ParkiFi employs Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF51822 Bluetooth low energy SoC to provide data to ParkiFi’s real-time parking finder and navigation app
Nordic Semiconductor today announces that Denver, CO-based technology company, ParkiFi, has selected Nordic’s multiple award-winning nRF51822 Bluetooth® low energy (previously known as Bluetooth Smart) System-on-Chip (SoC) for its parking spot occupancy platform. The ParkiFi platform allows drivers to view parking availability in real-time and navigate to available parking spots using a ParkiFi smartphone app.
Nordic’s nRF51822 SoC enables the Li-ion battery-powered ParkiFi sensor’s Bluetooth low energy connectivity. When parked in the space, the driver is able to communicate with the sensor via their iOS- or Android-compatible Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphone or tablet.
In addition to Nordic’s Bluetooth low energy wireless connectivity, ParkiFi’s low-cost sensors use proprietary wireless technology to communicate with a ParkiFi Base Station when a car occupies a spot. In turn, this data is forwarded to a web-based control panel where the operator can view the status of their parking-space inventory in one or multiple parking lots. The status pane on the control panel provides an inventory-wide view of real-time occupancy and turnover metrics, as well as predictive daily occupancy performance statistics to forecast revenue. The information can be fed back to the smartphone app to quickly direct drivers to empty spaces.
“Wired sensors are too costly and fragile to deploy to a parking lot, so wireless is key to providing a robust solution,” says Rishi Malik, ParkiFi Co-Founder & Head of Technology. “And consumers love the Bluetooth low energy aspect of our sensors as it enables fast, seamless parking experiences.”
Nordic’s nRF51822 is a powerful and flexible multiprotocol SoC ideally suited for Bluetooth low energy and 2.4GHz ultra low-power wireless applications. The nRF51822 is built around a 32-bit ARM® Cortex™ M0 CPU with 256kB/128kB flash and 32kB/16kB RAM. The embedded 2.4GHz transceiver is fully compliant with Bluetooth 4.2, the latest Bluetooth low energy specification.
“Bluetooth low energy with ultra low power consumption that helps us get years of battery life out of our sensors were the reasons for selecting the nRF51822,” continues Malik. “And Nordic’s application engineers offered excellent technical support and response time.”
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