The best license plate recognition cameras allow stakeholders to capture images of passing vehicles that they can search for in real time. The technology can also bolster existing security systems, providing teams with more detailed information on vehicle make and model.
However, like other surveillance equipment, these units have limitations. To maximize the utility of License Plate Recognition Camera installations, follow these best practices:
License plate recognition cameras are designed to capture a specific type of image. They are specialized security devices that can integrate with other systems to automate vehicle traffic monitoring and enhance overall safety. They can also provide valuable data that can be used to optimize parking lot usage, reduce congestion, identify vehicle of interest and even aid law enforcement.
The high level of accuracy that these cameras offer is unmatched, and it is the main reason why they are a staple in many surveillance applications. Their ability to distinguish and transcribe license plates into text provides a level of precision that is impossible for traditional cameras to match, particularly when it comes to spotting potential traffic violations or criminal activity.
In order to maximize the performance of an LPR camera, it is important that it be situated in a position where it can see vehicles coming into its field of view from all directions. This will ensure that it can detect all the required information in order to process and analyze the image, whether it is a number, state identifier or other vital piece of information. It is also a good idea to add infrared illumination to the camera location, which can improve the effectiveness of the system when the vehicle lighting conditions are not optimal.
It is important to understand that license plate recognition technology is geared exclusively towards detecting license plates, and it cannot be relied upon to perform any other type of imaging or analysis. As such, it is not a substitute for CCTV or other surveillance equipment, and should be installed in conjunction with those devices in order to ensure the best results.
Using the Setup Wizard in Verkada Command, it is possible to draw a detection box over a specific area of your camera’s field of view. This can help minimize false captures by ensuring that the camera is only focused on the plate of interest and not any other text or images in the surrounding area. The camera also has the option of setting an interfering character filter to ignore any special characters that may appear between numbers, such as a state shape or a symbol. Finally, the same plate output interval can be adjusted in order to determine how many times a single license plate will be captured by the camera before it is considered to have been detected and ignored.
False Capture
If you have a License Plate Recognition Camera, you’re probably aware that they can be prone to false captures from time to time. This can be a problem, especially if you’re using it for traffic purposes or to monitor parking lot usage. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to reduce the number of false captures your camera experiences.
First, you can adjust the detection box in the setup wizard. This is a feature that allows you to draw a box over the camera’s field of view, allowing you to tell it to look for license plates in that area specifically. This could be a good option if you’re experiencing a lot of false captures from the camera grabbing text on other objects that aren’t license plates.
Another thing you can do to improve your camera’s accuracy is to make sure it’s positioned in the right location. Ideally, you want to set it up somewhere that’s going to be a choke point for vehicles. Choke points are typically areas that cars move through consistently and at a predictable rate, such as entrances or exits to parking lots, alleyways, and roads.
When you’re setting up your camera, try to make sure it’s at a relatively level angle. If it’s at too much of an angle, the image can be warped, which can lead to confusion about whether or not something is a license plate or not. Lastly, you should ensure that the plates in question are actually visible. They should be able to be seen clearly enough that they’re readable, even in low light.
Although License Plate Recognition is a crucial technology for law enforcement and security applications, it can also cause privacy concerns among drivers. This is because the system can capture data about them that’s then run through a database. This information can be used for a variety of purposes, including security, traffic management, and parking efficiency. To address these concerns, LPR systems are typically designed to focus on license plates only and are backed by strict data protection measures.
Text Detection
A license plate recognition camera utilizes a variety of special hardware and software to digitalize license plate images into machine-readable text. This is a much more sophisticated process than conventional video surveillance cameras are capable of, and it requires the camera to have a wide range of special features to work properly.
Most importantly, it must be able to accurately read the characters in even dim light. This means that the camera must have a high enough shutter speed to minimize motion blur while also having the ability to adjust for bright or dark ambient lighting. This is particularly important for areas that experience harsh environmental conditions.
In addition to a high shutter speed, a good LPR camera will also have a range of special features that help the system to discern readable text from even blurry or distorted images. These include “fuzzy matching” or “fuzzy search,” which helps the system return results even if a single character is difficult to read (for example, a number 0 can sometimes appear as an O in certain fonts).
Other special features that are often available on modern LPR systems include specialized day and night settings that optimize the camera for use during each time of day, and tamper-proof lens covers and pressure alarms to discourage vandalism. For businesses and property owners looking for a way to better monitor their properties and ensure that visitors do not have access to sensitive information, the availability of these advanced features is essential.
Another common use case for a license plate recognition camera is parking lot monitoring. By deploying these devices, it is possible to help parking lot management teams and other stakeholders manage the occupancy of their facilities in real time. This can help them keep track of the number of spaces available and inform security operations if any issues arise.
License plate recognition cameras are also useful in gated communities to prevent unauthorized vehicles from entering restricted areas where they might cause problems. By deploying these cameras in key choke points, such as the entrance to the main community driveway, homeowners can limit community access to those registered in the approved vehicle database.
Configuration
A License Plate Recognition (LPR) camera needs to be far more precise than a standard security or CCTV camera. The hardware and software used for LPR need to be able to capture clear images of a vehicle’s license plate in around 20 milliseconds or less. LPR cameras also need to be able to distinguish a vehicle’s color and read the characters from the plate in challenging conditions such as inclement weather, headlights and low-light or darkened scenes. Some cameras use the same hardware and software that is used for commercial security applications, while others have separate units for both the LPR camera and optical character recognition (OCR) software.
To optimise a LPR camera, the hardware and software needs to be set up correctly. This includes setting the detection area and specifying the camera settings and capabilities for capturing high-quality images. A dual sensor camera is ideal for LPR, as one lens can be dedicated to a narrower field of view designed to capture the image of the license plate while the other lens is allocated to provide an overview of the surrounding area. The camera needs to be positioned at a safe distance from the street, road or entrance way so that vehicles can safely pass in front of it. The height of the camera is important as well, as the angle of the lens can significantly impact on the accuracy and clarity of the captured license plate. A camera that is too high may be able to detect the plate but will not be able to distinguish the numbers or characters due to reflection from the roof of the car.
The sensitivity of the camera can be adjusted, depending on the location and lighting conditions. The camera should have a minimum exposure time of 1/250 sec to ensure the image is not blurry. To reduce false readings, the camera can be configured to ignore images with high brightness such as lettering on signs or other objects.
A license plate recognition system can be a great asset to any organization, especially when used in conjunction with an access control solution. To get the best results from your LPR solution, install it in a suitable location, set up the correct detection area and adjust the camera settings to optimize performance. The system will then be able to recognize and store all of the plates that are encountered, making them searchable and easy to find later.
