Benefits of the ANPR equipment

The ANPR equipment with an All-in-One architecture deletes the

disadvantages of the generic ANPR equipments, these are the following
ones:

It is more simple: All the necessary elements for the ANPR process
are integrated in the same housing. Only one device is necessary for
each lane to be controlled. The equipment may be connected by
Ethernet or serial communication with the client application

Modular architecture: If an equipment with All-in-One

architecture does not work, its fall does not affect to the other lanes,
because the Process Unit are deleted

Installation and start-up is easier:

o It is only necessary to provide 220v, Ethernet network or serial

communication to each equipment

o The instalation is as easy as to screw the equipment with the

support, to identify ANPR equipment with an IP and to adjust
the optics

o If one equipment falls, it is possible to replace it by another

one

It reduces the cost:

o The wiring is reduced

o The installation and start-up time is reduced

o The maintenance of the system is reduced

Evolution to All-in-One equipment

By contrast to the generic ANPR, the ANPR equipment integrates directly
in the housing the camera, the processor, the communications and the
power supply unit

How does it work?

The ANPR process is divided into three steps. The detection of the vehicle,
the capture of the images and the process of recognition. Next, we will
detail step by step how it works and depending on each case what the
advantages and disadvantages are

Detection of the vehicle. The first step is to take an image of the

vehicle at the right time. Thus, the number plate of the vehicle will be
visible in the image. Nowadays, three kind of triger control exist

o Hardware triger: The ANPR equipment controls physically a

sensor directly installed in the lane. Whenever a vehicle has
been detected by the sensor, the ANPR equipment will know
its presence, and then the process of the capture begins
 o Software triger: The ANPR equipment communicates with
the client application, who physically controls a sensor directlly
installed in the lane. Whenever a vehicle has been detected by
the sensor, the client application knows the presence of the
vehicle and communicates it to the ANPR equipment. At this
moment the process of the capture begins

o Free flow: The ANPR equipment does not need to receive

signal from any external sensor. The ANPR equipment takes
images continuously and it is able to detect the vehicles
automatically

Capture of the images. Once the vehicle is detected, the following

step is the capture of the vehicle. In order to take a right image, the
following points will have to be considered

o Type of cameras:

Interlace camera: The capture of the images is made in

two steps. First uneven lines and later the even lines
(click to see example). This type of cameras are cheaper
but its use is not recommended for ANPR because if the
vehicle is in movement, the number plate appears
defocused

Progressive cameras: The capture of imagenes is

made at once (click to see example). The use of this type
of cameras is totally recommended because if the vehicle
is in movement the number plate always appears
focused

o Type of light. Infrared light is used generally for the ANPR

equipment. Although someANPR equipment are able to use
the daylight and the infrared light during the night.

Infrared light: The ANPR systems uses infrared light

because the human eye cannot detect it without other
devices. One infrared filter located in the camera allows
to emphasize the number plate, but, in the other hand,
the rest of elements of the image are darkened
 Examples

Daylight: It is perceived by the human eye. It allows to

take images in which the vehicle is distinguished.

Examples

o Light management: The type of light is as important as how it

is managed. It is possible to use any typical technique of
photography, but the ANPR manufacturers have chosen two
great ways:

To control the light emitted by the focus

To control the light that enters in the camera

Number plate recognition process. Each ANPR manufacturer has

developed its own recognition algorithms, although, these are the
main ones and the common ones

o To locate and to isolate the number plate in the image

o To correct the brightness and the contrast of the number plate

o To separate each character of the number plate

o To recognize each character of the number plate

What is LPR?
LPR (License Plate Recognition) is an image-processing technology used to
identify vehicles by their license plates. This technology is used in various security
and traffic applications, such as the access-control system featured in the following
animation:

In the above example: while the vehicle approaches the gate, the LPR unit
automatically "reads" the license plate registration number, compares to a
predefined list and opens the gate if there is a match.

