Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Spain-headquartered Libelium, a specialist in wireless sensor networks, has announced the launch of its Waspmote-based Smart Parking platform, part of the company’s smart cities solution designed to be buried in parking spaces and to detect the arrival and departure of vehicles. The company says the platform, which will allow system integrators to offer comprehensive parking management solutions to city councils, will shortly be deployed in Santander, Spain.

UK company Sicura Systems is supplying a fully fault-tolerant, integrated command and control solution to the US$416 million New Tyne Crossing project on the A19 near Newcastle in England.

NDI Recognition Systems has announced the latest release of its Talon ANPR engine and says that Version 8.2 includes enhancements to performance, international reading capability and a simplified set-up. For instance, it accommodates multiple lane capture on any system configuration and provides a high level of accuracy and performance without quality degradation. The engine supports ANPR reading from both the IR and the colour cameras feeds, which the company says is especially important in smaller project

As the technologies and stakeholders in traffic management evolve, what can we expect to see happening in the coming years? For many, the conversation of the moment is just how, and how far, the newer technologies and services provided principally by the private sector should be allowed to intrude into the realms of traffic management.

While suppliers of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) in the UK endure a stagnant market and budget cuts, growth opportunities in the US continue to ramp up.

Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) has acquired 100% of the shares of the specialist infrared camera producer VDS Vosskühler, based in Osnabrück, Germany.

The state of Western Australia (WA) has announced funding worth US$7.69 million to refit 1,800 taxis in the state with surveillance cameras to boost security.

For some, machine vision is the coming technology. For others, it’s already here. Although it remains a relative newcomer to the ITS sector, its effects look set to be profound and far-reaching. Encapsulating in just a few short words the distinguishing features of complex technologies and their operating concepts can sometimes be difficult. Often, it is the most subtle of nuances which are both the most important and yet also the most easily lost. Happily, in the case of machine vision this isn’t the case:

Leading automated enforcement system suppliers talk about how they see machine vision technology affecting the sector in the coming years

Is US tolling as fragmented and divided as some would have you believe? And are the technology suppliers so very entrenched? ITS International spoke to the market's leading suppliers. A few years back, the prevalent view was that the North American tolling market was characterised by fragmented, proprietary solutions, each existing in splendid isolation. The reality is that a combination of pragmatism and good old market forces have seen some concerted moves made towards interoperability in many areas.