Single Space Detection

Single Space Detection – stall-level occupancy, single-space sensor and LoRaWAN connectivity

Single-space detection provides real‑time, stall‑level occupancy that transforms how cities operate curbspace, manage permits and route drivers to free stalls. Municipal parking authorities and campus operators use Single Space Detection to reduce search time, improve compliance, and feed analytics for dynamic pricing and curb policy enforcement. Fleximodo’s IoT parking sensor—built around a 3‑axis magnetometer plus nano‑radar detection algorithm—reports field‑proven detection performance and a robust industrial specification for outdoor use.

Real‑time stall data is the foundation for modern services: wayfinding signs and apps, automated enforcement workflows and demand‑based pricing. Accurate Single Space Detection also reduces patrol time, minimizes towing errors and supports curb‑management strategies such as EV bay protection and permit‑only areas. Integrations are typically via a gateway/backend and public interfaces so live stall state can be consumed by dashboards, enforcement apps and navigation systems.

Why Single Space Detection Matters in Smart Parking

Single‑space detection (stall‑level occupancy) is the operational foundation for modern parking sensors services: live wayfinding, automated enforcement, dynamic pricing and permit control. Accurate per‑stall data reduces cruiser time and emissions, improves revenue capture and supports curb policies (EV bays, permit areas). Because stall state drives many downstream systems, insist on open APIs, device health telemetry and proven validation data in any procurement.

Standards and regulatory context

When specifying Single Space Detection include hardware durability, radio certification and privacy controls. Minimum procurement clauses should reference ingress and impact ratings and privacy/compliance controls:

Procurement tip: require the vendor to provide the full test protocol that supports any 'up to X years' battery claim (reporting interval, temperature profile, duty cycle and retry strategy). Many vendors publish multi‑year claims; request the underlying method and raw logs before relying on lifecycle projections.

Types of Single Space Detection

Each detection family has operational trade‑offs on accuracy, power and installation cost. Choose by site (outdoor/on‑street, covered garage, lot) and by the integrations you need.

Notes:

• Hybrid magnetometer + nanoradar sensors often perform best in exposed outdoor stalls because magnetic sensing resists many forms of clutter while radar reduces false positives. Fleximodo documents this dual‑method approach and field validation in its product literature.
• Camera/LPR gives excellent per‑stall accuracy indoors and where plate linkage is required, but it is mains‑powered and subject to privacy requirements and higher TCO for cabling and power.

System components (what to specify in tenders)

A full Single Space Detection deployment is more than the sensor head. Specify responsibilities and deliverables for each layer:

• Sensors: in‑stall or overhead detection units — see parking sensors and standard on‑surface sensors.
• Gateways / backhaul: LoRaWAN gateways, private networks or cellular endpoints; consider managed gateways vs public networks. See LoRaWAN.
• Power provisioning: battery packs (primary cells or LiFePO4 smart batteries), PoE or mains for cameras; plan for cold performance and replacement windows. See long battery life.
• Backend / middleware: telemetry ingestion, occupancy engine, API layer — require open REST/MQTT APIs and SLAs; map to your cloud integration strategy and cloud‑based parking management.
• Consumer systems: enforcement apps, wayfinding signs and public portals (wayfinding).
• Field tooling: calibration apps, diagnostic dashboards and OTA updates; require remote diagnostics and tamper alarms.

Checklist (short):

• Device certificates, IP/IK ratings and ISO listings. See IP68 ingress protection.
• OTA policy, signed update schedule and rollback plan. See OTA updates.
• Open integration APIs and stable message formats. See real-time data transmission.
• Spare‑part policy and battery replacement SLA. See TCO.

How Single Space Detection is installed, measured and commissioned (step‑by‑step)

1. Site survey & mapping: map every stall; note metallic objects, drainage and likely snow accumulation zones.
2. Network planning: test LoRaWAN / NB‑IoT coverage at intended mounting points; add gateways if needed.
3. Choose sensor family: in‑ground for trench projects, surface magnetometer + radar for shallow installs, PoE cameras for covered garages.
4. Prepare mounting: core‑drill or surface‑mount per vendor template; observe mounting offsets and torque limits (easy installation).
5. Commissioning: join device to network (OTAA/ABP), set reporting cadence, run initial calibration with test vehicles and vehicles parked at angle extremes.
6. QA validation: validate for 24–72 hours against camera or manual audit and compute false positive/negative rates.
7. Integration: connect occupancy feed to enforcement, wayfinding and analytics via REST/WebSocket or MQTT.
8. Go‑live & monitor: set alarms for battery, tamper, and RF link quality; watch sensor health dashboards.
9. Lifecycle planning: schedule battery swaps, periodic recalibration and winter readiness checks.

(These steps form the basis of a How‑To checklist you can include in tenders and vendor contracts.)

Maintenance and performance considerations

• Battery management: many wireless single‑space sensors use primary Li‑SOCl2 cells or larger 3.6V packs (common configurations include 3.6V, 3.6Ah for mini devices and 3.6V, 14–19Ah for larger units). Always require vendor battery‑life calculations for your exact cadence and temperature profile.
• Telemetry & OTA: require periodic heartbeats, tamper alerts and remote update capability so fixes can be applied without site visits. Insist on comprehensive sensor health monitoring and remote rollback for firmware updates.
• Cold performance: cold reduces battery capacity; procurement should specify cold‑start behaviour at –20 °C to –30 °C and ask vendors for pilot data under those conditions.
• Vandalism & maintenance: prefer surface‑mount sensors for rapid swap or require anti‑theft fasteners and tamper detection for in‑ground sensors.