This technology is gaining popularity in security and traffic installations. The

technology concept assumes that all vehicles already have the identity displayed
(the plate!) so no additional transmitter or responder is required to be installed on
the car.

The system uses illumination (such as Infra-red) and a camera to take the image of
the front or rear of the vehicle, then an image-processing software analyzes the
images and extracts the plate information. This data is used for enforcement, data
collection, and (as in the access-control system featured above) can be used to open
a gate if the car is authorized or keep a time record on the entry or exit for
automatic payment calculations.

The LPR system significant advantage is that the system can keep an image record
of the vehicle which is useful in order to fight crime and fraud ("an image is worth
a thousand words"). An additional camera can focus on the driver face and save the
image for security reasons. Additionally, this technology does not need any
installation per car (such as in all the other technologies that require a transmitter
added on each car or carried by the driver).

LPR is also called in different references as:

Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI)

Car Plate Recognition (CPR)

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)

Car Plate Reader (CPR)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for Cars

The car, with the plate number: W856RKX, is just exiting from the secured area
and is picked up by the LPR system which identifies it as an authorized car and
opens the gate. A welcome display (which includes the vehicle number and driver
name) is displayed in the large outdoor display in the back of the car.

A typical image captured by the Infra-red illumination and camera unit is shown in
the following image (this image is of the same car above). The image information
is read by the LPR unit and is analyzed and recognized automatically. Note that the
image is monochrome since the infra-red spectrum is above the normal color
spectrum.

Since the vehicle plates are based on different Country standards, they usually
different in form, shape and material. Therefore the LPR systems are Country
specific and are adapted to the Country where they are installed and used (in the
above case - a UK installation). You can see a large collection of plates of different
Countries - download some recognition demoes with the link at the bottom of this
page.
Some plates have additional information written or attached to the plate, such as
state identification (as in USA plates in upper smaller row), province initials (such
as in China upper row), plate issue date lable (such as in USA plates), vehicle type
(such as in Korea in an upper row), Country flag (as in Europe on the left side),
and more. For most applications this additional information is not required (and is
usually not identified due to the complexity, variation, quality and resolution).

Elements of typical LPR systems

LPR systems normally consist of the following units:

Camera(s) - that take the images of the car (front or rear

side)

Illumination - a controlled light that can bright up the plate,

and allow day and night operation. In most cases the
illumination is Infra-Red (IR) which is invisible to the driver.

Frame grabber - an interface board between the camera

and the PC, allows the software to read the image
information

Computer - normally a PC running Windows or Linux. It runs

the LPR application which controls the system, reads the
images, analyzes and identifies the plate, and interfaces
with other applications and systems.

Software - the application and the recognition package.

Usually the recognition package is supplied as a DLL
(Dynamic Link Library).

Hardware - various input/output boards used to interface

the external world (such as control boards and networking
boards)

Database - the events are recorded on a local database or

transmitted over the network. The data includes the
recognition results and (optionally) the vehicle or drver-face
image file
How does it Work?
The following example shows how a typical access-control system works. It
follows the order of the animation above.

The vehicle
approached the
secured area,
and starts the
cycle by
stepping over a
magnetic loop
detector (which
is the most
popular vehicle
sensor). The loop
detector senses
the car and its
presence is
signaled to the
LPR unit.

The LPR unit

activates the
illumination
(invisible Infra-
red in most
cases) and takes
pictures of the
front or rear
plates from the
LPR camera
(shown at the
left side of the
gate). The
images of the
vehicle include
the plate and the
pixel information
is read by the
LPR unit's image
processing
hardware (the
frame grabber).
The LPR unit
analyzes the
image with
different image
processing
software
algorithms,
enhences the
image, detects
the plate
position, extracts
the plate string,
and identifies the
fonts using
special artificial
intelligence
methods (such
as Neural
Networks).

Most LPR units are

based on an
application running
on PC under
Windows. Other
systems exist that
do not require a PC
(such as the stand-
alone unit shown in
this illustration).

