In this paper, a formal model of smart parking system is proposed using graph theory and formal

methods. Most of the existing work in this area is based on simulation and testing techniques which
does not guarantee about complete correctness of a model. We have addressed this issue in our work
using formal methods. Initially, we have automated real environment into smart parking system as an
abstract model in graph theory. The topology of the parking is assumed as a graph in which passages,
parking, barriers, entrance and exits are assumed as nodes. The connectivity of two places is assumed
as edges in the graph model. The searching, sorting and finding short paths are computed based on
developed graph-based model. Searching is required to find the empty places for parking a car.
Sorting is needed to return empty places at the top of display which are easily accessible to the
drivers. Shortest path is required to reach the empty parking places within a minimum time.
Smart cities infrastructure is based on IoT to make real world system autonomous, automated and easy to use.
Considering weaknesses of authentication, validation and verification of models in parking system, we have
proposed a model for parking to reduce time and traffic load using graph theory and formal techniques. At start
when a vehicle comes in parking area, there is entrance which is controlled by barrier. The barriers are opened
when a vehicle enters to parking and have balance in smart card for payment. There are sensor and actor nodes
deployed at entrance and passages to sense the location of a vehicle in parking area and actuate after receiving
sensed information. In the operational system, initially the vehicle is verified through registration system. The
existence of the vehicle in the critical area is sensed by the sensors. Barriers are opened by the actor after a vehicle
enters the critical area of the entrance. After the vehicle has exited the critical area, the barriers are closed. Two
types of sensors are assumed at the entrance, one for to sense the entrance of the vehicle and the other to verify the
exit of the vehicle from the critical area. A central system is assumed to handle parking and all its transactions that
is called central database. Central database stores all the transactions, payment system, update the status of smart
nodes; handles recharge system and stores information about the registered vehicles. A screen is displayed at the
entrance of parking that searches occupied and free parking areas. There are assumed many passages in the parking
area which are separated by partitions. A passage is subdivided into parking area which consists of left and right
parking areas. A payment system is assumed as a component of parking system to collect payments from customer
who uses the parking. If a user does not have enough money, the recharging system is available with the main
system to recharge card for payments. A vehicle can enter into parking area, if it has permission to enter and has a
registered number. If a vehicle is not registered, then it is assumed as guest vehicle. In Figure 1, passage is an
entering point to parking areas and a kind of path to the parking destination is named as P00, P01, P02, P03, P04
and P05. The parking area is automated by using sensors which sense the availability of vehicles in parking space,
sense its number, and update status of parking area to occupy. While a vehicle leaves parking area, it updates its
status to free by reaching at exit barrier P00 which is entry and exit point where the user pays bill of using parking
by smart card using billing machine. If smart card has no enough balance, then it can be recharged by facility
available. After recharging user pays the bill and exit its entry which is recorded into central system of smart
parking. In the model, it is assumed that some paths are directional, and others are unidirectional in the graph model.
Parking system is divided into passages, every passage is assumed as smart node which senses the location of
vehicle that where it resides in the parking area. Passages are further divided into nodes which are areas within
parking further divided into left and right parking area where a vehicle is parked. There are many types of nodes
presented in our proposed model of smart parking using graph theory.
 P41L P42L P43L P44L
PASSAGE NO 41 PASSAGE NO 42 PASSAGE NO 43 PASSAGE NO 44
P40 P45
P41R P42R P43R P44R

P31L P32L P33L P34L

P30 PASSAGE NO 31 PASSAGE NO 32 PASSAGE NO 33 PASSAGE NO 34
P35

P31R P32R P33R P34R

P20 P21L P22L P23L P24L

PASSAGE NO 21 PASSAGE NO 22 PASSAGE NO 23 PASSAGE NO 24 P25

P21R P22R P23R P24R

P10 P11L P12L P13L P14L

PASSAGE NO 11 PASSAGE NO 12 PASSAGE NO 13 PASSAGE NO 14 P15

P11R P12R P13R P14R

P00 P01 P02 P03 P04 P05

Figure. 1. Graph based model of Parking System.

There are five types of nodes in the graph as shown in Figure 1. The first one has one incoming degree and two
outgoing degrees. The second node has one incoming and one outgoing degrees. The third type has three incoming
and three outgoing degrees. From this node, a vehicle can move to both of the left and right directions from the
passage to park or un-park the vehicle. There are three nodes in which one incoming and two outgoing degrees
towards the last node. The possible operations such as searching, sorting and finding shortest path are based on
current state of the system. The path containing less number of nodes toward destination is defined on current
topology for efficient parking. The other possible operations of defined model are gate controller and payment
system for an effective use and control of the parking system.
Model analysis