Smart parking with artificial intelligence through Cegeka’s Capacity Platform
At the Corda Campus in Hasselt, Belgium, IT services provider Cegeka has launched a smart parking system that allows visitors and residents of the technology campus to find a parking spot effortlessly with the help of artificial intelligence. Smart entrance barriers, ANPR cameras, badge systems, welcome screens and GDPR-compliant databases with number plates all communicate with each other to guide each driver to the right parking space. Technology company Cegeka launched its smart parking platform Capacity as part of this project. Cegeka teamed up with The Safe Group for the welcome screens and with BAM Bormet for the barriers.
The smart parking system is designed to facilitate easy parking on the Corda Campus technology campus in Hasselt. When a car arrives at the car park, Cegeka’s Capacity Platform detects the number plate in real time and opens the smart barrier. The platform checks whether the driver is allowed to park in the visitors’ or residents’ car park, or if they should move to a nearby car park.
Smart parking technology
The Capacity Platform, a Cegeka cloud application for smart B-to-B parking management, ensures that all parking hardware such as entrance barriers, detection loops, signage screens and ANPR cameras are fully integrated with building access systems (badge readers) and digital signage systems. “For each car that arrives at the car park, the Capacity Platform checks the number plate in the database in which companies having their offices on the campus can enter approved number plates. Then the barrier opens and the visitor or employee is welcomed via the screen. The occupancy of the car park will be updated in real time. In the near future, the appropriate employee and receptionist will be notified by email when a visitor arrives. This way they can greet each guest immediately and in a personal manner,” says Michael Jacobs, Business Development Manager at Cegeka.
Smart parking areas
“Since we are a technology campus, we like to use the most advanced applications in every field. The fact that we have developed this innovative project together with companies on our campus is of course wonderful,” says Anja Verstrepen, Facility Manager of the Corda Campus. “Through the implementation of this smart system, we are transforming our current visitors’ car park and the underground car parks into smart parking zones. This allows our visitors to park in their designated parking area at all times by registering their number plate. This registration is not linked to a specific person and is thus anonymous. Our residents can also use the car park, but as soon as the system detects that the visitors’ car park is being used as a fixed parking spot, the barrier will no longer open and they will be diverted to the adjacent car park. We use the same system for the 350 reserved spaces in our underground car parks. The companies on campus can also manage the system and define which visitors and employees are allowed to use the car park, which increases user-friendliness.”
Possibility of renting out parking spaces
“Capacity uses historical and real-time data to identify days on which a company uses only a certain percentage of its private parking spaces, for instance due to frequent telework. Any vacant parking spaces can be rented out digitally to visitors of other companies, or visitors of hospitality venues,” Michael Jacobs explains.
Deployable at other locations
The system was specifically developed for complex, multi-tenant environments such as the Corda Campus and can easily be deployed at other parking zones and locations. “A combination of user convenience for both the administrator and the customer, and scalable and high-performance technologies were essential in the development of the Capacity Platform”, says Michael Jacobs, Business Development Manager at Cegeka. “The platform connects and integrates hardware such as barriers and signage screens into the smart platform by using reliable technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud and edge computing. These new applications also ensure that the system becomes smarter with every use, that the number plate recognition rate is very high and that the system always remains operational, even when the local network or the cloud is temporarily disabled.”
Interest from Belgian and international parties
In the coming weeks and months, the project in Hasselt will attract many interested parties both from Belgium and abroad. “Several Belgian and foreign companies have expressed interest and want to integrate the Capacity Platform in their projects. They are not only companies or business campuses, but also real estate developers, colleges and universities. They can use Capacity to optimize and maximize access to their available car parks, tailored to each type of user”, Michael Jacobs concludes.