The LPR unit

checks if the
vehicle appears
on a predefined
list of authorized
cars, and if found
- it signals to
open the gate by
activating its
relay. The unit
can also switch
on a green "go-
ahead" light or
red "stop" light.
The unit can also
display a
Welcome!
 message with
personalized
data.

The authorized
vehicle enters
into the secured
area. After
passing the gate
its detector
closes the gate.
Now the system
waits for the
next vehicle to
approach the
secured area.

Other types of applications use the information retrieved from the image for
different purposes. For example, to prepare a speed or red-light violation ticket. All
rely on automatic image understanding process performed by the LPR unit, which
actually mimics the human mind.

Typical applications
LPR applications have a wide range of applications, which use the
extracted plate number and optional images to create automated
solutions for various problems. These include the following sample
applications (for more information, click on the link in the bottom
of the tutorial) :

Parking - the plate number is used to automatically enter pre-paid members

and calculate parking fee for non-members (by comparing the exit and entry
times). The optional driver face image can be used to prevent car hijacking.

Access Control - a gate automatically opens for authorized members in a secured area, thus
replacing or assisting the security gaurd. The events are logged on a database and could be
used to search the history of events.

Tolling - the car number is used to calculate the travel fee in a toll-road, or used to double-
check the ticket.
Border Control - the car number is registered in the entry or exits to the Country, and used to
monitor the border crossings. It can short the border crossing turnaround time and cut short
the typical long lines.

Stolen cars - a list of stolen cars or unpaid fines is used to alert on a passing 'hot' cars. The
'black list' can be updated in real time and provide immediate alarm to the police force. The
LPR system is deployed on the roadside, and performs a real-time match between the passing
cars and the list. When a match is found a siren or display is activated and the police officer is
notified with the detected car and the reasons for stopping the car.

Traffic control - the vehicles can be directed to different lanes according to their entry
permits (such as in University complex projects). The system effectively reduces traffic
congestions and the number of attendents.

Airport Parking - In order to reduce ticket fraud or mistakes, the LPR unit is used to capture
the plate number and image of the cars. The information may be used to calculate the parking
time or provide a proof of parking in case of a lost ticket - a typical problem in airport
parking which have relatively long (and expensive) parking durations.

Difficulties of create a capture from a number

plate
Poor file resolution, usually because the plate is too far away but sometimes resulting
from the use of a low-quality camera.

Poor lighting and low contrast due to overexposure, reflection or shadows.

An object obscuring (part of) the plate, quite often a tow bar, or the plate is broken or
dirt on the plate.

A different font, popular for vanity plates (some countries do not allow such plates,
eliminating the problem).

Lack of coordination between countries or states. Two cars from different countries or
states can have the same number but different design of the plate and different country
code.
To maximize the chances of effective license plate capture, installers should carefully consider the positioning of
the camera relative to the target capture area. Exceeding threshold angles of incidence between camera lens
and license plate will greatly reduce the probability of obtaining usable images due to distortion. Analize a live
video stream or a picture are really time-consuming operations.

Figure 1 - ANPR System

We need four steps to recognize a numberplate

from a camera image.
1. Pre-processing:
The first step refers to processing and preparation of an image which is necessary for further license plate
detection and character recognition. Pre-processing involves the application of digital filters to an image.
Every colour image is first converted into a grayscale image to preserve memory and speed up further
processing. This does not affect the useful data from the image.

2. Detection:
According to the new idea of additional thresholding entirely black pixel rows appear repeatedly in the image
after pre-processing. The white license plate area is situated somewhere between those black rows. By
finding the longest vertical array of white pixels, it is possible to detect the left and the right edge of the
license plate. When analyzing the image from left to right, the first longest vertical array of white pixels
represents the left edge of the license plate. Accordingly, the last white column of the same size represents
the right edge of the license plate. By finding the longest horizontal array of white pixels, it is possible to detec
the top and the bottom of the license plate. Positions of these license plate edges are sufficient to
detectcoordinates of the license plate.

