i
PARKING SYSTEM USING LABVIEW WITH SMS APPLICATION
This report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
Bachelor of Electronic Engineering (Industrial Electronics) With Honours
Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
April 2010
LEE LIU HUI
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UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER
BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN
PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II
Tajuk Projek : Parking System Using LabVIEW With SMS Application
Sesi Pengajian : 2009/2010
Saya LEE LIU HUI mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
2. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.
3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara
institusi pengajian tinggi.
4. Sila tandakan ( √ ) :
SULIT*
(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)
TERHAD*
(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)
TIDAK TERHAD
Disahkan oleh:
__________________________ ___________________________________ (TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (COP DAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)
Alamat Tetap: 426, Lorong Ria, Jalan Parit Mesjid, 82000 Pontian, Johor.
Tarikh: Tarikh:
√
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“I hereby declare that this report is the result of my own work except for quotes as
cited in the references.”
Signature :
Author : LEE LIU HUI
Date :
iv
“I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is
sufficient in terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic
Engineering (Industrial Electronics) With Honours.”
Signature :
Supervisor’s Name : MDM. YUSMARNITA BINTI YUSOP
Date :
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Dedicated to my beloved family especially my father and mother, lecturer,
and friends
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to praise God for His blessing for giving me
physical and mental strength to carry on my final year project up to as much as it can
be completed as possible.
Next, I would like to express gratitude and thanks to my supervisor, Mdm.
Yusmarnita Binti Yusop for her fully support and unfailing patience throughout the
duration of this project. It can not be denied that these are the important factor that
drives me keep going on till the end. Her encouragement and guidance are truly and
highly appreciated. Otherwise, this project has not been possible until today. I have
learnt a lot under her guidance, be it practically or theoretically.
I would like to thanks my parents too on their moral, mental and financial
support. They give me lot of encouragement and caring. I can count on them too
whenever I am upset or down.
Other than that, I am also grateful to my friends who have provided me useful
opinions and suggestions along the implementation of this project. Besides that, I
would like to thank to those who have ever brought to me blow too. Without these
negative impacts, I might give up at the early stage of the project.
Finally, I would like to offer thanks and deepest gratitude from the bottom of
my heart for all the supports, encouragement and inspirations I obtained throughout
the duration of this project. The help rendered to me priceless, be it from the smallest
of its kind to the largest.
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ABSTRACT
This project is about designing a PC-based monitoring parking system that
can be applied at parking area such as at shopping complex and offices. This project
focuses on the development of front panel using National Instrument’s LabVIEW
software, Personal Computer (PC), GSM Modem and Data Acquisition (DAQ) card.
The conventional car park system does not have display panel to show the vacancy of
parking lot, while the current project only functions to display the availability of
parking lot to users. Thus, one of the objectives in this project is to develop two front
panels for both users and company. It will ease the company to access the
information about parking lot in detail which might include total vehicles in and out
daily or even monthly, total income gained by the company and so on. Besides that,
the current project will be upgraded so that it’s more power-saving as the sensor of
consecutive levels of parking area will only be activated after the previous level is
full-parking. Next, the system is more user-friendly after adding an “ASSISTANCE”
button to it. Other than that, this project will create the virtual sensor operation
system by developing the LabVIEW front panel of car park operation data. The
system will convert the output from sensor to the programmable language to the PC-
based display panel by using the DAQ which acts as interface between hardware and
software. When the “ASSISTANCE” button at the entrance is pressed by those who
encounter problem such as system error, SMS will be sent to the operator in charge
through interfacing between the PC and mobile phone by GMS modem. AT
commands is used for controlling the functionality of modem. In this project, two
front panels are successfully developed and explained by designing a physical model
of parking lot with car detector operation. This PC-based monitoring systems can be
applied in various industrial applications such as building security system and factory
automation.
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ABSTRAK
Projek ini membincangkan reka cipta sebuah sistem tempat meletak kereta
berkomputer yang boleh diaplikasikan di kawasan meletak kenderaan seperti yang di
kompleks membeli-belah dan pejabat-pejabat. Projek ini tertumpu kepada
pembangunan sistem kawalan dengan menggunakan perisian National Instrument’s
LabVIEW, komputer peribadi (PC), modem GSM dan pemerolehan data (DAQ).
