Executive summary Executive summary

Client background

Our client is an Australian company with a long history of building intelligent parking solutions which began with the development of its first parking meter decades ago. Since then, it has been designing, manufacturing, and operating parking equipment and software across Australia and New Zealand, as well as within Asia and the USA.

Business challenge

The client needed to improve the efficiency and user experience of their embedded solutions by modernizing the existing secure storage product and developing a new version of the parking meter.

Value delivered

The new embedded solutions we developed together with our client allowed them to enhance the quality of their services. Additionally, after modernizing the original version of the parking meter, which was intended for the Malaysian market, our cooperation has moved on to developing it for other markets.

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80+
years on the market
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4 continents
served
Location:
Australia, Sydney
Industry:
Manufacturing Smart city and infrastructure
Partnership period:
August 2019 - December 2021
Technologies:
C/C++ Qt 5, QML, D-Bus, YOCTO Linux, Azure DevOps, Azure IoT Hub
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Solar-powered
parking meters
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Microservices
architecture
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Hardware simulator
for desktop testing

Success story in detail

Business challenge: modernizing embedded solutions to accelerate business growthBusiness challenge

Our client’s goal was to modernize and improve their existing embedded solutions. The main solution that required modernization was the solar-powered parking meter. The client wanted to make it more energy efficient and improve its usability by enabling it to use a touch screen.

The second solution was a legacy safe cabinet that also needed to be made compatible with a touch screen. The client required deep embedded engineering expertise to find new approaches to solving the challenges they faced during modernization (for example, with the UI) and make the process as efficient as possible.

Implementation: improving UI design, microservices, and security of the legacy embedded applicationImplementation part 1

Our partnership started with the development of the UI design for the embedded application. The challenge was to implement custom configurations, including rule-based configuration, alarms, web integration, and hardware interactions within Linux. The safe cabinet has the user record synchronization feature. Access is configured on the web part, where new users are added and various permissions are distributed.

We have significantly rewritten and improved the solution’s existing microservices architecture. The microservices communicate with each other via D-Bus. We have rebuilt the UI architecture to a newer format from MVC to Flux. Our team has created a high-level application logic and implemented the service for network communication via ConnMan.

Additionally, the N-iX team has developed a hardware simulator to enable testing on the desktop environment.

Implementation: developing an intelligent next-generation parking meter powered by solar energyImplementation part 2

Our team has developed a brand-new solution that uses the microservices architecture. Similarly to the safe cabinet, we have used C++ 14, Qt 5, QML, D-Bus, and YOCTO Linux. The embedded device is powered by solar energy and has a solar battery. Our team has helped make energy consumption more efficient, which resulted in an increased duration of device operation.

The device uses the 3G signal to connect with the web. One of the features that we have developed is the ability to view the balance and paid parking time.

After developing the original solution for the Malaysian market, the client has moved to expanding its use to other countries.

Solar powered parking meter
Value delivered by N-iX: improving user experience, boosting efficiency, and enabling market growthValue delivered

By taking an active part in the modernization process of both solutions, N-iX has helped the client to:

  • Improve the quality of provided services by modernizing the legacy security storage product, developing a new smart parking meter solution, and enabling them to utilize a touch screen;
  • Boost operational efficiency of the new parking meter by optimizing solar energy consumption;
  • Facilitate market growth by developing the new parking meter for the Malaysian market and preparing for the development for other countries.
Check
80+
years on the market
Check
4 continents
served
Location:
Australia, Sydney
Industry:
Manufacturing Smart city and infrastructure
Partnership period:
August 2019 - December 2021
Technologies:
C/C++ Qt 5, QML, D-Bus, YOCTO Linux, Azure DevOps, Azure IoT Hub
Check
Solar-powered
parking meters
Check
Microservices
architecture
Check
Hardware simulator
for desktop testing
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