Students plan to put paid to parking problems

ENDLESS driving around looking for an empty street parking space could become a thing of the past thanks to technology developed by researchers in Sligo.

The idea has already sparked interested from local councils in Ireland and Romania, and the two Institute of Technology Sligo students who came up with the idea will bring it to a global competition in France in July.

Kieran Stafford and Cristina Luminea, fourth-year software engineering students, have used edge detection technology, which can send information from cameras on parking spaces to the programme they have designed.

This will monitor if the shape and definition of cars or other vehicles are present in each space, and can send the information on to devices such as mobile phones or satellite navigation systems used by motorists.

“The user will be able to use a portable device to request a parking space near their current location or at a specified place,” said Kieran Stafford.

The technology has been proven to work in the model car park system they have designed, showing that with further research and funding it could be applied in the real world.

“We’ve already spoken to Sligo Borough Council and officials in the city of Sibiu, where Cristina’s from, about piloting the system,” said Kieran, a native of Roscrea, Co Tipperary.

The pair’s ParkIT project recently won them the national final of the Microsoft Imagine Cup for college research projects using information technology.

“The system will update every couple of minutes so motorists can have real-time information about free parking spaces. We’re hoping to do a masters research study next year and investigate using character recognition, so a painted sign on a parking space would indicate when it is free if there’s no car on it,” Kieran said.

More than 520 students registered for the competition from colleges north and south of the border.

The international final takes place in Paris in July, when Kieran and Cristina will compete for a chance to take part in an innovation event in California’s Silicon Valley.