Case Study

8D/Cale Uses ADS Linux SBC for

Advanced Parking System
Solar Powered Wireless Terminals offer
Secure Online Payment
By Lawrence Ricci

Abstract
The City of Montreal was looking to replace thousands of older parking meters with
more advanced technology. They wanted to install smart payment terminals that
would process various types of wireless secure e-payment. This information is sent
wirelessly to PDA’s used by the parking officers. Finally, the city wanted
centralized access to payment and parking utilization data as well as reliable
monitoring of the terminal’s performance and security.
The city issued a call for tender in order to evaluate parking systems that would
meet its requirements. Low power operation, low temperature operation and
wireless capability suggested XScale based systems as supplied by Applied Data
Systems to 8D Corporation, a division of Cale Access AB.

The Cale / 8D Kiosk is a full featured

system that runs 24x365 on batteries
recharged only by solar power

Applied Data Systems

10260 Old Columbia Road
Columbia, Maryland 21046
Phone 301-490-4007 Fax 301-490-4582
 Solar Powered Wireless Terminals offer Secure Online Payment
Introduction
In 2002, the Society that manages
street parking and public parking lots
for the City of Montreal (Canada) was
looking to replace thousands of older
parking meters with more advanced
technology. Société en commandite
Stationnement de Montréal (SCSM)
wanted to install smart payment
terminals that would process various
types of wireless secure e-payment –
in “Pay & Go” mode – as well as
allow the new terminals to be
entirely powered by solar panels –
without any connection to the power
grid. Instant update of parking space
use is required because in “Pay &
Go” a driver parks his vehicle in any
available space, memorizes the
parking space number and goes to
the nearest terminal to pay for the
required time – with coins or credit
cards. He can then walk away with
the stub with no need to return to
display it on the vehicle. This
information is sent wirelessly to
PDA’s used by the parking officers so
tickets will not be issued. Finally,
SCSM
“ADS … was the ideal wanted
balance of CPU power, centralized
power management access to
payment
capabilities, and form and parking
factor,” utilization
Jean-Sebastien Bettez, data as well
CTO of 8D as reliable
monitoring
of the
terminal’s performance and security.
SCSM issued a call for tender in
order to evaluate parking systems
that would meet its requirements.
Applied Data Systems
9140A Guilford Road
Columbia, Maryland 21046
Phone 301-490-4007 Fax 301-490-4582
Cale, (North-American subsidiary of
Swedish multinational parking
technology manufacturer Cale
Access AB) called on 8D
Technologies to help engineer a
unique system based on the world
leading 8D ECO platform.
The Challenge
The system’s designers faced more
than one challenge. The parking
terminals had to ensure totally
secure wireless online electronic
payment, while providing
information on parking space
utilization to a central system.
Parking officers would drive by and
view the payment status of all
numbered spots on the street,
displayed on their palmtop
computer, without even getting out
of their vehicle. If there were no
infraction, they would drive to the
next zone. Parking administrators
could also access the server and get
immediate information on all
transactions as well as space
utilization data on all different
sectors. The system also had to
monitor security and component
performance within the terminal,
sending warnings when something
went wrong.
8D technology gives customers the
flexibility to adapt to different
situations, and for parking
management, the system offers
many benefits. Being able to stay in
their car to monitor the tickets is
more comfortable for the officers
checking the cars in a city with
extreme climates. The “Pay & Go”
concept is also more efficient and
faster, as the officer checks each
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Solar Powered Wireless Terminals offer Secure Online Payment
car’s status at a central display, the
user doesn’t have to display the
ticket in the car, and the parking
officer doesn’t have to stop at each
vehicle on the street to read the
ticket to see if time is up, or remove
snow when needed. With the Pay &
Go concept, officers don’t need to
leave their vehicle since all the
information is on the PDA real-time,
because of the new 8D technology.
Requirements in terms of power
supply proved just as challenging.
The SCSM wanted all parking
terminals to be totally autonomous
from the power grid, depending
strictly on solar panels to operate.
Montreal has one of the harshest
climates amongst the world’s large
cities. Temperatures can drop to –
30º C with heavy snowfalls in winter
and reach above + 30º C in the
midst of summer – with extreme
humidity levels all year round.
Temperatures can also fluctuate by
as much as 20 degrees C within 24
hours. Altogether, Montreal is a very
demanding city for testing a
sophisticated outdoor computer
payment system!
Finally, the overall system had to be
easily programmable to reflect
changes in parking rates and
regulations or introduce new service
models. (As an example, the system
could eventually be programmed to
allow communication from an
Internet connection.)
The Strategy
As world-leading supplier of parking
equipment, Cale could provide
sophisticated terminals with
electronic payment functions but
Applied Data Systems
9140A Guilford Road
Columbia, Maryland 21046
Phone 301-490-4007 Fax 301-490-4582
only through a wired system, dial up
system (GSM / PSTM) and batch
processing (which increases
exposure to fraudulent or expired
cards). Furthermore, its systems