Key call‑outs and practical advice

Key Takeaway from Graz Q1 2025 Pilot
100 % uptime at -25 °C, zero battery replacements projected until 2037.

Municipal pilots in Graz and the Styria region illustrate how local experiments (pop‑up pilots and living labs) feed into procurement decisions and public communication. See local pilot summaries and EU project pages for similar pilot approaches. (interreg-central.eu)

Practical procurement clause (sample):

• "Vendor shall provide raw battery‑test protocol and sample logs demonstrating battery capacity at –20 °C and –30 °C over a 12‑month test profile; any multi‑year claim must be accompanied by the test method and 3rd‑party verification."

Quick operational tips:

• Pilot with a camera baseline for 7–14 days to quantify local false‑positive/negative rates.
• Require health telemetry including battery voltage, last seen, tamper, and local temperature on each device.

Current trends & standards to watch

LoRaWAN regional parameters were updated in 2025 (RP2‑1.0.5) to add higher data rates and lower time‑on‑air options, improving capacity and energy efficiency for large‑scale rollouts. (lora-alliance.org) The LoRa Alliance has also reported growing deployment numbers across the ecosystem, underscoring LoRaWAN's role in city‑scale IoT networks. (resources.lora-alliance.org)

At the EU policy level, the "Climate‑neutral and Smart Cities" mission emphasises demonstrators, funding and piloting in cities that include digital mobility and smart infrastructure components — an important frame for municipal tenders and co‑funded pilots. (research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu)

References

The following projects were reviewed from operational deployment records and are offered as representative long‑term references for sensor choice and lifecycle planning.

• Pardubice 2021 — 3,676 SPOTXL NBIOT sensors deployed 2020‑09‑28 (Pardubice, Czech Republic). Large, on‑street rollouts illustrate NB‑IoT scale advantages.
• RSM Bus Turistici — 606 SPOTXL NBIOT sensors (Roma Capitale, Italy) deployed 2021‑11‑26 — fleet and tourist parking integration use case.
• Chiesi HQ White (Parma) — 297 sensors (SPOT MINI + SPOTXL LORA) deployed 2024‑03‑05 — corporate/private facility with mixed sensor families.
• Skypark 4 Residential Underground Parking (Bratislava) — 221 SPOT MINI sensors deployed 2023‑10‑03 — indoor reliability example.
• Henkel underground parking (Bratislava) — 172 SPOT MINI sensors deployed 2023‑12‑18 — multi‑site corporate rollout.
• Peristeri debug — flashed sensors (Peristeri, Greece) — 200 SPOTXL NBIOT sensors deployed 2025‑06‑03 — provisioning and flashing workflow example.

(Use these deployments as comparators when assessing vendor scale, field experience and provisioning maturity.)

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Single Space Detection?
   Single Space Detection is a per‑stall sensing capability that reports whether an individual parking stall is occupied or free in real time. Delivery options include in‑ground magnetometers, surface magnetometer+radar, ultrasonic ceiling sensors and camera/LPR units.

2. How is Single Space Detection implemented?
   Implementation follows a lifecycle: site survey, network planning, sensor selection, physical mounting, calibration, network join and QA validation against a camera baseline. Reporting cadence and payloads determine battery life and must be set during commissioning.

3. Which sensor type should I choose for outdoor on‑street stalls?
   Hybrid surface magnetic+radar sensors balance accuracy and low‑dig installation; require IP68 & IK10 and a cold‑temperature battery performance report.

4. What is the expected battery life and how do I model replacements?
   Battery life depends on cell size, reporting interval and temperature. Vendors often publish pack options (e.g., 3.6V, 14–19Ah) and provide calculators. Require lifecycle assumptions (duty cycle, retries, temperature) in the tender and model labour for replacement in a 7–10 year TCO.

5. How do sensors integrate with enforcement and wayfinding systems?
   Sensors publish occupancy events to a backend (MQTT/HTTP) or via a gateway, where an occupancy engine converts raw device states to usable stall states. The backend exposes REST or WebSocket APIs for enforcement apps, dashboards and wayfinding signs; verify API stability and SLAs during procurement.

6. What are common failure modes and how are they mitigated?
   Common issues: RF outages (add gateway redundancy), battery depletion (telemetry alarms & replacement schedule), physical damage (tamper alerts & quick‑swap spare policy) and false detections (firmware tuning and periodic recalibration). Require remote diagnostics and OTA updates in the contract.

Summary

Single Space Detection is the operational building block for wayfinding, enforcement and curb‑policy analytics. Choose the detection family that matches your site constraints (outdoor vs indoor, power availability), require vendor validation data for accuracy and battery life, and insist on OTA and telemetry for lifecycle management. For tenders, include clear clauses on IP/IK ratings, privacy controls and API access to enable downstream integrations. Hybrid magnetometer + radar sensors plus a managed backend often deliver the best lifecycle TCO for exposed outdoor stalls.

Author Bio

Ing. Peter Kovács — Technical freelance writer and smart‑city practitioner. Peter specialises in smart‑city infrastructure, test protocols and procurement best practices for municipal parking and IoT pilots. He has authored vendor evaluation templates and participated in several city trials and deployments.