Tempat meletak kereta yang biasa tidak mempunyai skrin paparan untuk
menunjukkan bilangan tempat kosong manakala projek yang sebelum ini cuma dapat
berfungsi untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini sahaja. Oleh sebab itu, salah satu objektif
projek ini ialah untuk menghasilkan dua skrin paparan untuk pengguna dan kegunaan
syarikat. Ini akan menyenangkan pemilik untuk mengekseskan data tentang tempat
meletak kereta yang terperinci seperti jumlah kereta masuk dan keluar setiap hari
ataupun bulan, jumlah pendapatan dan sebagainya. Selain itu, projek yang sedia ada
akan diubahsuaikan supaya lebih menjimatkan pengunaan tenaga elektrik kerana
pengesan kereta pada tingkat seterusnya cuma akan diaktifkan apabila tingkat
sebelumnya penuh dengan kereta. Di samping itu, sistem ini menjadi lebih mesra
pengguna selepas butang “BANTUAN” ditambah. Projek ini melibatkan sistem
pengesan kereta melalui penggunaan panel paparan berkomputer. Apabila butang
“BANTUAN” di laluan masuk ditekan oleh mereka yang menghadapi masalah
seperti kesalahan system, SMS akan dihantar kepada pengawal bertugas melalui
perhubungan antara computer peribadi dengan telefon bimbit oleh modem GMS.
Perintah AT digunakan untuk mengawal fungsi modem. Dalam projek ini, dua skrin
paparan telah berjaya dihasilkan dan diperincikan melalui model fizikal meletak
kenderaan yang lengkap dengan operasi pengesan kenderaan. Kaedah sistem kawalan
berkomputer seperti ini boleh diaplikasikan kepada pelbagai industri seperti sistem
keselamatan bangunan dan automasi industri.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
PROJECT TITLE i
BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN ii
STUDENT DECLARATION iii
SUPERVISORY DECLARATION iv
DEDICATION v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi
ABSTRACT vii
ABSTRAK viii
CONTENTS ix
LIST OF TABLES xii
LIST OF FIGURES xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv
I INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction of Project
1.2 Objectives of Project
1.3 Problem Statement
1.4 Scope of Works
1.5 Brief Explanation of Methodology
1.6 Report Structure
1
3
3
4
6
6
II RESEARCH BACKGROUND 8
x
2.1 Study on LabVIEW
2.1.1 State Diagram
2.2 Study on DAQ
2.2.1 NI USB-6008
2.3 Study on GSM
2.3.1 WaveCom M1206B GSM/GPRS-Modem
(Fastrack Modem)
2.3.2 AT Commands Interface
2.4 Study on Sensor
2.5 Study on Current Project
2.6 Study on Existing Car Park
2.7 Study on Available Projects
2.7.1 Study on Parking Lot Occupancy Tracking
System
2.7.2 Study on PC Based Automated Systems Using
National Instrument’s LabVIEW Software
Package and Data Acquisition (DAQ) Card
2.7.3 Study on Integrated Approach in the Design of
Car Park Occupancy Information System
(COINS)
8
9
10
12
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
22
23
25
III METHODOLOGY 27
3.1 Project Methodology
3.2 Operation Flow Diagram
27
30
IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION 33
4.1 First Stage Result: Development of LabVIEW’s VI
Front Panel
4.1.1 Discussions
33
40
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4.2 Second Stage Result: Overall Result 42
4.2.1 Discussions 55
V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 58
5.1 Conclusion
5.2 Recommendation
58
60
REFERENCES 63
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
64
65
67
APPENDIX D 68
APPENDIX E 69
xii
LIST OF TABLES
NO TITLE PAGE
2.1 Features of NI USB-6008 DAQ 12
2.2 Analog Terminal Assignments 13
2.3 Digital Terminal Assignments 14
2.4 Comparisons between Current Project and Upgraded Project 20
2.5 Comparisons between Sunway Pyramid Shopping Complex
Parking and The Gardens Mall Parking.
