3.1. Product description............................................................................................................................ 5

3.2. Sample Applications........................................................................................................................... 6

3.2.1. Access Control - Parking.................................................................................................... 6

3.2.2. Toll road................................................................................................................................ 7

3.2.3. Law Enforcement - On-line Speed Violation.................................................................... 7

3.2.4. Stolen cars............................................................................................................................. 7

3.2.5. Border Control...................................................................................................................... 7

3.2.6. Other applications................................................................................................................ 8

3.3. System Architecture.......................................................................................................................... 8

3.4. Building Applications with See/Lane........................................................................................... 10

3.5. DDE message..................................................................................................................................... 10

3.6. See/Lane Client................................................................................................................................ 11

3.7. Networking........................................................................................................................................ 11

3.8. See/Lane Simulation........................................................................................................................ 11

4. Hardware..................................................................................................... 12

4.1. Connection Diagram and Scope of Supply................................................................................... 12

4.2. I/O card interface............................................................................................................................. 14

4.3. Frame Grabber interface................................................................................................................. 14

4.4. Cameras and illumination units.................................................................................................... 14

4.4.1. General Requirements from camera/illumination unit................................................... 14

4.4.2. See/Car/Head...................................................................................................................... 14

4.4.3. See/Car/Head Software support...................................................................................... 16

4.4.4. See/Car/HeadGuard option............................................................................................... 17

5. Software...................................................................................................... 18

5.1. The Image processing DLL............................................................................................................ 18

5.2. Resources DLL................................................................................................................................. 18

5.3. Main Display...................................................................................................................................... 18

5.4. Timing................................................................................................................................................ 20

5.5. Inter-application Messages............................................................................................................. 21

5.5.1. Purpose................................................................................................................................ 21

5.5.2. Example of Application integration................................................................................. 21

6. Detailed Functional Description................................................. 23

6.1. General Requirements.................................................................................................................... 23

6.2. GUI (Graphical User Interface)...................................................................................................... 23

6.3. Operation Logic................................................................................................................................ 23

6.4. Image Handling................................................................................................................................. 24

6.5. Sensor Control.................................................................................................................................. 24

6.6. Light Control..................................................................................................................................... 24

6.7. File....................................................................................................................................................... 24

6.8. Communication................................................................................................................................. 25

6.9. Options (with the See/Data product)............................................................................................. 25

7. Support and more Information...................................................... 26

1.Purpose & Scope

This document provides technical information on the See/Lane, a powerful Windows application for See/Car product. This application is used to identify cars on a traffic lane or at a gate and could serve as a stand-alone system or can be easily integrated to other systems or other applications. The application is supported by a full set of optical and hardware subsystems.

This document applies to SeeLane version 4.0 and higher.

2.Referenced Documents

2.1 See/Car DLL - Technical information document on the recognition package

2.2 See/Lane Installation - Software and hardware installation procedures.

The documents are available in our home page, see last section for details.

3.Overview

3.1.Product description

See/Lane is a sophisticated image processing system that tracks the cars’ plates, reads and identifies their numbers. The identified number is displayed on the system display, and can be transferred to an external computer (with RS232 line) or to other Windows applications (with DDE messages), or via the network (with TCP/IP using networking option). The image file(s) can also be saved on disk.

The system can be placed at the side of a traffic lane or in any other location that requires automatic identification. It is used any various types of Security, Parking and Traffic applications. Each unit can control up to six traffic lanes and is versatile in the possible application configurations using on-line settings.

3.2.Sample Applications

The system can be part of the following applications (a sample of possible use of the system). Please visit our web-site to see sample customer installations.

3.2.1.Access Control - Parking

The system can operate as a multi-lane access control and parking lot application.

Figure 3.2: Parking lot application

3.2.2.Toll road

The system can be used to data-collect the car plates that pass a toll road - for billing, card compare or data collection.

Figure 3.3: Toll road system

3.2.3.Law Enforcement - On-line Speed Violation

Another system application is law enforcement, either for speed violation (in conjunction with a speed measurement device) or entry to illegal traveling zones (such as public lane). In this case the system can identify cars on-line, or process image files off-line (using the DLL in an off-line application).

3.2.4.Stolen cars

A list of stolen cars (or vehicles with unpaid taxes/fines) could be listed in a file. When this car is detected the application will report on the detection of the “black-list” vehicle.

3.2.5.Border Control

The car plate is recognized and logged at the border checkpoint. The information can be logged together with additional information such as the passport number by adding additional software in the "Client" application.

3.2.6.Other applications

There are many other traffic and security applications that can be constructed based on the See/lane application. The system can be used in hotels, rental-car sites, patrol stations, hospitals, taxi parking, and more. Please visit our web site for a sample of typical installations.

