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Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) 1 HP-ID: Handicap Parking Identification Mark Page, EE, Andrew Baraby, CSE, David Joy, EE, and Redwan Alzain, CSE Abstract—HP-ID is system that will address handicap parking abuse using active RFID tags embedded in dashboard placards. Our parking meter will automatically validate the dashboards RFID tag and will alert the authorities via Wi- Fi that someone is parked illegally in real time. Our parking meter will quicken the response time of parking authorities and thus maintain handicap parking availabilities for those who are authorized to use them. I. INTRODUCTION ANDICAP parking spots are always the best spots on the block, you don’t need to worry about walking far, they are free to park in, and most people have enough moral fiber to leave these spots available for those who really need them. However, there are some that see these spots as just another parking spot that is fair game and take advantage of the spots. 72% of an estimated 43 million people who rely on handicap spots have reported being affected by handicap parking abuse [10]. Seattle authorities report that abuse of handicap placards cost the city almost 1.4 Million dollars a year [2]. Due to the simplicity of the placards and lack of enforcement they are very easy to counterfeit and it is just as easy to get away with it. In California 1 in 16 drivers use handicap placards, this is more than double the ratio nationwide of disabled parkers [8]. This high ratio is indication of how prevalent fake placards are in California. It is also difficult to take expired placards out circulation; unless you turn in your expired placard to the DMV or get caught using an expired one there is no way to filter out old placards. In Boston it was found that 1 in 20 placards being used were registered to people who had passed away [1]. Enforcing abuse of handicap placards is daunting task for most police and parking authorities. Handicap placards themselves are simply laminated pieces of plastic that hang from the rear view mirror. In Massachusetts placards have an identification number, expiration date, picture ID and name displayed on them, however the picture ID and name can be covered with a privacy sleeve [4]. In some states there isn’t even an expiration date displayed, which makes filtering out expired placards nearly impossible. Handicap parking enforcement has changed little despite all the technological advances in the past few decades. For the most part, in order to get caught a parking attendant or cop walking by needs to notice your placard is expired or notice that you don’t have one at all. Handicap placard sting operations have become more common as abuse still continues to proliferate. Cops will ask the driver of the car who the H M. A Page from Littleton, Ma (e-mail: [email protected]). D. Joy from Amherst, Ma (e-mail [email protected]). A. Baraby from Amherst, Ma (e-mail: [email protected]). R. Alzain from Amherst, Ma (e-mail: [email protected]). placard belongs to make sure it is being used properly. In Massachusetts the owner of the placard MUST be in the car at the time it is parked and when the car leaves [4]. In New Zealand there has been some attempt to modernize the enforcement system. Parking attendants are given Wi- Fi connected handheld devices and check the ID number on the placard to make sure it’s valid and being used properly. This however is extremely tedious and requires the parking attendant to go around and manually enter each ID number. Our system will automate the validation process using RFID tags and will alert authorities to illegal parking in real time. This will allow authorities to respond quicker to illegal parkers so they can issue parking tickets and/or call a tow truck so the spot will be available for someone who needs it. With the allure of handicap being so high and the odds of getting caught so low we hope that our meter’s quick response time will help deter the mindset of “what are the odds that I’ll be caught” Our parking system need to be just as easy to use for the handicap drivers as the existing system. Ideally we will want no driver interaction and want to keep the size of the placard small and lightweight. The RFID reader in the parking meter will need to recognize the tag through the windshield and over the entire area of the parking spot. The tag must also protect the privacy of the user in the same way that modern placards do. The tag and parking meter must also be power efficient in that the power supplies do not need to be replaced often. TABLE I SPECIFICATIONS Specification Placard Weight Height Width Battery Life Meter Weight Durable Wi-Fi Database of registered Users Value <1kg <25cm <10cm >6 Months <3k All weather proof Take advantage of 802.11 Must contain fields of all pertinent information II. DESIGN A. Overview In order to solve the problem of handicap parking abuse, we plan on implementing different sub-systems into one system. There are three different physical components: the placard, Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) the meter, and the database. The placard contains a RFID tag. The meter contains a RFID reader, a Wi-Fi shield, and a microcontroller. The first block detects when a car pulls into a spot. We will use an induction loop to detect the presence of a car. After a car pulls into a spot, the reader will wait to receive an ID from a tag. Once the reader receives an ID from a tag, the tag ID will be sent to a database over a Wi-Fi connection. The Wi-Fi shield is connected to a Wi-Fi network. The