21
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
NO TITLE PAGE
1.1 Real Implementation Concept Diagram 2
2.1 Example of A State Diagram 10
2.2 NI USB-6008 DAQ 12
2.3 Analog Input Circuitry 15
2.4 Analog output circuitry 15
2.5 Example of Connecting a Load 16
2.6 WaveCom M1206B GSM/GPRS-Modem (Fastrack Modem) 16
2.7 Parking Vacant Diagram Using GUI Interface 22
2.8 Concept Diagram of Automatic Car Parking System 24
2.9 Data Flow Diagram of Automatic Car Parking System 24
3.1 Project Flowchart Diagram 28
3.2 State Diagram for Car Entered 31
3.3 State Diagram for Parking Space Reservation 32
4.1 Display for Users in First Stage Result 34
4.2 Display for Person-in-charge in First Stage Result 35
4.3 Simulated Result of Display Front Panel for User 36
4.4 Change of Parking Space Indicator when Car Park is full 36
4.5 Simulated Result of Display Front Panel for Person-in-charge 37
4.6 Prompt-out Dialog Box for 2 conditions 38
4.7 Call-out Front Panel after Successfully Log In 38
4.8 Block Diagram for Front Panel Development 39
4.9 Car Park Model 42
4.10 Display for Users in Second Stage Result 43
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4.11 Display for Person in Charge in Second Stage Result 43
4.12 Car Park Model Connected to Laptop, DAQ Device and GSM
Modem
44
4.13a, b Initial Condition of Indicators When Power is ON 45
4.14a, b After a Car Parked at GA1 46
4.15a, b Green Indicators of First Level Light on after Ground Level is Full-
parking
47
4.16a, b Indicators of First Level Maintains Its State though Ground Level
is Not Full-parking
48
4.17a, b After Both Levels are Full-parking 49
4.18 Indicator “CAR IN” Light On a while When Car Enters Car Park 50
4.19 Simulated Result of Display Front Panel for Person-in-charge 51
4.20 Prompt-out Dialog Box for 2 conditions 51
4.21 Call-out Front Panel after Successfully Log In 51
4.22 Sending Out SMS When “ASSISTANCE” Button is pressed 52
4.23 Message Sent to Operator in Charge 52
4.24 Message Sent by Operator in Charge 53
4.25 Content of Reply SMS is displayed at the Front Panel for Users 53
4.26 Block Diagram for Owner of Carpark to Log In, Availability of
Parking Space and Reservation
54
4.27 Block Diagram for Sending SMS to Person-in-charge 54
4.28 Block Diagram for Receiving SMS from Person-in-charge 55
4.29 Control Panel for Manually Control the Number of Cars Entered
and Exited the Car Park
56
5.1 Completed car park model with connection to the laptop, DAQ
device and GSM modem
59
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LIST OF ABBREVIATION
DAQ – Data Acquisition
EMF – Electromotive Force
GUI – Graphical User Interface
GPS – Global Positioning System
HMI – Human to Machine Interfaces
LabVIEW – Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench
LED – Light Emitted Diode
NI – National Instrument
PC – Personal Computer
USB – Universal Serial Bus
VI – Virtual Instrument
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the main concept and explanation on the objectives of this
project will be introduced. The problem statement explains the project significant and
gives the idea on real-time application. The main elements of this project are
discussed in the scopes of work and the common structure of this project will be
explained as well.
1.1. Introduction of Project
The conventional car park system does not have display panel and thus the
vacancy of parking lot can not be shown. User has to gamble to seek whether there
has any vacancy or not. By applying the existing parking system done by senior,
availability of the parking space can be displayed in helping the users to park their
vehicles. However, it needs to be further improved to turn it into a more user-friendly
and multi-features system.
The Smart Parking System is an electronic application that improves the
conventional parking system by using sensors and display panel developed through
Graphical Programming Language software. Wired-sensor based technology is used
in this car park guidance system.
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Figure 1.1: Real Implementation Concept Diagram
The goal of this project is to design a more advanced and multi-features PC-
based monitoring parking system to be applied at any conventional car park. Car park
monitoring system of this project will be upgraded so that it is more power saving
and provides assistance to the users though SMS application by using GSM modem.
Besides that, reservation feature for users and log-in features for the owner of car
park with the additional display panel are added too in this upgraded system.
