TITLE:

AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE

RECOGNITION
INTRODUCTION TO ALPR
ALPR stands for Automatic Number Plate
Recognition.

Technology has different names:

 Number Plate Recognition

 Car Registration System

 Intelligent Transport System

 ALPR – A NEW TECHNOLOGY
 In 1976, the Police Scientific Development Branch
invented LPR to combat terrorism, honing the
technology into working prototypes by 1976. The
first industrial production contracts were granted to
EMI Electronics and then to Computer Recognition
Systems in the UK.
 The first uses of LPR were at the Dartford Tunnel
and the A1 road in Great Britain. In 1981, LPR saw
its first arrest by identifying a stolen car. Still, the
system didn’t gain widespread use due to its cost
and the difficulties being experienced by the users
of the technology.
 ALPR TECHNOLOGY EVOLVES
 Throughout the 1990s, the technology would evolve with
more affordable, easier-to-use applications. This allowed
the use of LPR in larger operations, such as the
1993“Ring of Steel” camera network surrounding London.
The “Ring of Steel” was implemented to help stop
terrorist bombings in London’s financial district.
 1967 saw the creation of The Police National ANPR Data
Center, or NADC, which allowed the data captured by LPR
to be shared across the nation. The following year, LPR
crossed the ocean and landed in the United States for use
at border crossings.
INTO THE 21TH CENTURY
 In the early 2000s, data being captured by license plate
recognition cameras began to be used for future crimes.
In other words, stored data from the past could be
accessed to place a vehicle at a certain location.
 The first murder arrest using LPR occurred in the UK in
2005, where the technology played an important role in
finding and convicting the murderers of Sharon
Beshenivsky.
 2005 would also see the creation of ANPR (Automatic
Number-Plate Recognition) International Limited, an
organization that would build on the potential of the
technology throughout the rest of the early 2000s. This
would lead to the use of License Plate Recognition in
parking lots, traffic surveys, mobile surveillance, stolen
vehicle recovery, airport security, and other applications.
ALPR TECHNOLOGY: TODAY
 LPR software has streamlined the process into affordable, easy-to-use
technology that is widely used in multiple applications. Next
Generation Security Concepts LPR solution, Plate Smart, uses existing
hardware, is compatible with most operating systems, and because
there is no licensing fee when installed by NGSC, is an affordable
software system.
 Plate Smart can be used wherever security is needed, for private and
commercial use. The technology can be used in any number of ways,
including:
 Vehicle identification
 Instant access to information
 Vehicle recovery
 Integrated database with local and state law enforcement
 HOW DOES ALPR PARKING WORKS?
Automated License Plate
Recognition (ALPR) is an image
processing technology that
involves the use of
Optical Character Recognition
(OCR), cameras, and data
processors.
It is used to read, identify and
store images of vehicle registration
plates by using closed-circuit
cameras, road rule enforcement
cameras, or those specifically
designed for the purpose.
The camera, which is an important component of the
system uses a series of algorithm-driven image
manipulation techniques to detect and enhance the
image of the number plate.
OCR is then used to extract the alphanumeric information
of the number plate. The illumination, which in most
cases is infrared, controls the intensity of light and allows
round-the-clock operations.
The frame grabber acts as an interface between the
camera and the hardware running the LPR application,
allowing the software to read the information contained
in the image for processing and storing it.
FINAL OUTCOME:
 APPLICATIONS OF ALPR
Rapid digitization and enhanced IP-based communication networks have
lent multi-dimensionality to LPR’s applications. Apart from finding use in
law enforcement, it has found successful applications in the following
areas as well:
 Traffic Control: LPR technology can be successfully used to develop
traffic control systems by analyzing historical data such as vehicle
density along a road, car parking usage.
 Electronic Toll Collection: The vehicle registration number is used to
ascertain the amount of toll and cross-check the ticket.
Access Control and Speed Maintenance: Access Control is
another area where LPR has found wide usage. Gates in secured
areas automatically open for authorized personnel thereby
saving valuable human resources. The entry and exit details are
logged on the database and can be retrieved as and when
required.
 FUTURISTIC
DEBATES/VIEWS OF ALPR
 “NEXT STEP THE HARDEST”
Digitisation and ANPR have grown alongside each other and it has been
natural for clients to include ANPR when upgrading, mainly because by the
time digitisation reached traffic enforcement clients had a more open mind
towards computers and expected their enforcement units to do what their
home PC was able to. From the manufacturer's perspective, our aim is to
make the operational aspects of enforcement as easy as possible and
adding ANPR software to our digital units was a natural step. Where
jurisdictions still use analogue systems the reasons are to be found either
in the volumes of infractions they generate or the back office rather than in
a specific technology. Moving to digital is about more than buying a new
unit; it is also about having a back office able to exploit in real time such
capabilities as connection to a national vehicle registration database.
“25-30 PERCENT GROWTH”
The ANPR market will grow by around 25-30 per cent in the next five years.
Enforcement solutions combining, for example, speed measurement, camera
and ANPR will drive future growth, according to Erno Szucs of ARH, Inc.

There has been a clear move toward digitisation in the past three to five
years. Connectivity and networking are easier to solve and architectures are
simpler. Digital cameras have solved the resolution issue and even an entry-
level digital camera will cover a full highway lane. On the other hand,
digitisation has given rise to new issues. High image compression rates lower
OCR accuracy and are to be avoided but large, high-resolution image
processing takes more time, so image sizes for ANPR have to be the smallest
possible which will still cover the required areas. Increasing CPU speeds are
only a partial solution.
“ADVANCES IN FACIAL RECOGNITION”
Visual identification is still in its infancy and has a very long way to go.
The number of vehicles will keep growing, and as these techniques add
new value, new applications will continue to emerge. The benefits of
license plate standardisation in terms of enhanced ANPR performance and
reduced cost are clear but efforts like the one with European plates are far
from being possible in today's world.

Ideally, enforcement systems should chase offending drivers, and not

anonymous vehicles, so that in future ANPR will benefit from the
advances in facial recognition. Although drivers' privacy should also be
preserved.
 “AT THE EDGE PROCESSING”
High-resolution digital cameras have pushed processing to the edge of the network,
mainly to avoid having to transmit large digital images. The impact that the large
volumes of image data have on transmission latency, network bandwidth and
storage requirements mean analogue cameras won't be completely displaced
overnight.

"Without a mandate to use the same technology and/or standard to identify

vehicles across multiple jurisdictions, there will always be a need for visual
identification. Given the current lack of uniform license plate standards, each
jurisdiction seems to give itself the freedom to dictate the layout and looks of its
plates. The use of technologies such as DSRC to allow the electronic capture of
license plates might create privacy concerns. Future use of DSRC technologies for
vehicle identification will probably need to allow the user some control over which
non-governmental third-party agents have access to their information.