database will search for the tag ID and check to see if it is valid. If the ID is valid, the database will tell the micro-controller to allow the car to park. The micro-controller is the host for the reader and Wi-Fi shield. If a car has been validated to park, a green LED will be illuminated to alert the driver. If a car has not been validated to park, a red LED will be illuminated on the meter. We are planning on using solar panels to power the meter, which is why we are paying close attention to power consumption. The first block, the induction loop, must be able to detect a car at least 95% of the time. The second block, the RFID components, must be able to communicate at 20 ft. 95% of the time when the tag is directed in the general direction of the reader. The reader and tag must be small. The tag must have a lifespan of at least 50,000 transmissions. The tag needs to be small enough to be mounted on a placard. The reader needs to be small enough to fit inside of a reasonably small sized meter. The third block, the micro-controller, needs to have enough memory to store a program to efficiently perform all of the meter’s tasks. The WIFI shield needs to be able to be connected to a WIFI network with a 95% success rate if there is a WIFI network available. The database needs to have enough storage to hold all of the tag IDs, Reader IDs, Expiration Dates, and all of the other ways we could flag an ID. The power supply needs to be able to supply power to the meter 99.9% of the time during normal use. If all of the blocks meet their individual specifications, the overall system will work very efficiently. All of the individual specifications are designed to give a handicap person the greatest chance of finding an available spot. We are trying to make everything easier for the handicapped. There are 5 main types of handicap parking abuse. One type is when someone uses an expired placard. Our system will prevent this problem because the database will be able to 2 detect whether a placard has expired or not. An expired placard will not be validated to park in a handicap spot. Another type of handicap parking abuse is when someone creates a counterfeit placard. In our system it will be nearly impossible to counterfeit placards because placards will contain active RFID tags. The tags will be clone resistant because they will contain a programmed security algorithm that the reader will use to communicate with the tag. The third type of handicap parking abuse is when someone that does not have a handicap placard parks in the spot. An alert will sent to the authorities to come and further address the situation. The fourth type of handicap parking abuse is when someone steals another person’s placard. Once someone reports a placard stolen or tries to get a new placard, the old or stolen placard will be flagged in the database as invalid. The last type of abuse and hardest type to enforce is when a non-handicap person borrows a handicap person’s placard temporarily. This type cannot be prevented in our system and is very difficult to currently enforce without invasion of privacy. Although this type cannot be prevented, it will be drastically reduced. A handicap person will not be able to order a new placard and give their old one to someone else, because the old placard will be flagged as invalid in the database. Almost all of the handicap parking fraud can be eliminated with our system, which will maximize the chances for a handicap person to be able to find a handicap parking spot. There are many design alternatives and different technologies that we could have used. Instead of using Wi-Fi we could have used a cellular connection. We decided not to use a cellular connection because connecting to a cellular network would require getting a cell phone plan with a cellular network. We could have also used a sensor to detect a car, instead of using an induction loop. We decided to use an induction loop because induction loops don’t have many false positives or false negatives. Sensors are very sensitive and something small can set them off. We want our system to work efficiently and consistently. Another alternative is using Bluetooth instead of RFID. Bluetooth requires pairing and is used in systems that require constant connection. This constant connection requires a constant power supply. Also, Bluetooth doesn’t have a long range. RFID is used for quick authentication at a long distance, which is why we chose it. B. Car Detection This sub block is the car detection block of our system. Our parking meter needs to know when a car pulls into the parking spot because not all the cars that park there are guaranteed to have handicap placards thus we need to have some way of detecting any car that pulls into our parking spot. Inductive loops are one of the most widely used sensors in modern traffic management systems [3]. Inductive loops are simple but reliable sensors that can accurately detect when large metal object drive over them. An inductive loop sensor is comprised of 3 major components, a large loop of wire, a circuit to detect the car and lead in cables from the loop to the electronics box Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) 3 range can be changed even more by varying R1. R2 controls the amplitude of the 555 output. This output is in parallel with the LC tank circuit, this tank circuit is made up a capacitor (C5) and the inductive loop (L1), this tank circuit has some resonance frequency defined by and at resonance the LC circuit will have infinite impedance because the impedance of a tanks circuit is defined as [6]. Figure 1 An