SHINE: Deep Learning-Based Accessible Parking Management System

The enhancement of science and technology has helped expand urban cities like never before. Due to the undeniable benefits of owning a private vehicle, the number of cars has rocketed in many parts of the world, including South Korea. However, these gradual increments in the number of vehicles lead to parking-related problems, including the abuse of disabled parking spaces (referred to as accessible parking spaces hereafter). Due to the high frame rate of surveillance cameras, traditional license plate recognition (LPR) systems are ineffective in real-time. On the other hand, natural and artificial noise and differences in lighting and weather conditions make detection and recognition difficult for these systems. With the growing concept of parking 4.0, many sensors, IoT and deep learning-based approaches have been applied to automatic LPR and parking management systems. However, the studies show a need for a robust and efficient model for managing accessible parking spaces in South Korea. We have proposed a novel system called 'SHINE', which uses the deep learning-based object detection algorithm for detecting the vehicle, license plate, and disability badges (referred to as cards, badges, or access badges hereafter) and then authenticates the rights to use the accessible parking spaces by coordinating with the central server. This model, achieving 92.16% mean average precision, is believed to solve the problem of accessible parking space abuse.