3. Segmentation:
The next step is segmentation of the license plate area into smaller parts which represent each character of
the license plate. We often apply the adaptive thresholding filter to enhance an area of the plate before
 segmentation. The adaptive thresholding is used to separate dark foreground from light background with non-
uniform illumination. Vertical projection of a binary image looks like a set of black hills on a white surface. This
is obtained by counting the number of black pixels in each column. Columns without black pixels represent
the spacing between each character. Coordinates of each character are then determined with alternatively
found left and right hill edge

4. Recognition
The process of character recognition is repeated for each character image obtained in the last step. This
process could be carried out in several steps. The output of this process should be a recognized character.
The set of possible outputs are characters that appear on license plates, which are letters of the alphabet,
numbers from 0 to 9 and special characters like a dash. Algorithms also look for characters of equal color and
equidistance, with similar font structures to break apart each individual character. This sequential congruency
of the characters embodies a characteristic set that is typically uniform, regardless of the type of license
plate. Character Segmentation separates each letter or number where it is subsequently processed by optical
character recognition algorithms. In order to simplify recognition, the initial step is to separate possible
outputs into smaller groups counting the character end points. In some situations when the recognition
mechanism fails, there is a possibility to detect a failure by a syntactical analysis of the recognized plate. If
we have country-specific rules for the plate, we can evaluate the validity of that plate towards these rules.
Automatic syntax-based correction of plate numbers can increase recognition abilities of the whole ANPR
system.
Six Algorithms of License Plate Recognition
1. License Plate Localization

Localizing is an algorithmic function that determines what aspect of the

vehicle's image is the license plate.

Localization- Locating identifying a license plate

This variance can further compound the complexity for an algorithm to

ascertain what area of a vehicle constitutes a license plate and what area
is not. For example, the algorithm must rule out a vehicle's mirror, grill,
headlight, bumper, sticker, etc. In general, algorithms look for geometric
shapes of rectangular proportion. However, since a vehicle can have many
rectangular objects on it, further algorithms are needed to validate that
the identified object is indeed a license plate. To accomplish this, key
components of the algorithm look for characteristics that would indicate
that the object is a license plate. The algorithm searches for a similar
background color of unified proportion and contrast as a means to
differentiate objects on a vehicle.

Vehicles are moving objects and their rate of velocity must be accounted
for in the algorithm's design. This speed creates further complexity as a
license plates image is angularly skewed and subjected to refractory
issues from light changes. External hardware components and filters may
be used to control for light fluctuation.(See External Hardware)

Angular skew and lighting fluctuations are controlled for by newer

designed algorithms that are capable of reading license plates at speeds
of up to 100 Km/Hr. Normalization components in the algorithms are able
to adjust for the contrast and brightness shifts that occur.

Many countries are now adopting license plates that are also
retroreflectors. Essentially, these types of license plates improve the
visual qualities of the image by reflecting light back in the same direction
of the source with minimal scatter. This retroreflective ability improves
reading ability substantially by algorithms.

2. License Plate Sizing and Orientation

Components of algorithms that adjust for the angular skew of the license plate image to accurately
sample, correct, and proportionally recalculate to an optimal size.

3. Normalization

Algorithm for regulating the contrast and brightness of the captured license plate image.
 4. Character segmentation

Algorithm that locates the separate alpha numeric characters on a license plate.

Algorithms also look for characters of equal color and equidistance, with similar font structures to
break apart each individual character. This sequential congruency of the characters embodies a
characteristic set that is typically uniform, regardless of the type of license plate. Character
Segmentation separates each letter or number where it is subsequently processed by optical
character recognition(OCR) algorithms.

5. Optical character recognition (OCR)

Algorithm for Translating the captured image into an alpha numeric text entry.

6. Syntactical /Geometrical analysis

Algorithm to verify alpha numeric information and arrangement with a

specific rule set.The algorithms operate sequentially with instructions
being executed in milliseconds. The successful completion of each
algorithm is required before subsequent algorithms can be operational.