illustration of an inductive loop sensor [5] The idea of the inductive loop is simple. A large loop of wire is embedded into the pavement. This loop of wire is going to have some natural inductance and when a car drives over the loop, the metal in the car will cause a change in inductance and this change is detected by a circuit. The reason for the change in inductance is because of the nature of inductors. Inductance is determined by the number of loops of wire and core of the inductor. When there is no car over the loop the core of the inductor is air or asphalt, however when a car pulls over the spot the iron of the vehicle will act like the core of the inductor and result in a greater inductance. However, when the car drives over the loop there will also be eddy currents that are induced from the metal in the car as well. These eddy currents will cause a decrease in the inductance of the loop and will have a greater impact then the effect of the iron core resulting in an overall decrease in inductance [3]. The circuit that is used to detect the change in inductance is simply a tuned circuit. The circuit will have a parallel LC circuit, also called a tank circuit, that will be tuned to resonance frequency and when the car cause the change in inductance the circuit will detect that it is no longer at resonance. Fig 2 shows the circuit diagram we will be using in our car detector [9]. Fig 2 Schematic of the loop detector circuit The left side of the circuit is an astable 555 timer, and generates an oscillating voltage. The frequency of this oscillation is set by the potentiometers and R1. The resistors can be turned for an oscillation between 31 KHz-73 KHz, this The series of resistors and capacitors after the tank circuit rectifies the signal into a constant DC voltage, this voltage is then input into the LM393. The LM393 is a voltage comparator that outputs high when the voltage into pin 3 is greater than pin 2. The voltage into pin 3 is fixed by a simple voltage divider set by R5 and R8.If the input from the tank circuit is higher than the voltage set by R5 and R8 then the LM393 will be low and vice versa. When there is no car over the loop the tank circuit is tuned for resonance so its voltage output is maximum and greater than the voltage at pin 3. When a vehicle change the inductance of the loop the voltage at pin 2 will decrease because the new inductance will have a different resonance frequency that the circuit is not tuned to. Then the voltage at pin 3 will be greater than pin 2 and the LM394 will output HIGH. To test this circuit I will drive over the loop using several different types of cars and note at which point on the car I get the best detection. Compact cars will be easier to detect because the body of the car is much lower to the ground. I will test my inductive loop using a compact car, a mid-size SUV and a Pickup truck. I will also test the circuit using different loop shapes and sizes; I will use a circular loop radius 2 feet, a rectangular loop and a square loop. C. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) RFID is a form of wireless communication that uses the radio frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data. [1] RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID technology is used to automatically identify objects or monitor objects.[2] On top of automatically identifying objects, RFID can be used to monitor the status of objects or simply track them. In a RFID system there are three parts; the reader, the transponder, and the antenna. The transponder is also called a tag. The tag is usually a small chip and an antenna that sends data to the reader.[1] There are 3 types of tags: Passive, Active, and SemiPassive. Passive tags do not require a battery to send information and have a built in antenna. Passive tags receive all of their energy from the read/write device (reader) that "powers" the tag to allow it to transmit data.[3] In a passive system, the reader interrogates the tag and the tag responds with its ID/information. Passive tags are generally much smaller because they don’t require a battery. Passive highfrequency (HF, typically 13 MHz) and low-frequency (LF, around 125 kHz) systems typically exhibit a read range of less than 3 feet.[3] Passive tags (non-battery) typically have anywhere from 64 bits to 1 kilobyte of non-volatile memory.[3] Systems that use passive tags at a larger distance require expense high powered readers. Passive tags are Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) generally cheaper and have a much longer life expectancy. Active and semi-passive RFID tags use internal batteries to power their circuits. An active tag also uses its battery to broadcast radio waves to a reader, whereas a semi-passive tag relies on the reader to supply its power for broadcasting.[4] The battery may be used to boost read/write range, allow for larger memories, or add sensory and data logging capabilities, such as temperature sensing.[3] Active tags are a “talk first tag”. This means that the communication between the reader and the tag must be initiated by the tag. In an active system, the reader just listens until it receives a signal from a tag. Active tags, such as those used in military tags, have memories as high as 128 kilobytes.[3] Active and semipassive tags are reserved for costly items that are read over greater distances -- they broadcast high frequencies from 850 to 950 MHz that can be read 100 feet.