Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Increasing the capability of automatic number plate recognition should go hand-in-hand with efforts to ensure number plates' integrity, says the ESVA's Viv Nicholas. Before we apply increasingly sophisticated technology to Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), says the European Secure Vehicle Alliance's (ESVA's) executive director Viv Nicholas, there is a lot we can do to make the task of vehicle recognition simpler by addressing issues relating to the number plate itself.

Automatic number plate recognition continues to find new applications beyond the traditional. In coming years, we can expect the application set to grow significantly Moore's Law has seen to it that computer processing power has improved out of all comparison in the 30-plus years since the first working Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system was created by the UK's Police Scientific Development Branch. The attendant increases in systems' capabilities have resulted in ANPR being deployed globally

Traffic signal control is a mainstay of urban congestion management. Despite advances in vehicle detection sensors, inductive loops, which operate by using a magnetic field to detect the metal components in vehicles, are still the most common enabler for intelligent signalised junctions.

Paul Vorster, CEO of ITS South Africa, takes a look at the national enforcement situation in the year when the country gears up to host the FIFA Soccer World Cup. There are four main drivers pushing the growth of ITS-related law enforcement within South Africa. These are: transport operations associated with hosting the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2010; traffic management linked to increasing congestion; the development of new public transport systems such as BRT; and vehicle and driver-related crime.

The speed enforcement system on the Hume Highway in Australia combines both spot and point-to-point solutions. Here, Redflex's Peter Whyte discusses its implementation. The Australian State of Victoria has achieved notable success in reducing casualty rates since launching a three-pronged road accident prevention initiative in the late-1980s.

With the Idris system now validated as a speed verification tool, the way is open for loops to be used in more complex enforcement applications. Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), developer of the Idris inductive loop-based vehicle detection and classification system, has recently successfully conducted validation trials which, the company says, open the way for Idris to be used for speed verification and loop-based sensors to be used for more complex applications such as speed-on-green and differential spe

Swedish company ABC-CAD Elektronik has announced a new vehicle detector, the ABC043. The device, which has a built-in PIC processor for intelligent control, features automatic calibration with the attached loop. Sensitivity and trigger level can be adjusted in 10 different states. A 10 LED bar graph shows the signal level and can be used for adjustment of sensitivity, trigger level and pulse/presence.

Vicon Industries is introducing a new, progressive scan camera within its SurveyorVFT 35X zoom domes. According to the company, the new camera delivers superior video quality in two modes (Normal and High Sensitive); it will be included in all in SurveyorVFT outdoor, impact-resistant and pressurised housings.