Improvement done to the conventional and existing parking system will make
the parking lot become well-organized and more user-friendly. This project will
create the virtual sensor operation system by developing the LabVIEW front panel of
car park operation data. The system will convert the output from sensors to the
DAQ Device
GSM Modem Mobile Phone
Electronic Circuit
PC Front Panel (LabVIEW)
For operator For users
User
Car park
Operator-in-charge
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programmable language to the PC-based display panel by using DAQ interfacing
device. The concept of this project is illustrated in Figure 1.1.
Different from other existing systems and projects, it is created by using
LabVIEW software, which is a graphical programming software rather than
conventional programming software. It is more user-friendly and its development is
close to user’s idea. Besides that, most of the existing car park shows users the
availability of parking space through built-up signboard at the entrance of the car
park. It only shows the number of vacancy and arrow to the direction desired. First-
time viewing to the layout of a car park is not provided.
1.2 Objectives of Project
The objectives of this project are stated as below:
(a) To develop front panels for users and company using National Instrument’s
LabVIEW software.
(b) To interface the electronic circuit with the PC-based system through DAQ
device.
(c) To interface PC-based system with mobile phone through GSM modem to
provide assistance for users by using SMS notification.
(d) To upgrade the current model of car park system and the electronic circuits in
order to save power consumed.
1.3 Problem Statement
There is only one front panel in the existing project done by senior, which
displays the availability of parking lot to users but does not show or provide other
information in details to the owner of car park. Thus, another front panel will be
created specially for owner to access the information such as total of car in and out of
the parking area daily, weekly or even monthly, total income gained and so on in this
project. This can not only provide convenience to the owner, but also can assist to
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monitor the parking lot system from control room so that it improves the security
level.
Next, the current project does not provide any facility in case of system error
occurred or the users need some guides or assistance when there is no operator
around. Hence, an “ASSISTANCE” button will be added at the entrance of the
parking area in this project where the user can press it when need. After the button is
pressed, a SMS will be sent to the operator in charge through the interfacing between
PC and mobile phone by GSM modem. After that, a reply message will be send back
by the operator where the content of the SMS will be shown at the display panel for
user as a reply of confirmation of receiving the message. Because of this feature, this
system is more user-friendly.
Lastly, the non-parking (green) indicators of all parking levels in the existing
project are always light on. In this project, these sensors of consecutive levels of
parking area will only be activated after the previous level is full-parking. Compared
to the current project, it is more power-saving.
1.4 Scope of Works
This part discusses about the elements involved in this project. In this project,
the scope is based on six main parts. The scopes of work in this project are:
(a) LabVIEW software is used to create the front panel of virtual instrument.
Two front panels will be created in this project where one of them will
display the status and vacancy of parking lot for user while another one will
show some useful information such as total amount of car entering, total
income and so on to the owner of the car park. The second display panel will
be used by operator in charge to make reservation of parking space for users
who require.
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(b) DAQ is a data acquisition unit that used as an interface between hardware and
software. In this project, DAQ will be used to transfer the output signal from
electronic circuit to PC using DAQ card. The results are then viewed on the
computer screen.
(c) GSM modem is used to interface the PC with mobile phone. SMS will be
sent to the operator in charge in case users encounter problem about the
system. This function is achieved by pressing an “ASSISTANCE” button at
the entrance of the car park. AT commands is used to control the functionality
of modem.
(d) Mobile phone is used by operator of the car park to receive SMS which
informs that problem encountered by user. Besides that, it is used by the
operator too to send out a SMS to the display panel for user as a reply of
confirmation of receiving the message.
(e) Car park model shows the real operation of the system by making
simulating operation using car model. It consists of several levels of parking,
has metal detector circuit, car model, parking level building and display
panels.
(f) Electronic circuit consists of sensor that detects car at the entrance and exit
of a car park as well as at each parking space. Indicators with different colors
are used to show the status of a parking lot – green for available and red for
unavailable. EMF (electromotive force) sensor can detect the EMF that has in
every car such as metal detector. Relay is used to trigger the circuit from one
condition to another condition. In this project, the non-parking sensors of
consecutive levels will only be activated after the previous level is full-
parking.
