LoRaWAN-based Smart Parking Service: Deployment and Performance Evaluation

The dramatic increase of the urban population has put a lot of pressure in modern urban transportation systems. This not only implies noteworthy air pollution, and waste in time and energy, but also has led to the critical issue of the parking spots scarcity. Finding a parking spot has become one of the most common problems mentioned by drivers due to the day-by-day increase in number of vehicles. To overcome this problem, smart parking services based on sensors to detect parking spot occupancy status and inform drivers about their availability have been proposed. With the successful deployment of this kind of solutions, costs associated with traffic jams or wasted gas can be considerably reduced. However, one of the main challenges to be addressed when planning and deploying this kind of services is the communication technology employed by parking sensors, which are typically buried under the asphalt, and has to be able to cover large areas of the city in the most cost-efficient way. In this paper, we analyze the behavior and performance of a LoRaWAN network employed for supporting a Smart Parking service in the city of Santander. The sensors and network deployment are described in the paper and the thorough experimental assessment and evaluation of the network behavior is presented. The goal of this evaluation is to provide a better understanding of the key factors affecting the communication of outdoor parking spots. Through the continuous monitoring of two parking sensor deployments in the city, we derive some conclusions and lessons learnt that could benefit the planning and deployment of city-scale IoT infrastructures employing LoRaWAN networks as their wireless access technology.