[4] Active tags require a battery to be replaced and are generally more expensive. Using RFID in our project will require a lot of experimenting and familiarizing ourselves with this new technology. We will have to learn about how the tags and readers communicate with each other. We will also need to learn how to integrate RFID into a micro-controller to allow communication with the rest of our system. Our RFID block consists of the handicap placard, reader, tag, and microcontroller. Since we want the tag to be linked to a person not a car, the tag will be integrated into a handicap placard. A handicap placard can be moved with a handicap person, as a handicap person moves from car to car. The tag will have button or some type of sensor that will tell the tag when to send out its information to the reader, which will conserve battery power. The reader and micro-controller will be inside of a meter mounted in front of the handicap parking spot. The reader will be connected to a micro-controller, which will interpret the information and relay it to the other necessary components. A car can pull into a parking spot nose in, or rear in, so the tag will need to be able to communicate with the reader over the distance of an entire parking spot (8 by 15 feet).We want the lifespan of the tag to be at least 2 years, because we don’t want the tags to require replacement often. After research and many phone calls to companies, we have decided to use the Tagsense ZR-10 and ZT-50. We also decided to use an Arduino Uno. The ZR-10 is a reader powered by the Arduino Uno and the ZR-10 is an active tag powered by a 220mAh coin cell battery. The ZR-10 and ZT50 have a communication distance of up to 100ft. This range can be adjusted to conserve the battery in the ZT-50. The battery life of the ZT-50 can be over 2 years if it is programmed correctly. The active reader can be integrated right into an Arduino Uno to allow for the information from the ZT-50 to be processed. The ZR-10 has a baud rate of 57600. The Arduino Uno serves as the host for the reader. The Arduino Uno can also be used to program the ZR-10 and ZT50. The ZT-50 and ZR-10 are 1 inch x 1 inch x.5 inch, so they are small enough for our application. The only difference between the ZR-10 and ZT-50 is that the ZT-50 is programmed to “talk first”. The ZR-10 is programmed to receive the tags information and relay it to the host (Arduino Uno). Out of all of the readers and tag combinations out there, this one is the best because it can be used at the prototyping and design level. 4 Passive tags would not work in our case because of many reasons. The use of passive tags at a distance of 15 ft., requires a very expensive, high powered reader, which cannot easily be integrated into a micro-controller for prototyping. These high powered readers are very large and consume a large amount of energy. Passive tags can easily be cloned because they don’t have a built in micro-controller. One issue with the use of RFID is the issue of tag cloning. Active tags are not as easily cloned because each active tag requires a specific reader. Active tags also have micro-controllers which allow the reader and tag to use a communication algorithm to verify the validity of the tag. Active tags can also be locked so that once the settings are correct the information inside cannot be changed or seen, except by a correctly programmed reader. In order to build this block, we first need to ensure that the tag and reader are functioning the way they are supposed to out of the box. The factory setting for the ZT-50 is to transmit its ID every second, once powered. The factory setting for the reader is to relay the tag’s ID to the host every time it receives a signal from the ZT-50. In order to test this function I connect the reader serially to the computer via Arduino, I then power the tag and see if the reader sends information to the computer. The correct information was outputted so I know the tags and readers are transmitting the proper data. I also tested the communication at different distances to verify that this tag and reader could communicate over the distance of an entire parking spot. The table to the right shows the results. As you can see, the ZT-50 and ZR-10 can communicate at distances well over a typical handicap parking spot. We can decrease the power of transmission to maximize the coin cell battery life in the ZT-50. The next step in building this block is integrating the ZR-10 with the Arduino Uno. We want the Arduino Uno to be able to decipher the ZT-50’s ID and the ZR-10’s ID from the ZR-10’s incoming data stream. We want the Arduino Uno to be able to store both the ID’s so that the information can be relayed to other blocks of the system. We have foreseen many problems in the future and planned Distance from Reader Success Rate 2m 10 out of 10 4m 10 out of 10 6m 10 out of 10 8m 10 out of 10 10m 10 out of 10 12m 10 out of 10 accordingly. One potential problem that might arise is if a tag from a neighboring spot tries to communicate with the reader. This can be avoided because once a handicap placard is validated in a parking spot the reader will not validate a placard in a neighboring spot. This is done through the database and pairing ZR-10 ID’s with ZT-50 ID’s. Another potential problem is if someone steals a handicap member’s placard. If someone steal’s a placard from someone else, the Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) stolen placard will be marked stolen as soon as the original owner tries to get a new placard. David will be the main designer and assembler of the RFID block. David will also use the information he learned in Computer Systems Lab to program a micro-controller and use it in a system. Fields and Waves will also be used in building the