Mobile App

I have decided to create a mobile app instead of creating the space counting board because I did a research and ask a lot of people will they rather look in the app or look at the space counting board. The result is that they prefer to look in the mobile app rather than the board because they can search for the restroom when they in the middle of nowhere.
So I have designed a Westfield's restroom app.

Draft of how the system work

Here is a draft that I drew of how the system will work for the mobile app and the space counting of the available stalls.

Left image is a rough draft

Right image is a better draft

 

parallel study

The parking system uses ultrasonic sensors and placed at each parking space to gather the most accurate count of available spaces. The system also includes LED indicators installed above each individual parking stall. The indicator flashes red or green to signal to drivers if a space is available or not. This provides advantage to drivers to see is there any available space fromt the one end of the isle, and thus avoid cruising down a fully occupied isle.

Choices for the visual info system

This image show the 5 choices for making the visual information system.

The first is the Reed Switch. The sensor will located at the corner of the door and the wall, when both sensor touched, then the light will change

The second is the Motion sensor. It will located on the ceiling, when people go in to the restroom's stall, then the sensor will sense that something is moving and the light will change.

The third is the Micro Switch. It can install into the latches, when the latches touch the other part, then the light will change.

The fourth is the Touch Switch. It is similar to the micro switch.

The fifth is the airplane latches ( I don't know the name of the system). It is a classic switch that have red and green color at the latch, when you turn the lock either way and it will change to Occupied or Vacant. But this is not what I want, so I crossed-out this one.

The one that I chose is Ultrasonic, I found this system when I searched online for the parallel study. This system is used to use in the parking lot. It located on the ceiling of each parking space, when the car parked, the sensor will turn the light to red.

Veteran's day

During a long weekend. I went to Westfield and other malls to observe the restroom's flow.

Some people felt impatient

Some people walk to the front and see if the stalls are really that occupied

Some people squeeze-in just to wash hands

Some people holding a lot of shoppings bags

Some people don't want to wait and leave

A lot of males wait outside the restroom playing with their iPhones and wait for their ladies.

Ultrasonic Sensor

I have made a small model of the ultrasonic sensor!!!
It was so amazing when I done it.
On the left side, it is an Ultrasonic sensor. It is a distance sensor.
On the right side, it is an Arduino circuit board. It needs to load a code to the Arduino software on the computer and set how far you want the ultrasonic sensor to sense.
For example, I set the distance to 10cm. When my hand is away from 10 cm, then the light will turn green. When my hand is within 10cm, the light will turn red.
My idea is to put the sensor on the top of the stalls and set a distance. When people go in, the sensor will sense the distance and it will turn red.

Meet with professor Chen

Professor Chen is one of my expert.
His knowledge of electronic helped me a lot on making the information system.
He gave me few options of making a information system when I told him what I want to make.
- motion sensor
- micro-switch
- magnet
- ultrasonic

At the end, I choose ultrasonic for my solution of the information system.
Ultrasonic is a distance sensor that some parking lot will use.
I have research a lot of parallel study of parking lot, and I found ultrasonic is a good way for my solution.

here is a link of the parking system website:
http://qedfactory.com/pgs_space_counter.html