Streetwise parking and ITS

How can the new NB-IoT communications protocol revolutionize on-street parking and other ITS applications?

Words | Anders Hagen, Q-Free, Norway

Below: Q-Free’s NB IoT sensor Opposite: The sensor’s

long battery life enables deployments of up to 10 years

For three months at the beginning of 2017, Q-Free was involved in a joint research project with Norwegian telecommunications provider Telenor in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. It looked at the utility of the Internet of Things (IoT, see sidebar) and the use of a new wireless communications protocol, NB-IoT. The project involved Q-Free sharing its expertise in narrowband communications, which the company uses in its sensor technology for outdoor parking solutions.

New narrowband technology

NB-IoT is a new narrowband communication technology. Standardized under the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP), it is based on LTE (4G) wireless telecommunications. In most cases, all that is required to achieve deployment is for a telecommunications provider to upgrade the software in its base stations. The base stations then provide a number of narrowband channels with a relatively low data rate, but much better link

Internet of Things

The IoT proposes a future in which even everyday objects have internet connectivity and are able to communicate their status and needs. The result will be a world that is inherently smarter.

However, there is also a desire to make communications systems leaner and fewer in number. If many of the objects that will be part of the IoT, and need access to centralized servers or the cloud, can use existing rather than bespoke communication networks, realization and operation of the IoT can be greatly simplified.

margin (range). Compared with LTE, the new protocol is simplified and the transmitted power is lower. This enables battery-powered sensors and other devices to be employed.

Ease of use

As part of its evolution from a tolling systems and services supplier into an all-aspects intelligent transportation systems (ITS) partner, Q-Free has looked for ways to use its specialist knowledge from different domains in ways that will revolutionize how we travel and, just as importantly, what happens when we stop.

A good example of this approach is ParQ, the company’s versatile new central parking management system. Featuring a cloud-based architecture that can be configured to meet a client’s specific business needs and integrated with third-party hardware and software, ParQ incorporates some of the technological features of a free-flow tolling system. This includes the use of automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) and onboard units – which employ standardized short-range communications protocols – to identify both stationary and moving vehicles.

Strategically, Q-Free promotes the use of open standards and therefore ease of installation,

maintenance and operation – for both systems owners and travelers. In ParQ’s case, a key distinguisher is how its Intrada ALPR software can integrate with existing barriers, access systems, screens or other hardware in a parking facility, but can also support barrier-free parking where desired. This option to go barrier-free strongly challenges traditional ideas of parking. It revolutionizes the customer experience, improves convenience and, where already deployed, has demonstrated how fears over revenue leakage are misplaced.

Long battery life

NB-IoT fits well within this easy-to-deployand-use philosophy. Application to Q-Free’s smart parking sensor solutions will allow replication of current narrowband communications solutions via a cellular telephony network. This includes the availability of adequate bandwidth and also extends to power consumption. NB-IoT’s much reduced power needs enable battery life of up to a decade; the in-ground sensors can be installed and effectively forgotten about for the rest of their working lives.

Huawei, Telenor’s infrastructure developer, released a small number of first-generation NB-IoT chipsets for use in the Trondheim project. In the very near future, NB-IoT chipset manufacture is set to increase dramatically. Early involvement in application development has allowed Q-Free and Telenor to achieve a market lead in terms of deployment strategy development.

Proof of concept

The test involved the installation of radar-based, in-ground sensors at a park-and-ride scheme in the Ranheim area of Trondheim, and the upgrade of a nearby Telenor base station to support NB-IoT. It was a great success, demonstrating 100% accuracy of detection and data communication. Between them, Q-Free and Telenor proved that once NB-IoT base station technology achieves wider deployment, system designers will enjoy a protocol with fuller coverage than GSM-based networks. Roll-out of base station upgrades has started (see ‘Hamburg adopts NB-IoT smart parking’ sidebar) and we can expect to see it accelerate.

Hamburg adopts NB-IoT smart parking

In June 2017, Deutsche Telekom announced that it was launching an NB-IoT-based smart parking service in Hamburg, Germany. Combining sensor data with information from other sources, including parking meters, it will provide drivers with real-time information on parking availability in approximately 11,000 spaces within the city. There will also be an option to book in advance. Five more cities, including Dortmund, plan to launch the service in their centers.

These developments in Germany are part of a broader European roll-out of NB-IoT by Deutsche Telekom, which cites a range of advantages for the protocol. Among them are its low cost due to low bandwidth demand, good in-building coverage, the extremely long battery life of connected devices, and its use of licensed spectrum and approved standardization by the 3GPP.

A more commonly used communications protocol that does not need a bespoke network will enable the deployment – at a reduced cost and greater speed – of many mobility applications that do not require zero latency. Parking is a very good place to start. Key aspects of the smarter cities of the future will include the better management of the availability of spaces and a reduction or elimination of the congestion and emissions associated with drivers looking for somewhere to park.

For its part, Q-Free’s next step is to bring an NB-IoT-based parking sensor to the market. Excitingly, it has developed such a sensor; it is now production-ready and its release is imminent. n