3.3.System Architecture

See/Lane is a turn-key system comprises of the following elements:

· a PC Pentium running Windows 98/NT/2000

· See/Car DLL - which is used to analyze the images and extract license plate string (see reference #2.1)

· Camera/Illumination unit to capture the images (See/Car/Head – Hi-Tech Solution’s LPR camera and illumination unit)

· a Frame Grabber - which captures the images from the camera units (handles 1-6 lanes)

· I/O card – input/output board with multiple I/O discrete lines. This board supports the sensors, illumination control and optional gate-open signal. It is connected via a cable to a terminal interface board with easy connections and indicator lights.

· Sensors to indicate the presence of the car (a sensor for each lane)

· See/Lane The See/Lane Windows application interfaces the hardware elements (frame grabber, camera/illumination unit(s), IO card and sensor). It controls the illumination, reads the video inputs and passes the images to the DLL in order to obtain the recognition results. The application displays the image and recognition results. It then exports the results using serial communication, messages or disk files. Its man-machine interface supports on-line setting control, which can easily adapt the application to various types of configurations.

The See/Lane hardware and software elements are ordered from Hi-Tech Solutions as a full turn-key system.

A breakdown of the See/Lane system is shown in the following illustration, which shows a typical configuration of a See/Lane LPR system (for example, for 2-lanes-in and 2-lanes-out access control system).

Figure 3.3: See/Lane configuration

The See/Lane application runs as a background Windows application in the PC (shown in the center), and interfaces to a set of See/Car/Head camera/illumination

units (one for each vehicle) which are interfaced by the frame grabber.

The application controls the sensors and controls via an I/O card that is connected through a terminal block to the inputs and outputs.

The application can send results through serial RS232 communication, and reports the information via inter-application DDE messages to Client application(s).

3.4.Building Applications with See/Lane

See/Lane runs as a background application with a window. It can run as a stand-alone application, but better: it can share the recognition results with another application (the 'client' process, as in the "client-server" model). To process the recognition results the client application simply intercepts DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) messages that are sent by See/Lane to the 'Client' application(s).

Figure 3.4: Building applications with See/Lane

3.5.DDE message

Each vehicle will generate one message containing the recognition result: the vehicle number, an optional identification name, the data and time, the lane, and an optional image file path (in jpg or bmp formats).

Note that more than one client application can use the DDE message mechanism. Each application will intercept the recognition message and execute a different task.

The integration on basis of the DDE message mechanism is simple. We also provide client sources for VC++ or VB that show how to intercept these messages, provide sample applications, and the See/Lane simulation program, which allows to test it.

3.6.See/Lane Client

A sample client, See/Lane/Client application, is provided. This application stores the message data into a log file (each vehicle in a new row).

See/Lane can also receive DDE messages that are sent by the client application. These control messages include:

· Open gate command (regardless for recognition results)

· Car sensor command (replacing the sensor or the F2 function key)

To check the functionality of the above messages, activate See/Lane/Client application which is included the software product release package. This sample Client application receives DDE messages and saves them into a log file. It also can send DDE messages to See/Lane as described above. The client application runs in parallel to See/Lane application.

3.7.Networking

The messages can also be sent (a DDE-net solution) via TCP/IP network to one or more Central servers. The networking solution is provided as an option (with the See/Data component).

A lane offset is added to the lane number for each remote See/Lane node (for example, 1000 for entry-gates complex and 2000 for exit-gates complex) so all the front-end See/Lane units results could be grouped together.

The same Client applications that work locally can also work on the Central computer, since the DDE message interface is the same for all nodes.

3.8.See/Lane Simulation

A simulation program of the See/Lane application is also provided. This simulation bypasses all the hardware interfaces and provides a full operation of the application and its outputs based on a predefined scenario file and images. This program can be useful for programming, integration and test. (It is also available on the web-site for downloading).

The simulated version is easy to use (by hitting F2 for a single vehicle or F3 for multiple vehicles at a periodic cycle). An integration with the simulated version is virtually identical to the real system, therefore it simplifies the software integration and cuts the time to market.

4.Hardware

This section details the components of the See/Lane system.

4.1.Connection Diagram and Scope of Supply

An overall diagram of a multiple-lane access-control system is shown in the following figure.

It shows all the connections of a typical system, and also indicates the scope of supply. Note that the orange-colored wires and boxes are supplied within the SeeLane system supply, while the installer supplies the black-colored items.

The following pages provides more information on each component. Additional information is provided in the See/Lane installation manual (Ref #2.2).

