IoT parking management project

This project aims to create a prototype of an automatic parking control system dedicated to people with disabilities.

Each parking spot is equipped with an IoT node, that detects car presence and reads user's authentication card. The user can reserve a parking spot up to one hour in advance, via a secure web interface. There is a backend, called platform, that links nodes and user interface and implement the core logic.

This project was realised in the frame of an IoT course.

Architecture

Project architecture

Code structure

IoT_parking_management/
├── analysis_document/   Documentation of the analysis and design phases
├── frontend/            Frontend code
├── platform/            Backend (IoT platform) code
├── node/                Hardware code (parking nodes)
│
├── docker-compose.yaml
├── .env.example         Environment variables + secrets example file
└── README.md

APIs

Authentication and Access level

All endpoints have a secure access: only logged user with the corresponding rights / node with its secret token will be able to successfully interact with the resource.

There are four distinct entities in terms of authentication:

• external: someone not logged in;
• user: an end-user, logged in via the UI;
• admin: an administrator, logged in via the UI;
• node: a Thing, i.e the parking spot and its associated node.

For users and admins, the authentication is implemented using JWT tokens, stored in cookies (by the frontend). The tokens are sent to the platform in the Authentication header.

For nodes, the authentication is based on a secret hardcoded token, that is present on the node and on the database.

Platform

This it the description of the API of the Platform (cf folder platform/).

Endpoints:

Endpoint	Allowed methods	Description
/api/nodes	GET, POST	List of all nodes
/api/nodes/<node_id>	GET, POST, PATCH, DELETE	A specific node
/api/users	GET, POST	List of all users
/api/users/<user_id>	GET, PATCH, DELETE	A specific user
/api/users/pwd_reset	GET	Send pwd reset link

Detailed description:

Method	Endpoint	Authorized entity	Description
GET	/api/nodes	user, admin	get list of all nodes
POST	/api/nodes	admin	create a new node
GET	/api/nodes/<node_id>	user, admin	get node details (id, pos, status)
POST	/api/nodes/<node_id>	node	node scanned a badge and asks platform if authorized
PATCH	/api/nodes/<node_id>	user, admin, node	update node status (1)
DELETE	/api/nodes/<node_id>	admin	delete the node
GET	/api/users	admin	get user list
POST	/api/users	admin	create a new user
GET	/api/users/<user_id>	admin	get user details
PATCH	/api/users/<user_id>	admin	edit user details
DELETE	/api/users/<user_id>	admin	delete user
GET	/api/users/pwd_reset	user, admin	Send pwd reset link (2)

(1): There is more control implemented here. The admin can edit any field, the node can only change the status field, and the user can only change status to reserved. This is how the platform receives the user's reservation request.

(2): The user's token is used to determine the ID.

Frontend

This it the description of the API of the Platform (cf folder frontend/).

Endpoints:

Endpoint	Allowed methods	Authorized	Description
/	GET	external, user, admin	home page (1)
/login	GET, POST	external, user, admin	login page
/logout	GET	external, user, admin	logout (2)
/reservation_page	GET	user, admin	reservation page
/nodes_page	GET	admin	nodes management
/users_page	GET	admin	users management

(1): redirects to /login if not logged in (external). (2): redirects to /login.

Setup and run

Env

Create .env:

cp .env.example .env

Then edit it (set empty variables).

Mosquitto

Run:

cd data/
sudo ./create_mosquitto.sh

Create certs (run only this for development, use let's encrypt for production):

sudo ./create_self_signed_certs.sh

Create the users serv and node:

docker exec -it iot-mosquitto mosquitto_passwd /mosquitto/config/passwd serv
docker exec -it iot-mosquitto mosquitto_passwd /mosquitto/config/passwd node

Create first user

You will need to create the first admin user.

First, start the database:

docker compose up iot-mongodb

Then, connect to it using mongosh (replace with your values):

docker exec -it iot-mongodb mongosh mongodb://MONGODB_USERNAME:MONGODB_PASSWORD@localhost:27017/

Then, in the console, select the right database and create the admin user:

use iot_parking

db.user_collection.insertOne({
    _id: "admin_0",
    profile: {
        username: "change-me",
        email: "change-me",
        is_admin: true
    },

    pwd_reset_tk: "first_use_code",

    type: "user",
    auth_bytes: "0000000000000000",
    is_parked: false,
    nb_reservations: 0,
    violation_detected: false,
    pwd_hash: "",
    metadata: {
        updated_at: "01-01-2026"
    },
    data: {}
})

Then, when the frontend will run, go to the password reset page (/pwd_reset, linked in the login page). Use the provided username. The code is first_use_code.

Choose a strong password.

Run (production)

docker compose up -d

Run (development)

• DB and broker in docker:

docker compose up iot-mongodb iot-mosquitto -d

• Platform:

cd platform/
source .venv/bin/activate
python app.py

• Frontend (in an other terminal):

cd frontend/
source .venv/bin/activate
python app.py

Then go to localhost:3000

You can also test the APIs using the scripts in api_tests/.