HTS unveils vehicle identity recognition system
HTS offers a vehicle identity recognition system which recognizes the vehicle’s manufacturer logo (car model), vehicle body and plate color, special icons on the plate itself (such as handicap), and country or state name; the system will help police to detect vehicles with false license plates, such as stolen cars, and detect any discrepancies between the vehicle type and its license plate number
Rishon LeZion, Israel-based Hi-Tech Solutions Ltd. (HTS), a developer and provider of optical character recognition (OCR) computer and vision systems, announced the VIR (Vehicle Identity Recognition) suite, to be implemented in conjunction withthe company’s License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems. The new suite comprises recognition of vehicle manufacturer logo (car model), vehicle body and plate color, special icons on the plate itself (such as handicap), and country or state name. VIR, to be added as an option to the company’s LPR systems, will be launched at InterTraffic 2010, to be held23-26 March in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
VIR allows for comparison of more than one parameter with respect to a given vehicle’s identity and can therefore provide a more complete picture and higher accuracy. The company says that vehicle logo, color, and country or state name recognition capabilities enhance and improve verification and classification of the vehicle and help check correlation between the car type, license plate number, and data stored on police and homeland security databases, allowing an immediate alert when a suspicious vehicle passes through the system. HTS offers an interface that can communicate with local law enforcement agencies as well as national agencies such as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
The company says VIR should make a contribution to law enforcement and homeland security organizations, helping them to detect vehicles with false license plates, such as stolen cars, people who are trying to evade highway speed cameras or toll collection, people who replace their license plate with a stolen one to steal fuel from gas stations, etc. In controlled areas such as airports, license plate recognition systems with the vehicle logos recognition feature can be installed at access lanes, automatically monitoring the vehicles entering and exiting the area, detecting any discrepancies between the vehicle type and its license plate number.
The suite also increases the efficiency of toll road operators, who can bill for road usage more effectively for toll roads that are used by residents of number of neighboring states or countries.
“VIR is state of the art technology, and special algorithms were developed by HTS’s R&D department,” said Meta Rotenberg, VP Business Development, HTS. “We had to meet many challenges. For example, vehicle manufacturer logos vary in size, shape and color and unlike license plates, car logos can be located in different places on the vehicle, or even separated from the car body and placed on the hood.”
HTS’s proprietary vision-based LPR devices read and identify plate numbers and letters, and record the information in real time for further processing according to customer’s needs and specifications. The LPR system comprises software and hardware, configured to the site specifications.
