Parking sensor network: Economic feasibility study of parking sensors in a city environment is well

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a variety of purposes. They are mainly used for monitoring environmental factors, like CO2 concentrations, temperature and humidity. Other applications of sensor networks focus on detecting traffic parameters, e.g. passenger flows, damaged roads and traffic lights. This paper extends the current research with an economic feasibility of a real case, deploying a wireless parking sensor network in a city environment. After modeling the service adoption, the costs and revenues of the project are estimated. The static Net Present Value (NPV) case is already highly profitable. However, like most network projects, WSNs offer many flexibility options. A business case is extended with a Real Option Analysis (ROA), in order to quantify the value of the learning possibilities. We show that the built-in flexibility in the original project raises the attractiveness of the project.