Figure 4.1: Multi-lane typical system configuration (and scope of supply)

4.2.I/O card interface

The application uses an I/O card connected to a terminal block (TBL) for simplified connection and status, and for electrical protection. The I/O card interface is used to output the controls of the illumination (off and 3 levels), listen to sensor input status, and output the optional gate controls.

4.3.Frame Grabber interface

The application is built on the basis of 2 frame-grabber types:

· 6 channel frame grabber (the standard frame grabber)

· Video-for-Windows standard (fits many frame grabbers, such as the BT848/878 frame grabbers).

4.4.Cameras and illumination units

4.4.1.General Requirements from camera/illumination unit

The See/Lane system requires a camera and illumination. The camera could be a standard CCD camera, and its characteristics are defined in a configuration file (format.ini). The configuration file is described in the DLL document - reference #2.1.

The camera should be capable to provide a satisfactory level of light that is optimized for capturing the best quality image of the plate, and to provide the images video to the Frame grabber which converts them to image data that can be processed by the See/car DLL. The image quality and setup requirements are described in the above reference.

The illumination should allow night or low-light operation. It should be set such that a bright & uniform picture of the license plate is obtained. The plate should not have peak spots of light, and should have a high contrast between the background and the numbers. It could be any type of light that is optimized for the application, such as: IR constant or flash, 500 to 1000Watt flood light, etc. Note that it is advised to capture more than one image per sensor activation (multiple images reduce misreads), so the illumination is recommended to allow multiple captures of the passing vehicles.

4.4.2.See/Car/Head

We provide an optimized and compact camera/illumination unit and highly recommend ordering this unit as part of the system. This unit is fully supported by See/Lane application and utilizes its additional features to maximize the results. The application controls the level of illumination and the image capture is synced with the illumination.

Figure 4.3.2: See/Car/Head

Several types of See/Car/Head units exist which are fit to the specific application and Country.

The standard Infra-Red model specifications are:

Camera:

· Sensor: CCD 1/3” B&W CCIR

· Scan: 625 Line interlaced

· Resolution: 380 TV lines

· Shutter: 1/1000

· Power: 9-16 VDC 100mA

· Lens: F1.2-16C / 8,12,16 mm

Illumination:

· Spectrum: a. near Infra-Red (for most Countries)

· Angle: 30 °

· Intensity: 3 levels pulsed

· Power : 12VDC , 3A pulsed

· Effective Range: 8M (reflective plates) to 4.5M (non-reflective)

Physical:

· Case: Enforced Poly-Carbonate, UV protected

· Standard: IP 65 , weatherproof

· Temperature: -10 °c to +50°c

· Degrees of freedom: 2 (left/right, up/down)

· Attachment: 2 x 8 mm screw

· Dimensions: Front: 150x150mm, Depth:135mm+35mm hood,

Arm: 160mm

· Drawings: can be downloaded from support page

Electrical:

· Power: Power Supply: 3A 15VDC

· Inputs: 2 lines TTL (3 levels of intensity + off)

· Output: Composite Video 1Vp-p / 75W

4.4.3.See/Car/Head Software support

The unit is integrated in the See/Lane application, which switches the unit on (only when the vehicle is present), controls its illumination level in various sequences (based on the recognition results and the setting parameters), and captures its images for recognition and optional archiving. This unit maximizes the recognition results and simplifies the installation of the access-control system.

4.4.4.See/Car/HeadGuard option

A Ruggedized (Anti-Vandalism) option metal cover can be ordered. It is shown in the following illustration:

Figure 4.3.4: See/Car/Head/Guard Ruggedized option

Note that the mechanical drawings of this option are available in the support-page.

5.Software

This section details the software elements of the See/Lane system.

5.1.The Image processing DLL

The See/Lane system calls See/Car image processing DLL that analyzes the captured images of the vehicle. The DLL is described in a separate document (see reference #2.1).

5.2.Resources DLL

When the program initializes it loads the SeeRes.dll resource file that contains the project's resources (strings, icons, all what is seen on the displays).

The resources DLL is provided in VC++ \ MFC source code which makes it possible to update the See/Lane resources. All that is required to do is to compile and execute! The developer can thus adapt it to the local language.

5.3.Main Display

The main window is designed to display as much information as possible in a friendly user interface (the user does not need to switch between any child windows during normal operation). The window is divided into several display panes, where each pane is responsible for a single system task (video images, system status, identified code).

The different panes are described below:

- Image Display - shows video from the camera (from one of the lanes)

- History Log - display a list of all identified vehicles

- Identification Window - the identified vehicle number

- Status Window - system messages

An example of such display is shown in the following figure.