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1.5 Brief Explanation of Methodology
First of all, this project is begun by having a discussion with supervisor about
the general ideas and concepts that would be used in this project. Next, for literature
review stage, the background of this project is studied and research is done by
referring various sources such as reference book, I.E.E.E journals, website of
National Instrument and data sheet. In the following stage, all the information related
to components, DAQ, GSM modem information is searched where the most suitable
would be selected to be used in this project. Next, the LabVIEW programming is
studied; the front panel of virtual instrument is created and simulated. Hardware
interfacing would be studied on the following stage. After that, the hardware for this
project is built and assembled; and the system is ready for overall system testing. If
the desired outputs of this system fulfill the project requirements and specification,
this project is considered success. Otherwise, troubleshooting would need to be
carried out until it reaches the project requirements.
1.6 Report Structure
This report is documentary delivering the ideas generated, concepts applied,
activities done, and finally the product of project itself. It consists of five chapters.
Followings are the chapter-by-chapter description of information in this report.
Chapter 1 gives readers a basic introduction on how the idea of this project is
generated. This chapter consists of introduction, objective of the project, problem
statement, scopes of work, brief methodology and the report structure.
Chapter 2 is a literature review on theoretical concepts applied in this project
and some of the related conceptual information for project improvement. This
chapter includes background study of several car parks in Malaysia, PC-based
monitoring system and related specification of project. Other than that, introduction
to the LabVIEW, DAQ device, GSM modem and application of others component as
well as the reason of choosing them are explained too in this chapter.
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Chapter 3 introduces the methodology of the project. The chapter contains the
flow chart which explains the overall method taken along the development and
implementation of this project. Besides that, software development of the project
which is created by referring to the desired sequence in the designed state diagram
will be introduced too.
Chapter 4 discusses about the outcome of this project. Besides the result
obtained, discussions on the problems encountered throughout the designing process
will be explained too.
Chapter 5 will be the conclusion of this PSM project where objectives of the
project are answered according the results obtained. This chapter includes some
recommendations that can be implemented for future project improvements too.
CHAPTER II
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
This chapter will review about existing projects and systems created to get an
idea about the project design, conception and any information that related for
improving the project. It is due to variety of creations and innovations of projects
available with different concept and design done by other people. Researches related
to this project are also covered in this chapter. Other than that, study on elements
included in the scope of work is also done in this part.
2.1 Study on LabVIEW
LabVIEW stands for Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering
Workbench. It is the standard for data acquisition, instrument control software and
analysis software. [12] It is a graphical programming language, rather than a
conventional programming language as software development environment. Besides
that, it can be used to acquire, analyze, and present the data obtained from the input
or output devices. Thus, it is suitable to be used in the development of front panel in
this project.
National Instrument LabVIEW is the graphical development for creating
flexible and scalable test, measurement, and control applications rapidly and at
minimal cost. By using the LabVIEW, engineers and scientists interface with the real
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world signals, analyze data for meaningful information, and share results and
applications. The combination of LabVIEW graphical development environment
with NI-DAQmx gives the tools that needed to easily construct application using
counters to generate the PWM signals.
LabVIEW is the vital part of the Virtual Instrumentation which provides a
user-friendly application development environment designed specifically with the
needs of engineers and scientists in mind. LabVIEW offers powerful features that
make it easy to connect to a wide variety of hardware other software. These features
are graphical programming, connectivity and instrument control, reduce cost and
preserve investment, analysis capabilities, multiple platforms, visualization
capabilities, flexibility and scalability, research and design, development test and
validation, manufacturing test and data acquisition.
2.1.1 State Diagram
The state machine is one of the fundamental architectures that NI LabVIEW
developers frequently use to build applications quickly. Developers use state
machines in applications where distinguishable states exist. Each state can lead to
one or multiple states and can end the process flow. A state machine relies on user
input or in-state calculation to determine which state to go to next. Many applications
require an “initialize” state followed by a default state, where many different actions
can be performed. These actions depend on previous and current inputs as well as
states. A “shutdown” state can be used to perform cleanup actions.
In LabVIEW software, a basic state machine can be created with a while loop,
a shift register, a case statement and some form of case selector. While loop is the
main program loop which executes until the conditions for exiting the program are
met. The while loop’s main responsibility is to call the case selector and then execute
the appropriate case. The shift register keeps track of which case should execute next.
Finally, each case of the case statement contains the action for one specific use action.
Often the default case is used as the place to check the case selector.