- Email: [email protected]
68000-based system recognizes stolen car numberplates
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68OWbased system recognizes stolen car numberplates Numberplates on cars travelling at speeds up to 160 km h-’ can be read and identified by a system developed by UK machine vision company Computer Recognition for Systems. Motivation the Numberplate Recognition System, which has taken 10 years to complete and was developed in with British conjunction the Government’s Home Office, was to aid police searches for stolen cars. Car park fraud, road census and general security are other uses. At the heart of the system is the company’s CRS 1000 machine vision unit. This is a 68000.based VMEbus system, but it also has a proprietary image bus that can be memory mapped into the VMEbus. Processor modules fitted In the image bus section define the personality and hence the application of the unit The numberplate recognition sys-
tem uses a series of hardware processors. The first processor searches each image frame at the rate of 25 images s-‘, trying to identify an object resembling a numberplate. A second processor separates individual characters on the viewed numberplate. Further stages of recognition correlate recognized characters with characters in a reference store and a syntax processor checks the character string against all possible syntaxes to confirm the legality of the plate. The whole process takes less than 1 s. claims CRS. CRS anticipates a world market for the system, which It believes to be the first of its kind In the world. Cost of installed systems is up to f45 000. (Computer Recognition Systems Ltd. Unit 10, The Business Cen tre, Molly Millars Lane, Wokrngham. Berks RGI I ZQZ, UK Tel: (0734) 792922) C..
Numberplate rdentifrcatron: a machine v&on system from CRS can read plates on cars travelling at speeds up to 100 mph (160 km h- ‘)
Imaging subsystems are designed for ‘faster than realtime’ operation ‘Faster than real time’ image processing subsystems have been announced by Imaging Technology. The apparent Increase In processing speed is achieved by focussing only on the area of the Image that is of Interest. In image processing, real time is considered tc be 33 ms, but by using only subregions of a stored image the company claims that these systems can process a quarter of an image in about 8 ms. Targetted at the machine vrs’on industry. the series 150 Image processing subsystems have been designed to meet the stringent requirements of this Industry for functionality and cost-effectiveness, the company says. Designed for industrial VMEbusbased computers, the senes 150 family consists of four board-level modules. an analogue/dlgrtal interface (ADI50). a frame buffer (FB150). a pipelined Image processor (ALU-150) and a realtime convolver (RTC-150). Using the
vol4
no 2 may 1986
VMEbus P2 connector, data transfer between modules is at 10 MHz. Inputs from up to four sensors, which can range from standard RS170 or CCIR cameras to VCRs. are
Board-level components from the series 150 image processrng subsystems
digitized to 8 bit by the Interface board. The frame buffer provides three memory storage areas one 512 x 512 x 16 bit, and two 512 x 512 x 8 bit All three areas are controllable Independently. Pan, scroll and zoom are supported At the heart of the system, and providing the area-of-interest hardIS the ware processing capabrlrty, realtime convolver. The module operates at 340 million operations per second and can perform 4 x 4 convolutions and 16 x 1 finite Impulse response filters at vrdeo rates, the company claims. Thus IS achieved using custom-designed, propnetary gates in CMOS. Software called Toolbox 150 IS supplied to assist integration into the host computer and contains routrnes for perforrnrng basic operations and some fundamental Image processing Source code IS wrrtten Technology Inc. 600 in C. (Imagrng West Cummrngs Park, Woburn, MA 01801, USA Tel (677) 938~8444) L
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68OWbased system recognizes stolen car numberplates Numberplates on cars travelling at speeds up to 160 km h-’ can be read and identified by a system developed by UK machine vision company Computer Recognition for Systems. Motivation the Numberplate Recognition System, which has taken 10 years to complete and was developed in with British conjunction the Government’s Home Office, was to aid police searches for stolen cars. Car park fraud, road census and general security are other uses. At the heart of the system is the company’s CRS 1000 machine vision unit. This is a 68000.based VMEbus system, but it also has a proprietary image bus that can be memory mapped into the VMEbus. Processor modules fitted In the image bus section define the personality and hence the application of the unit The numberplate recognition sys-
tem uses a series of hardware processors. The first processor searches each image frame at the rate of 25 images s-‘, trying to identify an object resembling a numberplate. A second processor separates individual characters on the viewed numberplate. Further stages of recognition correlate recognized characters with characters in a reference store and a syntax processor checks the character string against all possible syntaxes to confirm the legality of the plate. The whole process takes less than 1 s. claims CRS. CRS anticipates a world market for the system, which It believes to be the first of its kind In the world. Cost of installed systems is up to f45 000. (Computer Recognition Systems Ltd. Unit 10, The Business Cen tre, Molly Millars Lane, Wokrngham. Berks RGI I ZQZ, UK Tel: (0734) 792922) C..
Numberplate rdentifrcatron: a machine v&on system from CRS can read plates on cars travelling at speeds up to 100 mph (160 km h- ‘)
Imaging subsystems are designed for ‘faster than realtime’ operation ‘Faster than real time’ image processing subsystems have been announced by Imaging Technology. The apparent Increase In processing speed is achieved by focussing only on the area of the Image that is of Interest. In image processing, real time is considered tc be 33 ms, but by using only subregions of a stored image the company claims that these systems can process a quarter of an image in about 8 ms. Targetted at the machine vrs’on industry. the series 150 Image processing subsystems have been designed to meet the stringent requirements of this Industry for functionality and cost-effectiveness, the company says. Designed for industrial VMEbusbased computers, the senes 150 family consists of four board-level modules. an analogue/dlgrtal interface (ADI50). a frame buffer (FB150). a pipelined Image processor (ALU-150) and a realtime convolver (RTC-150). Using the
vol4
no 2 may 1986
VMEbus P2 connector, data transfer between modules is at 10 MHz. Inputs from up to four sensors, which can range from standard RS170 or CCIR cameras to VCRs. are
Board-level components from the series 150 image processrng subsystems
digitized to 8 bit by the Interface board. The frame buffer provides three memory storage areas one 512 x 512 x 16 bit, and two 512 x 512 x 8 bit All three areas are controllable Independently. Pan, scroll and zoom are supported At the heart of the system, and providing the area-of-interest hardIS the ware processing capabrlrty, realtime convolver. The module operates at 340 million operations per second and can perform 4 x 4 convolutions and 16 x 1 finite Impulse response filters at vrdeo rates, the company claims. Thus IS achieved using custom-designed, propnetary gates in CMOS. Software called Toolbox 150 IS supplied to assist integration into the host computer and contains routrnes for perforrnrng basic operations and some fundamental Image processing Source code IS wrrtten Technology Inc. 600 in C. (Imagrng West Cummrngs Park, Woburn, MA 01801, USA Tel (677) 938~8444) L
125