One for the pros!

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Hey Folks, We're doing a trade show this weekend and have had some strnge requests for installations. One in particular stands out and is really the only one I want to look into.

 

I have one guy that stopped by and they have a large lake organization. They have had a number of breakins and want to be able to capture vehicle license plates for all traffic going into their lake front road. They have a choke point where the road forms a T and this would be the best spot to place a probably LPR.

 

Now the difficult part there is no power or no way to pass cables. I suggested they try a game camera and they already did but the problem was that the IR flash lit up the plate. Does anyone know of some specialized camera that I could maybe suggest to them where it could record a photo or video locally and run independant of power?

 

Thanks,

Chuck

[sviviani 0]

put in a solar light and turn off the IR flash? if it is a good cam it should pick up the plate. or get a different ir illuminator to shine at the plate from a different angle and the light may not reflect directly back at the camera.

[Okinawamike 0]

Try Eaglevision systems.

 

Or:

 

FXCAM IBW_2000 unit includes the following components:

- High resolution ultra low lux B/W ANPR Camera

- Special 2000 effective Watts infra red illuminator synchronized with the camera

- High quality lens

- Weather proof housing

- Wall mountable bracket

- Internal heating with thermostat

[VST_Man 1]

try reflecting the flash of the game cam so that it does not directly hit the target/LP I'd reflect it down with a simple soda can hand made reflector to see if it works...............bend, shape, and tape. If it works........get something better.

 

You could set up a large solar panel with batteries..............go wireless to the recorder.............use a decent LP camera. If they are serrious about security then they will pay for it. If not, they may need roving guard?

 

Cutting corners by using "stuff" developed for other things is a "goat rope" way of saving money. Most always it ends up FUBAR......lots of time wasted, and a bad rap.

 

Or, install a power drop and do it right

[megapixel man 0]

Are you looking at an "Automated License Plate Recognition" System or just to capture and record License Plates?

 

Either way with no power or impossible to run cables, you will need to look at a solar panel and battery system for power and a wireless transmission network to the DVR / NVR.

 

Most of the best LPR systems I have seen use High Res Monochrome SD Cameras or Monochrome HD Cameras with IR Illumination, fixed focal length lenses and a visable light cut filter to manage the refective nature of License Plates. As most LPR is OCR your FOV must be small but large enough to get the plate to get maximum accuracy with high "pixels on target"

 

If you continue down the Game Cam with IR Flash path, try a visable light cut filter. These filters can be expensive. I have read somewhere that a cheap Visable Light Cut Filter can be made out of 35mm Colour Film ASA 100 exposed to 5 seconds of cool white light and developed as normal. It is tranparent and cuts most visable light and still allows IR between 830 and 950nm. I have not tried it though.

[megapixel man 0]

If I were looking at designing a system for this and money was not an issue (which is not normally the case) I would look at.

 

The Avigilon Single or Dual Lane LPR Capture Kit.

Suitable solar panel, batteries and inverter system for powering the kit and Point to Point Microwave tansmission system, with carefull consideration for the power consumption.

Avigilon NVR and LPR Software at the head end.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

Thanks for all the great ideas. The customer states that the camp organization has money for a solution but fails to tell me how much they have.

 

They have no power at all there and really want to capture license plates. I've suggested LPR but that is as far as I go due to power issues. So I was back at maybe figuring out the inexpensive game camera solution. I thought about the IR Filter approach and wondered if it would help. I would hate to purchase only to find out it doesn't work as I hoped.

 

I have no experience with going a solar powered route with battery and honestly wouldn't know where to start here. Has anyone used a solar panel and battery for no power situations? What kind of system do you need and how long will it operate without sun (granted you need to know power draw to accurately answer this). Any cameras with maybe local recording such as with a memory card of some sort?

 

So the solution is of figuring out maybe a low cost game camera solution or a high cost solar power solution.

 

Since the choke point for this install is at a T intersection getting the angle right may be difficult do to an infinite number of angles the vehicle could be sitting at when they arrive at the intersection. The road here is gravel.

 

Thanks, this is a fun one and I'm not sure if we can do it without it costing many thousands of $$.

[zmxtech 0]

sounds like a job for an extreme ANPR regX and a descent microwave link, or a day night IP camera with a wifi link back to the server/DVR/NVR.

 

Just getting a black & white pic of the number plate does not really cut it without having an overview of the car and driver -passengers etc.

I would be running both ANPR and a hi-res IP cam to do the job right.

If the choke point is tight and the lighting ok you could just use the IP cam.

at least 1.3Mp

 

a solar setup for sure.

 

z