with no car on it). I need my computer system to be able to collect the information of which area of that parking lot is empty. I am not allowed to use sensors above each parking place, or on it. It should be either AI determining which places are available or some kind of sensors situated around the perimeter of the parking lot. Could you advise what kind of equipment could be used here? thanks for your help! And My apologies for my english!

 

I have a parking lot in front of a University building,

Is the University building tall with a good view of the parking lot from the roof, or have a spire where you could mount a digital camera to obtain a high-resolution picture of the lot from above? Then it is just a matter of visually isolating individual parking spaces and performing two-dimensional signal processing (maybe an auto-correlation?) to tell the difference between an empty and occupied space.

 

In some places it is possible to mount a camera so that it sees a part of the parking lot space. In other places trees can be an obstacle. For example, it is also possible to park a car along the road that lead to the building and we need to have the info about this space as well. The question is if it is better to use digital cameras mounted on every odd light pole and then process the images programmatically OR use some sort of physical sensors that can scan the area somehow? Thank you!

 

In some places it is possible to mount a camera so that it sees a part of the parking lot space. In other places trees can be an obstacle. For example, it is also possible to park a car along the road that lead to the building and we need to have the info about this space as well. The question is if it is better to use digital cameras mounted on every odd light pole and then process the images programmatically OR use some sort of physical sensors that can scan the area somehow? Thank you!

The thing is you need to monitor an area so i would think a camera is the only way to go.
You could process the movement of the vehicles to help determine if the spot is taken or not.
Might not be easy.

 

Cctv is the best option...

 

I have a parking lot in front of a University building,

For starters, it would be helpful if you showed the layout for the parking lot, the number of entry/exit points, and any direction restrictions.

 

One cheap and reliable solution would be to install optical sensors with a counter at the entrance/exit of the parking lot.

Two sensors spaced one ahead of the other would detect the direction of movement of the cars and trigger either an up count or a down count. The difference in the count would indicate the number of vacant spaces available. This technique won't tell the specific spaces that are available, just the total number of vacant spaces in the entire lot.

Just as some info, this technique is used for automated passenger counters on transit vehicles to determine if buses are crowded -IE- if seats are available, standing room only, or packed like sardines,