physical container for the meter so it doesn’t interfere with the radio signal. Circuits I and II will also play a role in wiring the micro-controller and ZR-10 correctly. ZT-50 and ZR-10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rfid http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/technology-article.asp http://www.zebra.com/us/en/solutions/getting-started/rfidprinting-encoding/rfid-tag-characteristics.html http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-techgadgets/rfid3.htm D. Microcontroller: Arduino Uno Rev 3 Board This sub block is the micro-controller block, which will be running a program to control the different components of the project, namely the RFID reader, Wi- Fi Shield, inductive loop and the database. We are using the Arduino platform to control most of the components using an Arduino Uno Revision 3 board. Arduino is an open source prototyping platform, which uses an Arduino Programming language to program and control an ATmega328 micro-controller board [11]. This Arduino board is powered through a typical wall outlet, a USB connection to a computer, or a battery. The board can provide up to 5 Volts of power to the components connected to it. The written program is uploaded to the board’s 32 KB memory through the Arduino’s IDE via a USB cable connection. [11] For this block, we will use techniques learned in our Computer Systems Lab along with software engineering class. Computer Systems Lab provides a strong foundation for programming micro-controllers while Software intensive engineering provided training in programming using C++, which is very similar to the Arduino Programming language. In order to get this block to work, we need to learn the proper usage of the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and its syntax. Getting familiar with the different libraries is also an important part in order to be able to approach the problem in more than one way. Testing the system can be done by providing the microcontroller with RFID and induction loop inputs, then 5 analyzing how the micro-controller responds to these inputs. We can have a good idea whether or not this component is working properly by examining the outputs we receive. E. Internet Connectivity to the Arduino board This sub block provides the Arduino board with Internet connectivity so that the Arduino can transmit and receive data through a wireless network (Wi- Fi). This will be done by mounting an Arduino Wi- Fi shield on top of the Arduino. This shield enables the Arduino to connect to securely encrypted (Access requires a password) or open Wi- Fi networks. Wi- Fi networks vary based on the encryption they use or lack thereof. The Wi- Fi shield supports networks encrypted using Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi- Fi Protected Access (WPA), and open (unprotected) networks, which is the networks that we are most interested in. [11] WEP was designed to provide the same level of security that a wired network provides. WEP requires the user to input a password to gain access to the network. [11] WPA is designed to provide better security than WEP since it utilizes more advanced encryption techniques [12] WEP’s weaknesses make WPA the more secure option. We are mentioning WEP, despite its weaknesses, in this report since the Arduino Wi- Fi shield is capable of connecting to both WEP and WPA secured networks. The Arduino Wi- Fi shield can detect the networks available and their encryption types giving the user enough information to decide which network to connect to. The user then utilizes the appropriate program templates based on the encryption type, which are provided as part of the WiFi library on the Arduino. Concepts in encryption and wireless connection gained from Trustworthy Computing class will prove to be very helpful in the design of this block since we are dealing with mostly encrypted networks. In order to be able to design this component properly, we need to know how to utilize the templates provided for the Arduino Wi- Fi shield and adjust them appropriately for our needs. It is essential to understand wireless networks to the extent of being able to create a local one. We originally planned on using the Umass Secure-1x WiFi network to connect our Arduino to the Internet. However, after further investigation and testing, we came to the realization that the Arduino Wi- Fi shield cannot connect to the secure network. The reason for this being that the Umass Secure-1x network utilizes WPA2 Enterprise encryption, which is a very advanced encryption method that requires both a username and a password for login compared to just a password in WPA and WEP encrypted networks. The complexity level of this encryption yielded the Arduino Wi- Fi shield unable to connect to the network. We have attempted to search for alternatives to allow us to connect to the network, such as other Arduino Wi- Fi modules, but were unable to find a shield that is able to handle such complex encryption. We discussed this issue directly with personnel from the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Umass Amherst. They could not find an alternative around the encryption level on the network. OIT suggested setting up a local wireless network through a laptop that is connected to the Umass network instead. A local network can be set up to have an encryption Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) level which the Arduino Wi- Fi shield can connect to. We have also consulted with Prof. Ganz from the ECE department and she suggested the same solution. Thus for our connection to the Internet, we created a local