Car park access control systems for staff, tenant and visitor parking

What is a car park access control system?

A car park access control system controls which vehicles can enter and leave a private car park. A reader at each barrier identifies the vehicle or its driver by a windscreen tag, number plate, card, fob or QR code, and a controller checks that credential against the access list before it opens the barrier. It is how staff, residents' and tenant car parks are kept for the people entitled to use them without a manned gatehouse.

How a car park access control system works

1. 1

   The reader identifies the vehicle

   As a vehicle drives onto the arming loop in front of the barrier, a long-range reader beside the lane reads its windscreen tag at up to 10 metres. The loop arms the reader, so it only reads when a vehicle is in the lane.

2. 2

   The ID goes to the controller

   The reader sends the tag's number to the controller as a Wiegand ID, the format a card reader uses. A number plate read by an ANPR camera, or a card, fob or QR code shown at a reader on a post, reaches the controller the same way.

3. 3

   The controller checks the access rights

   The controller checks that the ID is on its access list and inside the time periods when that driver may park. With anti-passback on, it also checks the vehicle isn't already recorded inside, so one tag or card can't let in a second car.

4. 4

   The barrier opens and the entry is logged

   The controller's latch relay, rated at 2 A at 30 V DC, gives the barrier its open signal and the entry is logged against the driver or vehicle. An exit reader does the same on the way out, which keeps anti-passback and any space count right.

If the site doesn't need to know who has left, a free-exit loop on the exit lane can open the barrier through the controller's request-to-exit input instead of a second reader. Anti-passback and tenant allocations need a reader on the way out as well.

Tags, number plates or cards: choosing how drivers are identified

Every lane needs a way of identifying who is arriving. The choice comes down to who parks there, how often they come, and how much the site wants to issue and recover.

Many sites mix them: tags for the staff who park every day and number plates for everyone else. Our blog compares the two in long-range RFID vs ANPR, and the ANPR access control system page covers plates in detail.

Staff, visitors and contractors

• Access levels and time periods: each driver can park only in the hours set for them, so a contractor's tag stops working when the job ends and weekend access can be limited to named staff.
• Visitors by number plate: with ANPR at the entrance, a visitor's plate can be added before they arrive, for a set day or time, without the vehicle being present.
• Visitor PINs: a keypad at the entrance and exit lets visitors in with a PIN. The CPC202 and CPC204 hold 8 visitor PINs, each with its own access rights and tenant group, which also covers staff who have lost a card.
• Exit cards: with a keypad at the entrance and a card capture reader at the exit, visitors are handed a single-use exit card, which the reader collects on the way out for reuse.
• QR codes: the NVITE reader reads QR codes sent by the site's visitor or membership software, as well as cards, fobs and smartphones.
• Anti-passback: once a tag or card has been used to enter, it can't be used to enter again until it has been read out, so one credential can't let in a queue of cars. Our blog explains how in anti-passback access control.

Shared car parks: an allocation of spaces for each tenant

Where several companies share one car park, a CPC204 shared occupancy controller gives each company its own allocation of spaces. It counts each company's vehicles in and out and stops a company entering once its allocation is used up, while the others can still park. A CPC202 does the same for two companies, or keeps a single company's car park from overfilling.

• Groups: up to four on the CPC204 and two on the CPC202, with up to 9,999 users per group and 65,000 sequentially numbered cards or 8,000 random ones in total. Any card or tag can be assigned to any group.
• Signs for each group: up to four message signs show each group's spaces or FULL, and four outputs switch Space/Full signs or traffic signals at the entrance.
• Counting: from the entry and exit reads alone, or from each read confirmed by a loop or beam beyond the barrier, which keeps the count right when a driver presents a card but doesn't drive through.
• Programmed at the controller from its keypad and display, with no PC. Group counts can reset automatically at a set time each day, or from a button in the office.

An intercom that opens the barrier remotely doesn't work with shared counting, because the controller can't tell which group the visitor belongs to; use visitor PINs or exit cards instead. More than four groups can be handled by two controllers reading the same lanes, and our technical team checks those designs before installation.

One system for the building and the car park

The controllers that run the barriers are the same ones that run the doors, so a site on Norpass3, our licence-free access control software, manages its car park and its building in one system, with every entry and exit logged against the person or vehicle alongside the door events.

• CRC221-1 controls one barrier with a reader in and a reader out. The CRC220-4 controls up to four barriers or doors with read-in and free exit.
• One card for the door and the car park: a card reader on a post at the barrier accepts the same staff cards as the doors. For hands-free entry with that card, the Nedap Transit Booster holds the driver's building card on the windscreen; the Transit Ultimate reads the card and the vehicle together at up to 10 metres, and the card comes out again for the doors.
• Standalone: for a single entrance, the CRC200+ handles an entry and an exit reader for up to 65,000 users, with anti-passback, programmed from its own keypad. It can join Norpass3 later over RS485.

Equipment at the barrier

• Tag readers: the Nedap uPASS Go, which we distribute and support, on a post or wall beside the lane: passive UHF, up to 10 metres, IP66, −30 to +60°C. The UHF windscreen tag is a thin adhesive sticker, with a tamper-evident version that shows if it has been removed.
• Card readers: the VP1 vandal resistant reader, designed and manufactured in South Wales, is housed in marine-grade stainless steel and works outdoors from −30 to +50°C.
• ANPR: the Nedap ANPR Lumo in one of our stainless steel posts; the SSDP-ANPR adds red and green traffic lights driven at 24 V.
• Arming loops: a loop in front of each reader, on one of our loop detectors, arms the reader so it only reads when a vehicle is there, which avoids stray reads of passing or parked cars.
• Controllers are rated for 0 to 40°C, so they go indoors, in a gatehouse or in a cabinet that stays in that range, with reader cable runs of up to 100 metres.
• Barriers and gates come from the barrier manufacturer, with their own safety loops. The car parks in our case studies use CAME and FAAC barriers.

Works with your barriers and existing access control

The controllers give the barrier a clean relay contact to open, so they work with most barriers and gates. In the other direction, every reader on this page sends Wiegand or clock and data, the formats most access control panels accept, so the uPASS Go or ANPR Lumo can be added to a system the site already runs. At George Spencer Academy, Advanced IT Services added Nedap ANPR to the school's existing Paxton Net2 system this way.

To show drivers the spaces left, or hold the barrier once the car park is full, add counting: see car park counting and guidance, or the ANPR car park barrier system for number plates and counting together.

What affects the cost of a car park access control system

• The number of entry and exit lanes, and whether exits are read or free exit
• The credential: a tag for every vehicle, a camera for every lane, or the cards staff already carry
• Standalone control with a CRC200+ or CPC controller, or Norpass3, which is licence-free
• Tenant allocations, signs and visitor keypads in a shared car park
• New barriers or reusing the ones on site
• Loops, ducts and cabling between the lanes and the controller

Our blog breaks down how much an access control system costs and how much an ANPR system costs. We supply through installers and distributors, so the price for your car park comes from the installer after a survey. Our sales team can help put the equipment list together: sales@nortechcontrol.com.