Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Xian, 15-17 J uly, 2012

MICROCONTROLLER BASED AUTOMATIC PARKING SYST EM

TRONG-YEN LEE, CHI-FENG LEE

Graduate Institute of Computer and Communication Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C
E-MAIL: tylee@ntut.edu.tw.t7418066@ntut.edu.tw

Abstract:
Currently, the parking system is classified into parking
assistance system and automatic parking system. The automatic
parking system is the modified or improved technology of
parking assistance system. The parking assistance system has
developed in some automobile manufacturers. The
parking system is lack of an efficient parking algorithm to
improve the parking performance. Moreover, the efficient
parking algorithm can reduce the required parking space.
Therefore, this article proposes an efficient parking algorithm
and implements into a microcontroUer based automatic parking
system. The parking algorithm is implemented by the proposed
Two-Turn concept. The experimental results show that our
proposed method can reduce the vehicle parking space which
requires about 1.43 times the length of vehicle.
Keywords:
Parking algorithm, MicrocontroUer, Ultrasonic
Space detection
1. Introduction
Many household appliances have gradually trended
towards automation because the chip manufacture technique
is great progress. Lots of work are replaced by automated
machines to save the time. An automated machine shows a
combination of different research areas, such as mechanical
design, hardware and software design, etc. Due to the
function requirement for a vehicle is increasing, therefore the
electronical technology is used to improve the function of in
a vehicle. Therefore, the performance and equipment of
vehicles are much better, safer, and more humanized. The
parking for a vehicle is very serious issue in a crowded city.
The parking system is classified into parking assistance
system and automatic parking system. The automatic parking
system is the modified and improved technologies of parking
assistance system. The car will back into parking space
automatically when the driver executes the parking button in
automatic parking system. The parking assistance system has
developed in some automobile manufacturers. For example,
Mercedes Benz used the image assistance parking system.
Lexus used the multifunctional information screen to display
the parking trace for the driver. The Park4U was developed
by Volvo research group. The ultrasonic sensors are used to
detect the parking space and assist parking, then control the
steering wheel and avoid obstacle. BMW embedded sensors
at the side and back to assist parking. A main drawback of the
vehicle
current technology is that the captured image signal be
influenced by the environment brightness.
Recently, some researches [1]-[10] proposed the
improved method for the automatic parking system. The
major issue is how to develop an efficient algorithm for
parking trajectory then the car can execute correctness into
the parking place. Liu [1] proposed a simple control approach
for the multichain systems based on a switching algorithm of
two sets of steering laws. Panomruttanarug [9] used fuzzy
logic to emulate the autonomous parallel parking system. The
related work require a larger parking space for vehicle to
sensor,
parking. Therefore, we propose a new parking algorithm with
the Two-Turn concept for the automatic parking system.
Parking assist system mainly uses image processing or
infrared and ultrasonic sensor to sense obstacles, and parking
assist system needs a much more parking space. In order to
fill up this gap, the study attempts to improve part of
trajectory algorithm by combining the Two-Turn in order to
substantially reduce the parking space.
2. System Architecture
The study is based on automatic parking system.
According to its function, it can be divided into paring
trajectory algorithm, vehicle location detection, parking space
detection, turning control, and they are shown in Figure 1.
Vehicle
Location Detection Turning Control
Microcontroller
AT89S52
Parking Space
Detection Parking Algorithm
Fig. 1 Parking system block diagram

978-1-4673-1487-9/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE

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 Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Xian, 15-17 J uly, 2012

The function of parking space detection is used to check
if parking space is enough. The vehicle location detection is
used to monitor the current location of vehicles, and then
combines with the proposed parking algorithm to implement
automatic parking system. The ultrasonic sensor modules are
used to detect parking space and obstacle in parking path.
The chip of AT98S52 microcontroller uses to implement the
proposed parking algorithm and turning control.
In terms of the original characteristics of parking system,
parking system is divided into five states which are shown as
follows:
(1) on the way to the parking space.
(2) through the parking space.
(3) pass the parking space.
3. Parking Model and Algorithm
This work proposes a parking algorithm with Two-Turn
(TT) which modified and improved from [3]. The parking
model describes by Figure 3 and parking path shows in
Figure 4. The major difference between our proposed method
and [3] is that the position of the up-circle central in the
proposed method depends on the distance b. The metrics in
the proposed model and parking path are listed in the next
paragraph.
First
parking
space

(4) in the process of parking automatically.

(5) finished parking the vehicle.
The vehicle parking flow in this work is shown in the
Figure 2. The first step in parking flow is parking space
detection through the ultrasonic sensor module and
computation by microcontroller. If the parking space is no IvIillillllllll hUlling raditls

enough for parking then continue to search the next parking

space. If the space is available for parking then the sensor
will sent the vehicle location information to microcontroller. TInrd

The proposed parking algorithm be executed by parking

space
microcontroller until finishing the parking action or being
abandoned by user or encountered the obstacle.
(a) First step on TT model (b) Second step on TT model

