Chattanooga Parking Authority Facility Management - Parking Area Equipment Functionality
Subsystem Description
'Parking Area Equipment' provides electronic monitoring and management of parking facilities. It supports an I2V link to the Vehicle that allows electronic collection of parking fees and monitors and controls parking meters that support conventional parking fee collection. It also includes the instrumentation, signs, and other infrastructure that monitors parking lot usage and provides local information about parking availability and other general parking information. The two primary approaches to monitoring parking area usage are sensing vehicles within parking spots or counting vehicles as they come in and as they leave the area. This portion of the functionality must be located in the parking area where it can monitor, classify, and share information with customers and their vehicles. See also the separate 'Parking Management Center' physical object that may be located in a back office, remote from the parking area, which interfaces with the financial infrastructure and broadly disseminates parking information to other operational centers in the region.
Functional Object: Parking Area Electronic Payment
'Parking Area Electronic Payment' supports electronic payment of parking fees using in–vehicle equipment (e.g., tags) or contact or proximity cards. It includes the field elements that provide the interface to the in–vehicle or card payment device and the back–office functionality that performs the transaction.
Functional Object: Parking Area Management
'Parking Area Management' detects and classifies vehicles at parking facility entrances, exits, and other designated locations within the facility. Current parking availability is monitored and used to inform drivers through dynamic message signs/displays so that vehicles are efficiently routed to available spaces. Parking facility information, including current parking rates and directions to entrances and available exits, is also provided to drivers.