Thailand: the country of tremendous temples, beautiful beaches, flavorful foods…and terrorizing traffic. While mass transportation ridership has grown in tandem with rapid urbanization and burgeoning technology, the truth is that many urban commuters still rely on personal vehicles as their main mode of transportation. This has led to the increasing need for parking lots – especially smart, advanced ones.
One parking management system integrator, with 60-70 separate parking lots to service, sought out NEXCOM for an intelligent computing solution for its parking lot entry machines. NEXCOM, known for its reliability and cost efficiency, needed to resolve several customer issues. The client wanted to reduce costs (management, labor, and supplies), increase efficiency (parking flow and payments), and enhance security.
In response, NEXCOM presented the NDiS B535, boasting a 6th Generation Intel® Core™ processor with six USB 3.0, four RS-232, and two RJ45 Ethernet I/O ports; two storage drives (SATA and M.2); and construction with steel chassis for durability and aluminum top cover for heat exchange, due to its fanless nature. The client then integrated the NDiS B535 in each parking lot’s separate entry and exit gate systems.
NEXCOM first addressed the need for cost reduction with automated license plate recognition. By connecting IP cameras via LAN to scan license plates, the computers systematically analyzed data to decide when to open and close barrier gates, connected via RS232. This automation reduced management and labor costs, as employees were no longer needed to staff the entry and exit gates, additionally allowing the parking lots to operate 24/7. It further improved parking flow and utilization, since gates would only open when sufficient parking spaces were available for incoming vehicles.
Likewise, to boost payment efficiency and reduce inventory costs, the parking gates accepted electronic payments via card scanners and RFID readers linked to the NDiS B535 through separate USB ports. For customer convenience, an HDMI port connected information display screens. Finally, an Ethernet port increased security by delivering data to a centralized control center, allowing for continuous, real-time supervision and labor reallocation from payment collection to monitoring.
NEXCOM and the NDiS B535 show that in prioritizing client needs and capitalizing on creative computing applications, clients are able to improve efficiency and security while decreasing costs.