Fig. 3 Parking model

Fig. 2 Parking flow

Fig. 4 Parking path with TT model

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In this paragraph, the symbols in parking model and Table 1 Parking algorithm
parking path will be defined, and they are shown in Figures 3
and 4. The minimum turning radius in vehicle parking model Two-Tum (TT) parking algorithm
is represented by the symbol of r. A parking space describes I!Detection parking space is looking for parking space.
IIParking modif'y is means that when the parking of vehicles than
by SL x SW (Length x Width). The size of a vehicle parking spaces,will be modif'y into the parking space for vehicles.
represented by VL x VW (Length x Width). The n represents Iia is distance between the car side.
the distance between rear axle to rear bumper. The symbol 118 is degrees angle between two circles.
of a represents the distance between the side of vehicle and IISPL is detection distance between the car side.
the side of parking space. The symbol of b represents the IISLmin is minimum parking space.
IISL, is parking space.
distance on the first turning for vehicle parking. The three
lib is vehicles traveling on the right side of the parking space into barrier
angles of B, S], S2 represent the critical angles in parking path. to the opportunity of first tum.
The computation equations are shown in the following: IIS1 is first steering trajectory.
IIS2 is second steering trajectory.
a= {r-[ ( SW+VW)/2 ]} -( 2rcosB-r ) (1) IIS,+S2 = parking path.
a] Input : a is distance between the car side
B = cos-I [ 1- SW - VW (2) Output : S1 is first steering trajectory and S2 is second steering
4r 4r 2r
trajectory
b = (2rsinB-r) -SL -n (3) 1. begin
S1 = r x x B (4) 2. Parking_space_detection ( )
180" 3. while (SPL > SLrnm)
r X 7r X B (5) 4. if ( Received parking instruction )
S2 =
180" 5.
6. 8 = cos-I (alk,) ;
7. SL1 =k2cos8 ;
A parking algorithm is used to control the vehicle into
8. SLmin =k3cos8 ;
the parking space. Therefore, we propose a TT based parking II Vehicle body length is more than approximately 1.5 times of the
algorithm and implemented into microcontroller. The parking mode
proposed parking algorithm is shown in Table 1. The 9. if (SPL >SL1)
algorithm includes five steps that describe in the following: 10.
11. b =k4sin8 ;
Step 1: detects the parking space from ultrasonic sensor 12. S, =ks8 ;
modules which function call shown at line 2. 13. S2 =ks8 ;
Step 2: if parking space is enough and pushed the start 14.
parking instruction by driver, then the parking II Vehicle body length is less than 1.5 times, over 1.3 times of the
information B, SL], SLmin will be computed. The parking mode
pseudo code is shown in the lines 3 to 8. 15. else if (SPL > SLrnm )
Step 3: if the detected parking space is larger than 1.5 times 16. {
normal standard parking space, then the parking 17. b =k4sin8 ;
information b, S], S2 will be computed. The pseudo 18. S1 =ks8 ;
code is shown in the lines 9 to 14. 19. S2 =k6 ;
Step 4: if the detected parking space is less than normal 20. while (Sensor_back < Safe_distance)
standard parking space and larger than minimum 21. {
parking space, then the parking information b, S], S2 22. parking modif'y() ;
will be computed. The pseudo code is shown in the 23.
lines 15 to 24. 24.
Step 5: if the detected parking space is not enough for 25. else
parking, then automatic system parking system will 26.
end. 27. system stop ;
28.
29.
4. Experimental Results 30. end

The experimental environment in this work uses a

emulation vehicle which size is 50cm(Length)x20cm(width) space and the location of vehicle. The DC step motors are
and the AT89S52 microcontroller is implemented the used to drive and turn the wheel of vehicle.
proposed parking algorithm with Two-Turn (TT). Three The embedded microcontroller emulation vehicle
ultrasonic sensor modules, RF05, are used to detect parking executes the parking processing are shown in Figures 5 to 8.

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 Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Xian, 15-17 J uly, 2012

Figure 5 shows that the emulation vehicle passes through and We compare the performance between the proposed
detects the parking space. When the detected space is enough method and related works which are shown in Table 2. The
for parking, the emulation vehicle is waiting for an experimental results show that the new proposed method
instruction for parking which is shown in Figure 6. The requires 1.43 times the length of vehicle which is lower
vehicle executes parking procedure which is based on TT parking space than related work.
parking algorithm shown in Figure 7. The finish parking
function is shown in Figure 8. Table 2 Performance comparison of automatic parking systems
Simulated Parking space
Methods Equipment vehicle size (times of
size (em) vehicle length)
Exponentially Notebook PC
convergent Camera 20*20 1.5 times
control [1] Two sensors
Fuzzy logic ARM7TDMI-S
45.5*19.5 1.8 times
control [9] Four sensors
Chip AT89S52
New proposed 50*20 1.43 times
Three sensors

Fig. 5 The vehicle passes through and detects the parking space
5. Conclusions

A microcontroller based parking system with an

efficient parking algorithm is presented. The chip of
AT89S52 is used to execute the parking algorithm and detect
parking space. Three ultrasonic sensors are used in this
parking system and the system cost is low. The experimental
results show that the proposed parking algorithm can reduce
parking space. In the future, a FPGA chip will be used to
implement the parking system for improvement the system
response time and system size.
Fig. 6 The vehicle is ready for parking

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Council,

Taiwan R.O.C under Contract No.
NSC-100-2221-E-027-065.

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