wireless network through a Macintosh laptop. The laptop is connected to the Internet and can share the connection wirelessly. We can then password protect the network using one of the supported encryption methods. Using the Wi- Fi shield, we can connect to this local network and gain access to the Internet. A useful experiment we can conduct is connecting the Arduino to the Internet through a Wi- Fi connection that is already set up. The Wi-Fi connection would utilize WPA encryption, which is found in almost every household. We can analyze the performance of the shield by observing the number of successful connections compared to the total number of attempts. We can also try sending data through the shield to the Database component (which will be discussed in a section to follow). The successful sending of data ensures a connection to the Internet, which is the primary focus of this component. E. Base Station Our Base station is a laptop that is on the same wireless network as our Parking Meter. It consists of two major parts, a MySQL server for the database and a PHP script to query the database. The database stores all the important information that needs to be known about the handicap parker, such as their name, expiration date, and RFID Tag key. It also has two fields where a placard can be marked as stolen or lost, to prevent people from using placards that they shouldn’t be using. There are also two fields (LastRead and Validity), which are used as flags for our database query. The PHP script is used to read and write to the database, and is used to send out alerts to the authorities by email. There are three main cases we need to deal with: a user with a valid Handicap Placard, a user with an invalid Handicap Placard, and a user that does not have a Handicap Placard at all. When a car pulls into the spot that has a placard, the microcontroller in our parking meter will update the LastRead field in the MySQL database that corresponds to that person’s RFID Tag ID. When that Field is set to true, the PHP script running on our Base Station will check the validity of that parker by making sure their tag isn’t expired, or hasn’t been flagged as lost or stolen. If the parker’s placard is valid then the PHP script will set a person’s validity field to true, which in turn will tell the micro-controller to enable a Green LED which tells the person they are allowed to park there. If the person’s card is not valid, and they are using a stolen, lost, or expired placard, then their validity field would be set to False. The micro-controller would then illuminate a Red LED, which would tell the person they need to move within the next 30 seconds or their car will be reported for misusing a handicap spot. If the person does not move in 30 seconds then an email alert would be sent out from our Base Station to the authorities. The final case that needs to be dealt with is if a person who doesn’t have a placard at all and just parks their car in the handicap spot. When a car a pulls into the spot, and our micro-controller determines that it does not have RFID tag in 6 their car, a Red LED will be enabled just like the previous case, and the person will have 30 seconds to move their car. If the car isn’t moved in time then the micro-controller will write to the database to a specially designated “anonymous” user that will be used to tell the Base Station that it needs to send an email to parking services. Currently since all of our major components aren’t integrated, to test these cases we are letting the PHP script run, then manually querying the database. To test the first two cases we will have one user with has a valid placard and then another user that has an expired placard. Then we will manually set the user’s LastRead value to true, which will then let the PHP script do its processing. For user 1’s case it will display a success message in the terminal, for users 2’s case it will send out an email. To test the last case we will manually set the anonymous LastRead field to true, which will then send out the email. Working on the Base Station is Andrew Baraby. He is using skills he learned in Computer Systems Lab to help work on the micro-controller, and also from Software Intensive Engineering, which gave him good knowledge in Unix and helped with programming the scripts. III. PROJECT MANAGEMENT Table II below lists our goals for MDR for our project. Specification Assigned To Value Mark 100 Internet Connectivity for Microcontroller Redwan 100 Configure Database and Server Andrew 100 RFID Tag and Reader Communication David 50 Car Detection Inductive Loop Using Table II Current Progress: We currently have a system that has the following sub blocks completed: Car detection is completed through the usage of the inductive loop. Internet connectivity was established for the Arduino using a local wireless network through a laptop, which is connected to the Internet. The database, where all the users information is stored in, was successfully completed through a MySQL database. The RFID reader and tag are communicating together, further work on this component is being done. Future Outlook: As we can observe, the system’s sub blocks are awaiting integration, which will be the objective of next semester’s work. Some of the challenges ahead of us include developing a specific procedure for what the system should do when an illegal parker is discovered. Another challenge is to differentiate between a car that is pulling into a parking spot to actually park and a car that is merely pulling in to back up and Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) turn around