Last week while feeding my caffeine addiction I came across an article in the New York Times titled Can’t Find a Parking Spot? Check Smartphone. In order to reduce traffic congestion and fuel consumption, the city of San Francisco is implementing a new system that will help detect empty parking spots in downtown. Now clearly this is a step in the right direction, both from an environmental and convenience perspective. I have spent a huge amount of time driving around SFO looking for a parking space, an experience that many of you may have shared. The city is investing $95.5 million on improving traffic condition though I'm not sure how much this pilot will cost.

"This fall, San Francisco will test 6,000 of its 24,000 metered parking spaces in the nation's most ambitious trial of a wireless sensor network that will announce which of the spaces are free at any moment.

Drivers will be alerted to empty parking places either by displays on street signs, or by looking at maps on screens of their smartphones. They may even be able to pay for parking by cell phone, and add to the parking meter from their phones without returning to the car."

This system will work involve an initial pilot of 6000 parking spots. Each spot will have sensors that will monitor whether it is free or not. These sensors will then form a network to communicate with each other. Drivers can access data on available spots through their smart phones. The city estimates that these sensor networks will last for around 10 years.

"To install the market-priced parking system, San Francisco has used a system devised by Streetline, a small technology company that has adapted a wireless sensor technology known as "smart dust" that was pioneered by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.

It gives city parking officials up-to-date information on whether parking spots are occupied or vacant. The embedded sensors will also be used to relay congestion information to city planners by monitoring the speed of traffic flowing on city streets. The heart of the system is a wirelessly connected sensor embedded in a 4x4-inch piece of plastic glued to the pavement adjacent to each parking space.

The device, called a "bump," is battery operated and intended to last for up to 10 years without service. From the street, the bumps form a mesh of wireless Internet signals that funnel data to parking meters on to a central management office near the San Francisco city hall. "

A while ago, I had written about (Increase the TCO, Kill the Project) attacking systems not to violate data integrity or confidentiality but to increase the total cost of ownership (TCO). It would be interesting to see if the sensor network deployed to monitor parking spots may be vulnerable to attacks that aim to drain their batteries and thereby reduce their life span and increase the TCO for the system. I have not tested this hypothesis, I'm hoping that others don't either. Let no one stand between you and your parking spot.