License Plate Recognition Camera is an advanced traffic sensor that recognizes and digitizes images of vehicles’ license plates. It uses specialized OCR character recognition that is specifically tuned to license plates, and even regional variations.
This ensures legible text can be discerned from footage that may seem illegible to human eyes. A good LPR camera also utilizes a fast shutter speed to minimize motion blurring.
License Plate Recognition Cameras can help law enforcement agencies with a variety of applications, from combating vehicle theft to detecting criminal activity at the source. They allow officers to monitor a greater area with far less staff, enabling them to act quickly and effectively to prevent crimes from occurring before they can be committed. In addition to auto theft, LPR cameras can help law enforcement investigate other crimes that involve vehicles including drug trafficking, financial fraud, kidnapping, and weapons violations.
When selecting a License Plate Recognition Camera, it is important to choose one with a high-quality image sensor that has a wide angle of view and can capture vehicles from a significant distance. This ensures that the images are clear and can be read by the human eye. The camera should also have a fast shutter speed to minimize motion blur when capturing fast-moving vehicles. Additionally, the camera should be able to distinguish between different light conditions and be capable of recording at night using a black and white infrared mode.
Lastly, the camera should be able to record more than one image at a time, which allows you to see footage of the entire sequence of events that occur when a vehicle passes by. This is important because it enables you to identify the vehicle in its entirety and determine if it was traveling through a crime scene, for example.
The ability to export captured plates into a CSV file makes it easier to analyze the data and use it for a range of applications. This capability is especially helpful for organizations that want to integrate their license plate recognition technology into a wider security or access control solution. For instance, stakeholders can link their active hardware to gate access control systems and assign temporary permissions based on registration information for guests, couriers, and visitors to reduce the risk of unauthorized intrusion events.
License Plate Recognition cameras can be used to monitor parking facilities linked to commercial real estate and enhance the security of buildings, warehouses, and industrial campuses. The technology can be used to alert stakeholders when suspicious or unauthorized vehicles are detected and can also provide an additional layer of protection by linking to other security technologies like infrared and video surveillance systems.
Installation
The main advantage of LPR camera systems is that they are automatic and can capture data at a much higher rate than human operators, freeing up resources to focus on other tasks. They also provide a cost-effective way to monitor vehicle activity that may otherwise go unnoticed.
However, in order to take full advantage of this technology, stakeholders must follow best practices to ensure that the system is able to capture usable images reliably and effectively. This requires careful attention to the physical hardware and surrounding environmental conditions.
A key consideration when installing an LPR camera is its mounting angle and distance. For optimal results, the camera should be mounted at an angle that is as close to parallel with the license plate as possible. It should also be positioned no more than 30o horizontally or vertically from the center of the vehicle’s plate. Any further than this, and the plate will be difficult to read.
Likewise, the camera should be placed at an appropriate height for the area in which it will operate. While a high-quality LPR camera will allow users to identify vehicles from up to 50 ft away, it is generally recommended to mount the camera no more than 40 ft from the road surface and no less than 3 ft above ground level.
Additionally, the camera should be placed in a location that is well-lit. High-quality LPR cameras can capture license plate numbers in low-light or nighttime conditions, but additional illumination is often necessary to help improve the quality of the image. This can be achieved through the use of external IR units or by installing high-intensity lighting fixtures along the road in which the camera is installed.
Lastly, it is important to set the camera to capture a sufficient number of frames per second (FPS) to be able to capture a clear and usable image in all scenarios. This typically means setting the camera to a higher FPS than the default of 25-30, but should be adjusted according to the specific needs of the site. For example, if a camera will be used to record traffic at highway speeds, the FPS may need to be increased in order to properly detect and read plates at these faster speeds.
Maintenance
License plate recognition cameras are sophisticated devices that capture and analyze video to identify the alphanumeric characters of a vehicle’s license plate. With high-resolution capabilities bolstered by algorithms, they can pinpoint plates even at a high speed and in low-light conditions. The result is a level of detail that makes these cameras useful in a wide variety of applications ranging from security to access control.
The most effective LPR camera is one that offers the following features:
Camera Height: The optimal distance between the camera and a license plate is 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) to avoid visual distortion and to maximize performance. This positioning also helps minimize the impact of glare from headlights, which can negatively affect image quality.
Field of View: The field of view should be large enough to allow the camera to capture a complete license plate. A lens with a larger diameter can help ensure better performance by eliminating superfluous objects from the image. Camera Angle: The camera angle should be 30 degrees or less from the vehicle to minimize glare and distortion. It is recommended that you experiment with different angles to determine the best fit for your unique application.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): The camera’s optical character recognition software processes the video to recognize and translate the alphanumeric characters on a license plate into searchable text data. This functionality is a significant advantage of LPR technology, as it allows for faster and more accurate detection than traditional CCTV cameras.
Durability: Choose cameras with durable, weather-resistant housings to handle harsh environments. Look for IP66 or IP67 ratings to protect against dust and water ingress, ensuring long-term operation and reliability. Infrared (IR) Illumination: IR illumination increases the camera’s ability to detect and read license plates in low-light or nighttime conditions. Look for a camera with built-in IR LEDs and adjustable illumination settings to optimize its performance.
License plate recognition can help streamline the access control process in your parking facility by allowing vehicles to enter based on their license plate number, eliminating the need for manual passes or other physical credentials. In addition, this technology can be integrated with your video management system to provide additional surveillance and security functions.
Software
License plate recognition software analyzes multiple images of a vehicle as it moves through the camera’s field of view. It is often able to discern legible text from footage that would be otherwise illegible to human eyes, making this technology useful for law enforcement, private property owners and other stakeholders who wish to monitor vehicle movement on their premises.
Modern license plate recognition cameras can operate at very high speeds, allowing them to capture more images per second and provide real-time search functionality against a database of known plates. As with any type of surveillance, the quality of the captured image depends on the camera used. It is important that the camera’s lens is kept clean, aimed at the intended target area and that the angle of view is sufficient to capture clearly identifiable characters.
The software used to process the image data is also critical. It needs to be able to discern the different characters in the license plate using a variety of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) methods, including edge tracing, pattern matching and pixel repetition. This helps to ensure that even difficult-to-distinguish letters are not missed (for example, 0’s and O’s).
Finally, it is important that the software can work both in real time and on captured video. Many modern license plate recognition systems are able to do so, enabling them to detect vehicles and record their movements on a property without needing any further action from a human operator.
A robust LPR system is a great tool for monitoring parking facilities linked to commercial properties or gated entry points to corporate offices. It can also be integrated with existing security systems to improve threat detection and response capabilities. For instance, stakeholders can link active hardware to gate access control systems and use registration information as temporary permission credentials for visitors, couriers or guests.
Vigilant offers purpose-built camera systems and license plate recognition software that make it easy to alert, monitor and automate your business. It’s easy to stay in control of your system with features like data retention, sharing and integration baked into the platform so you can focus on what matters most.