along with other possible scenarios. Another example of an important challenge to tackle is the issue of privacy and security for our RFID tags; in other words, we need to ensure that our RFID transmissions are secure and clone-proof. For the Gnatt Chart, please see the attached document. Team Expertise: Although all team members have a similar educational background gained from ECE curriculum, there are some differences that made each team member focus on a specific area of the project. For example, Mark and David’s experience from some of the Electrical Engineering classes, sparked their interest to focus on the hardware components of the project. Classes such as Electronics II, Fields and Waves, and Microwaves influenced their decision to use inductive loops and RFID reader sub-systems. Andrew and Redwan focused on the software side of the project since they have more experience in that field from being computer systems engineering majors and taking courses, such as Software Intensive Engineering and Computer Systems Lab 2. The varying experiences complement the team well to achieve the objectives at hand. Team Communication: Effective communication between team members is an essential part of every project. We meet at least once a week once per week in the SDP lab to discuss the current progress and plans. We also meet with our advisor, Prof. McLaughlin, once per week to provide him with updates on current status of the project. Outside of the weekly meetings, the team members communicate on a daily basis using group messaging and email alerting the other members of the group to any updates or changes. Andrew, David, and Mark also take a class together, so they communicate after class at times and then update Redwan if there is a change. This usage of different communication methods, such as email and messaging, ensured the most recent developments to be shared between the team members. The team also constantly provides ideas to each other for improvements on each other’s components. We also utilized the Google Docs drive as a collaborative tool to produce our presentation and reports together, thus ensuring that everyone’s thoughts were included in the creation of the presentation or report. IV. CONCLUSION For MDR we wanted to have each of our individual parts working and we have successfully done that. Currently, we have four major components of the project working independently. The Basestation with its database and PHP script are up and running. We have Wi- Fi connectivity between our Arduino and the Internet. For our car sensor, we have a working inductive loop. And finally, we have communication between our RFID Tags and RFID reader. The next major part we would like to have done is communication between the Arduino and the Base Station’s database via Wi- Fi. This is a huge part of the project and once it gets done, it will allow us to really move forward and 7 start testing out our complete system with the RFID tags and car sensor. Once that is complete we can start fine-tuning our system by testing it with some real life scenarios. For example the time may need to be altered for how long the micro-controller waits until a response is sent out to the authorities. We have also discussed the potential of adding a camera to our system which would allows us to take pictures of the violators and have that be sent attached with the message alert to the authorities. Other minor things have been discussed, such as how many LEDs are on the parking meter, how bright they are, and if the meter make a sound when a violator needs to move. We are going to work on these things last since they aren’t as important. Our main focus right now is getting all of our major components integrated together. APPENDIX ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank our advisor Prof McLaughlin for all of his support and resources. REFERENCES [1]Anderson, Karen. "Boston Drivers Caught Using Dead People’s Disabled Parking Placards." CBS Boston. CBS Boston, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. [2]Brill, Linda. "Disabled Parking Fraud Costs Seattle $1.4 Million a Year." KING King5.com. King 5 News, 10 June 2013. Web. [3]"Chapter 2, Traffic Detector Handbook: Third Edition— Volume I." Chapter 2, Traffic Detector Handbook: Third Edition—Volume I. U.S Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, May 2006. Web. [4]"Disabled Parking FAQ's for Customers." Disabled Parking FAQ's for Customers. Massachusetts RMV, 2013. Web. [5]Gibson, David. "Staying in the Loop: The Search for Improved Reliability of Traffic Sensing Systems Through Smart Test Instruments." Public Roads. US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, Oct. 1998. Web. [6]"LC Circuit." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2013. Web. [7]Peter, Justin. "Handicapped-Parking Fraud Is Just About the Jerkiest Crime Imaginable." Slate Magazine. Slate, 27 Aug. 2013. Web. [8]Shannon, Jeff. "The Parking Placard Glut." New Mobility RSS. N.p., 1 Sept. 2008. Web. [9]"A Simple Vehicle Loop Detector." Vehicle Loop Detector. Chemelec, 12 Oct. 2008. Web. Team 19 HP-ID MDR Report (DRAFT) [10]Tierney, Anna. A STUDY ON WHY PEOPLE ABUSE HANDICAPPED PARKING. University of Wisconsin-Stout Graduate School, Mar. 2002. Web. [11] Arduino Uno Rev 3 (Online). Available: http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=product_inf o&cPath=11_12&products_id=195 [12] Jennifer Johnson WEP (Online). Available: http://palmtops.about.com/od/glossary/g/WEP.htm [12] Bradley Mitchell WPA- Wi-Fi Protected Access (Online). Available: http://palmtops.about.com/od/glossary/g/WEP.htm 8