As ANPR technology has developed, ANPR cameras have become more complex, capable, and diverse in their potential applications.
That’s great for you, the user of this technology. At the same time, it complicates the challenge of choosing the right tool for what you want to do.
Our goal here is to offer some tips on making the best choice for your needs. Here are the factors we’ll examine:
1. Speed of your target vehicles.
2. Will the camera be exposed to harsh conditions?
3. Desired information about the vehicle.
4. Do you want automatic triggering?
5. Will the camera be in a fixed location, or will it be moved frequently?
6. Will the camera be mounted in or on a car?
7. What special software or databases will you connect with it?
Adaptive Recognition (AR) offers four basic models of plate recognition cameras, as well as high volume document scanners and a variety of software, including some SaaS applications. By considering the factors outlined in this article, you can begin to hone in on the right ANPR choice for your needs.
How Fast Will the Vehicles be Moving When You Identify Them?
Are you targeting slow-moving vehicles as at a parking lot entrance or a retail establishment? Or vehicles moving at highway speeds, as in highway toll collection or speed control?
Adaptive Recognition’s Vidar and S1 ANPR cameras can read license plates at speeds up to 300 km/h, though their functions are quite different. Vidar is usually on a high fixed mounting and designed to identify all the vehicles passing under it. If you’re collecting tolls on a high-speed highway, Vidar is definitely your best choice.
S1 is more portable and is particularly well-suited to speed and violation measurement and monitoring. It can also identify red-light violators, stolen vehicles, and those with unpaid insurance.
All AR ANPR cameras are easily linked to external databases and special software for your unique application.
What Sort of Environment Will the Camera Experience?
When you’re working with AR’s ANPR cameras, you needn’t worry about environmental conditions. They’re all encased in waterproof reinforced plastic housings. Where an external cable must be connected, the connectors are also designed to be weatherproof.
The operating temperature range is -20°C to +50°C for AR cameras – broader for some models.
All AR ANPR devices and software are easily linked to external databases and special software for your unique application.
What Do You Want to Know About the Vehicle?
Want to know the vehicle’s speed? The ideal choice for this is AR’s S1 Speed and Traffic Enforcement camera. This camera also identifies other violations such as red-light violations, stolen and other wanted vehicles, vehicles with unpaid insurance, etc.
The Vidar camera also has an optional speed-monitoring function.
If you want to identify ownership, vehicle wanted status, whether the driver is a dangerous individual or has a long traffic violation history, AR’s mobile MicroCam camera might be a good choice. It’s designed for car-mounted use and works best in slower traffic as in a city street environment.
All AR ANPR devices are easily linked to external databases and special software for your unique application.
Automatic Triggering…and More
Many applications of ANPR cameras use automatic triggering. The camera is designed to detect the presence of a vehicle and trigger itself. In the case of AR’s Vidar high-speed traffic camera, a laser trigger ensures that each vehicle in the camera’s view gets its license plate captured. Toll collection is an example of an application where automatic triggering is important. The camera is operating unattended, and you want to be sure every vehicle is recorded.
Not only that, this smart camera sets itself up and adjusts its focus and tilt angle to get a centered, crisp image of each plate.
In other applications, the camera is triggered manually. In a parking lot entrance where there are many vehicles in the camera’s view that is not of immediate interest, manual triggering may be the choice – the only vehicles of interest are those entering the lot.
In most models, automatic triggering is optional.
All AR ANPR devices are easily linked to external databases and special software for your unique application.
Fixed, or Portable?
An ANPR camera on a fixed mounting is designed to be moved very infrequently, if at all. Toil collection, parking lot entrances, and monitoring at a high-security facility are examples of applications suitable for such an arrangement. AR’s Vidar and Einar cameras are ANPR models you would likely use for these installations.
With portable mounting, you want the camera set up so it can be easily unmounted and moved to another location. It might even be mounted on a tripod so the whole assembly can be picked up and moved with no tools.
The S1 Speed and Traffic Enforcement camera from AR is a good example of a camera that lends itself to portability. In monitoring speeds, it’s desirable to move the camera often, so drivers never know where or when ANPR will measure their speed.
Will You Mount the Camera on or inside a Car?
For car-mounting, the camera should be as small and light-weight as possible and have fittings to facilitate mounting on a dashboard, windshield frame, or roof. AR’s MicroCAM is such a camera. It’s designed to capture license plates while on the move. It also detects and flags wanted vehicles.
Connection to External Software and Databases
All AR cameras can be easily linked to your private database or specialized software. Want your camera to filter traffic for members or employees of your organization? How about automatically billing vehicles entering your property or even charging their credit cards or bank accounts automatically?
To learn more about these products and discuss your choice of ANPR camera model and options, go to Adaptive Recognition’s website. Each page has a contact link so you can discuss your needs with AR’s experts.
