Piešťany Smart Parking: Sensors, Permits and Flip-Dot Guidance

Deployment Snapshot

Field	Value
Client	BK, a.s.
HQ	Piešťany, Slovakia
Industry	Facility management / building technology (ZSE Energia subsidiary)
Products deployed	IoT Parking Sensor (LoRaWAN), IoT Permit Card (BLE), Parking Guidance Display (Flip-Dot), LoRa Gateway, IoT Hub (48-month)
Connectivity	LoRaWAN, BLE
Deployment type	Complete turnkey system with 4-year service contract
Invoice date	November 2023
Contract duration	48 months
Deployment scale	5 parking spaces

The Client

BK, a.s. is a Slovak building technology and facility management company founded in 1995, headquartered in Piešťany. Since 2021, the company has been owned by ZSE Energia — Western Slovakia Energy, one of the country's three major electricity distribution companies. With 50-99 employees, BK provides technical facility management, electrical installations, photovoltaic systems, HVAC, and building renovations to major institutional clients including Slovak Telekom, UniCredit Bank, Slovnaft, and Tesco.

The ZSE Energia ownership is strategically significant. As an energy utility expanding into smart city services, ZSE can leverage BK's facility management network to deploy IoT infrastructure — including smart parking — across the commercial properties and municipal facilities that BK already maintains.

The Challenge: Demonstrating a Complete Smart Parking Solution for a Facility Management Portfolio

BK manages hundreds of commercial properties across Slovakia. Parking — particularly permit-controlled parking at offices, retail centres, and institutional campuses — is a persistent pain point for facility managers. Traditional approaches (barrier gates, manual enforcement, or unmanaged open lots) create either high maintenance costs, poor user experience, or no data at all.

To offer smart parking as a service within its facility management portfolio, BK needed a reference deployment: a complete, working system that demonstrates every component of digital parking management — including parking enforcement software workflows and real-time guidance signage — to its existing client base.

The Solution: Full-Stack Turnkey Deployment with Every Fleximodo Component

BK's November 2023 order is remarkable not for its size (5 parking spaces) but for its completeness — this is every Fleximodo component type deployed simultaneously.

The deployment included:

• 5 × IoT Parking Sensor Standard (LoRaWAN, in-ground) — Parking occupancy detection for each monitored space
• 5 × IoT Permit Card (BLE) — Vehicle identification cards for authorised parkers, detected by sensors via Bluetooth Low Energy, forming the basis of a lightweight parking enforcement software workflow
• 5 × Parking Guidance Display (Flip-Dot) — Solar-powered digital parking signage showing real-time availability, one display per monitored space or zone entrance
• LoRa Gateway — On-site network infrastructure connecting sensors to the IoT Hub
• IoT Hub (48-month OPEX) — Managed backend service, accessible through Fleximodo's CityPortal login, contracted for the full 4-year term
• Installation and initial setup — Turnkey deployment including hardware mounting and system provisioning

A 1:1:1 ratio of in-ground parking sensors to Permit Cards to displays — plus gateway and managed backend — means BK deployed a complete showcase of every Fleximodo capability in a single 5-space installation. This is not a parking lot; this is a demonstrator. Each of the five spaces shows a prospective client every digital parking function: the sensor detects whether the space is occupied, the Permit Card identifies whether the vehicle is authorised, and the Flip-Dot parking guidance system shows the space status in real time.

The 48-month contract aligns with BK's facility management contract cycles. By committing to 4 years of OPEX, BK can bundle smart parking into its existing multi-year facility management agreements — offering clients a parking management fee that includes hardware, software, connectivity, and maintenance as a single line item.

Fleximodo IoT Parking Sensor Standard In-ground 2.0: Technical Profile

Specification	Detail
Detection method	3-axis magnetometer + nanoradar (dual detection technology)
Detection accuracy	99.96%
Dimensions	115 mm diameter, height 64 mm
Weight	390 g
Battery	3.6 V, 13-19 Ah (6-year operational lifetime)
Connectivity	LoRaWAN Class A/B/C
Ingress protection	IP68
Impact resistance	IK10
Weight endurance	Up to 8 tonnes
Operating temperature	-40 to +85 °C

These in-ground parking sensors combine a magnetometer parking sensor core with a radar parking sensor channel — Fleximodo's dual detection technology — and use automatic temperature compensation to keep their 99.96% detection accuracy stable across Slovakia's full seasonal range, from winter frost to summer asphalt heat. Without this compensation, temperature-driven drift in the magnetic-field reading could register as a false vehicle arrival or departure; with it, BK's demonstrator can show prospective clients consistent, year-round parking occupancy detection rather than a system that needs seasonal recalibration.

Fleximodo IoT Parking Guidance Signage: Technical Profile

Specification	Detail
Display type	High-contrast Flip-Dot with reflective coating
Power source	Solar cell (self-powered outdoor beacon)
Connectivity	NB-IoT or LoRaWAN
Installation	Outdoor, wireless, no electrical connections
Lifespan	30 years
Maintenance	Zero (no external power required)
Operating temperature	-40 to +85 °C
Visibility	Reflective coating, readable in direct sunlight

Fleximodo smart parking technology is deployed in 30+ countries. View all products | Explore Guidance Signage | Slovanet — Slovak telecom with sensors and Permit Cards | Telekom Slovenije — Flip-Dot signage deployment