didn’t have the power management
capacities required for solar
operation.
So Cale decided to team up with 8D
Technologies to design a unique
system that fulfilled all of SCSM’s
requirements. For years, 8D had
been developing complex wireless
systems for the telecommunication,
automotive and other industries and,
to increase efficiency in delivering
advanced solutions, it had created
Cloud9, a powerful Java-based
operating environment that also
greatly simplifies system testing and
reprogramming. The company had
also introduced 8D ECO, a compact
integrated unit that can be
embedded in any remote device,
providing advanced wireless
communications and power
management capacities.
With Cloud9 as the core
environment, 8D Technologies
designed a complete application –
Linux-based – and hardware system
for the parking industry. Terminal
components were optimized in terms
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Figure 1: The 8D ECO incorporates a ADS
BitsyX
Solar Powered Wireless Terminals offer Secure Online Payment
of power management and the 8D
ECO boxes were integrated and
programmed according to the
client’s requirements.
8D Technologies also built the
central server and all of the
applications that manage the system
and provide information to parking
officers and their managers. The
terminals’ programming includes
sophisticated energy management
functions and reflects all parking
regulations in terms of rates,
duration, schedules, etc.
8D decided to proceed with a RISC-
based platform, after realizing that
traditional x86 CPU technology could
not supply the needed features at
the low power budget needed for
this application.
“Someone introduced us to ADS
products, and we realized that ADS
Bitsy Plus product was the ideal
balance of CPU power, power
management capabilities, form
factor and capability to expand with
additional boards,” said Jean-
Sebastien Bettez, CTO of 8D.
“Further, ADS offered extensive
support for Linux, which was quite
important to us. At the point that we
Applied Data Systems
9140A Guilford Road
Columbia, Maryland 21046
Phone 301-490-4007 Fax 301-490-4582
made our decision, we didn’t find
any other equivalent product to the
Bitsy Plus.”
On a technical level, an independent
industrial lab (CRIQ) tested the
terminals in special chambers,
submitting them to the most
grueling weather simulations,
including drastic temperature
changes and extreme humidity.
“As the application went into
production, we had great support
from Applied Data Systems” said
Bettez.
A first series of terminals were
successfully installed and utilized in
Pay & Display mode in public parking
lots during the summer of 2003.
Following this implementation, the
definite testing period (the project’s
Phase II) began in fall 2003 with the
extensive deployment of Pay & Go
terminals – and the attendant’s PDAs
– in the downtown core area. The
system rapidly met client’s
expectations.
The Technology
Cale Advanced payment terminals
consist of:
• 8D ECO Module and Solution –
8D Linux based embedded
unit that supports the Java
based Cloud9 environment –
designed for simple and quick
integration into different types
of point-of-sale terminals,
including parking machines,
payment terminals, ATM’s,
kiosks, etc. – allows for secure
wireless communications;
advanced energy
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Solar Powered Wireless Terminals offer Secure Online Payment
management and components
control
• Cloud9 Software environment
– 8D Java-based operating
environment for application
development and operation on
central server; remote
application operation in
payment terminals (8D ECO)
and parking officers’ PDAs
• Applied Data Systems RISC-
based Bitsy Plus – embedded
circuit board that supports the
Cloud9 environment
• Linux – embedded OS:
wireless communication; low
level communication with
hardware components ;
support of Java environment
• GPRS – wireless network for
real-time communication
The Results
The integration of the 8D ECO
technology has allowed the creation
of what is certainly one of the most
advanced wireless point-of-sale
payment systems in the world. And,
thanks to the module’s exceptional
power management capacities, the
terminals could literally operate in
the middle of nowhere! The
technology’s flexibility also allowed
the terminal’s supplier to rapidly
address the customer’s changing
requirements. In designing any
system with that level of innovation,
adjustments in the course of the
project are to be expected and 8D
ECO has proven to be the perfect
tool to do this.
Applied Data Systems
9140A Guilford Road
Columbia, Maryland 21046
Phone 301-490-4007 Fax 301-490-4582
Furthermore, the system will remain
totally upgradeable and flexible for
as long as it is in use. Since the 8D
ECO technology is easily
programmable, the city can now
rapidly develop new capacities with
very little investment. Efficient at all
levels, the 8D ECO-powered solution
is already attracting attention from
large cities in several countries. But
it is also opening new horizons, not
only for parking administrators, but
for a wide variety of organizations
that manage distributed point of sale
systems.
Copyright ©, Applied Data Systems, Inc,
2006.
All Rights Reserved. This document may
not be used for commercial gain without
permission of Applied Data Systems, Inc.
Any trademarks used within are the
property of their respective owners. This
document contains technical descriptions
For more information on the
products and capabilities listed in
this case study, go to:
BitsyX
http://www.applieddata.net/products_BitsyX.
asp
Or
http://tinyurl.com/cbc79
Linux
http://www.appliedembeddedlinux.net/
Or
http://tinyurl.com/cz34e
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