Congonhas Airport

A Brazilian success story

Congonhas Airport is the second busiest airport in Brazil and takes its name after the neighborhood where it is located and which was known in the past as Vila Congonhas. It is located in São Paulo and its terminal has more than 50,000m2. 

The parking garage has been recently privatized and ESTAPAR was the winner of the bid for operating the parking facility for the next 20 years. The parking facility has 1,233 parking spaces. 

The main hall of the airport is considered one of the most impressive pieces of modern architecture in the capital city of Brazil which has undergone, from 2003 onward, works to extend the facilities while maintaining the historic and ancient image of some of the areas.

The airport needs

Such a busy airport, in terms of people and goods, needs a system that is fast and efficient, able to locate and manage the available and occupied parking spaces as fast as possible. This is why the airport needed a license plate recognition system not only at its entries/exits, but also at each parking space. It was of utmost importance to increase the security and surveillance at each space in order to prevent possible thefts and frauds.

Why did they choose us?

The global parking solution by Quercus Technologies was perfectly adapted to the needs of the airport, focusing on streamlining the movements inside the facilities, improving the security and reducing the time needed to find an available parking space. It also contributes to an easier management of the parking facilities, with video surveillance at each parking space: a global solution with a modern and sleek design, at the same level as the airport.

License plate recognition at each parking space, video surveillance and parking guidance system based on SC Indoor camera-based parking sensors by Quercus Technologies

The installation included 210 SC Indoor ID parking sensors for 4 spaces and 260 SC Indoor ID sensors for 2 spaces to facilitate the management of the parking facilities. The customized LED lights identify the free spaces, the specially designed ones (for handicapped, families, special fees, reserved, etc.).  The guiding LED lights add a distinctive feature to the parking facilities and allow the final users to easily and quickly locate the free parking spaces. These devices are the most appropriate ones for a camera-based guidance system.

The sensors are All-in-One units with embedded license plate recognition that allow for vehicle detection and license plate reading into the very same unit, thus ensuring the robustness of the solution. SC lndoor ID is the more advanced version of the product, performing video recording triggered by movement; this way, it records all the events occurring in and around the parking space, leaving the customer and their belongings in best hands, it identifies and interprets the characters of the license plate, and it guides the drivers by showing green or red lights to the available parking spaces.

All-in-One license plate recognition units in the access points

A total of 8 SmartLPR Access units have been installed at the entries/exits of the parking garage to improve the access and register the license plates of all vehicles going in and out of the facilities. The LPR system developed by Quercus Technologies makes SmartLPR Access a powerful All-in-One license plate recognition camera. It has been designed to contribute to smart mobility and security in the parking facilities and access control areas. 

The camera includes all that is needed to provide the highest reliability rates all around the world. Its deeply developed algorithms enable it to recognize the country and region (if this concept applies) in color and in infrared. The embedded OCR engine and the Plug&Play connectors, the web-based configuration, the remotely controlled zoom lens lead to a very easy and automatic setup; the setup of one unit can be replicated to another one, thus  synchronizing the system easier. 

Displays for a better guidance inside the parking facilities

To make sure that the users spend the minimum time possible searching for a free space, different LED displays have been installed to indicate the availability of the parking spaces The mix between SC Indoor parking sensors and the LED displays help the clients find, in a minimum amount of time and no stress, the type of space they need. This way, the clients know at any time where the parking space they are looking for is located. The system continuously controls the space where each vehicle is parked and allows the driver to access this information whenever they leave the premises. The aim: avoid queues, time loss, stress and frustration triggered by having to park in bad conditions.

Parking management software - BirdWatch

BirdWatch parking management software by Quercus provides Big Data in an orderly, clear and precise manner in order to allow an informed decision making process. The system is able to quickly identify the moment a vehicle gets to the parking garage, the amount of time it spent parked and all the events that happened in or around that parking space.

BirdWatch provides the client full access to the information collected by the sensors, allowing the operator to view the activity of the place in real time and to create their own reports. The information can be filtered by different parameters (time, access, parking space, etc.). The reports can be shown in various formats: thermal maps, bar graphics, frequency statistics... All these features lead to an efficient management of the parking garage, showing a global view on the user behaviors that can be used to design targeted marketing campaigns.

The secret of our success: efficiency and good judgment.