Figure 5.3: Example of main view

The vehicle that is shown was captured with a rear See/Car/Head unit and displayed on the image display. Its license plate number and the authorized driver details and time are shown in the bottom scrollable history list. Its license number is shown in the bottom-right corner.

5.4.Timing

The timing of the system (per lane) is described below:

#	The car	The system	Time
1	Approaches the sensor.	In idle, waiting for the sensor activation
2	Activates the sensor	Switches to capture mode.	0
3		Captures one or more images into memory	~50msec per image capture
4		Changes the illumination; Captures one or more images into memory; Repeats the illumination change	~50msec per image capture
5		Calls DLL on one or more images
6		Identifies the car	+ ~80msec per image identification
7		Logs, displays, transmits the Identification
8		Goes to Idle	About 0.5 second from the car entry (a typical setting)
9	Next Car triggers the sensor

5.5.Inter-application Messages

5.5.1.Purpose

See/Lane is designed to share the vehicle identifications with other processes. This can be done either by external communication (RS232) or by application-to-application messages. The latter method is implemented by DDE messages that are sent after each identification cycle.

The client process receives the messages and uses the information for various purposes. For example, if the client process is a database interface, it will insert each message data into the database. Such example is detailed in the next paragraph.

5.5.2.Example of Application integration

The following illustration shows the data flow and use of the inter-application messages.

When a vehicle triggers the sensor, the See/Lane application captures a series of images (one or more), then proceeds with the identification of the car. After completing the identification cycle, a DDE message containing the ID (and an optional pointer to the image) is sent to the PC Windows system.

This message is intercepted by another application - the database client process. This process will log the new information into the relational database. The database will include the textual and visual information on the vehicle.

Figure 5.5: Data flow of the database example

This method could apply to other type of applications. See/Lane operates as a background Windows application and shares the recognition results with other processes. This method simplifies the integration of the Recognition technology.

In fact, in such “black-box” configuration See/Lane could be added without any code change and control the entire “front-end” of the image capturing and recognition operation. Thus the user can focus on the development of the specific tasks of the developed system.

6.Detailed Functional Description

This section describes the basic functions of the See/Lane system. Note that Hi-Tech Solutions may change these functions on future system releases.

Additional functions or language changes may be tailored by the developer for specific customer requirements. We recommend, however, that the application specific additions will be made on the SeeLaneClient application which ‘listens’ to the recognition results and performs additional tasks.

6.1.General Requirements

1st. Intended system use: access-control and parking, traffic applications, and security applications.

2nd. Supports a single or multiple (1-6) lanes.

3rd. Supports a single or double plates per vehicle (the latter, also known as Stereo mode, is used for increased recognition, but requires 2 video inputs per lane).

6.2.GUI (Graphical User Interface)

1st. Camera View Display- camera video display (see: image handling)

2nd. Event Log - list of identifications (one record for each car, sorted by time)

3rd. System status - state: Idle/capturing/identifying + other information

4th. Graphic result display - show picture of car with current Ids

5th. IO status display - status of inputs and outputs

6th. Options setting - using tabs sheets to select different categories

7th. Password selection - to prevent unauthorized change of settings

8th. Welcome Page - upon entry

9th. About Dialog - upon request

6.3.Operation Logic

1st. Identification : calls See/Car DLL - analyzes the image and returns a

recognized plate number.

2nd. Recognition bank - looks on the recent history of all valid or partial

identifications in order to maximize the output based on the multiple results

3rd. Authorized vehicle list (basis for access control system) with add/find/edit/delete options to change the list of authorized cars

4th. Optional operator correction of recognition results

6.4.Image Handling

1st. Display camera modes

1. Triggered Display - displays the car image after the sensor is activated.

2. Live Display - displays the camera output; used for installation.

3. Each lane can be selected manually (using Tabs) or automatically (the last activated lane)

2nd. Configuration

1. Configure # of captures per cycle

2. Number of cycles per car (each cycle a pre-defined illumination level)

3. Number of recognition sets (repeats attempts in case recognition fails)

4. Option to avoid recognition (for driver face image storage)

5. Channel number (map to frame grabber input)

3rd. Image capture - (see “FILE” section); used for off-line debug and development.

4th. Frame grabber interface - support several standards and types.

6.5.Sensor Control

1st. Sensor Configuration

1. NC/NO (normally-connected or normally-open state)

2. Pin # in IO card

6.6.Light Control

1st.Operate the illumination (when capturing) – 4 levels (off, low, medium, high)

2nd.Configure the intensity profile (flexible pre-defined profiles)

3rd.Configure the IO card (pin numbers)

6.7.File

1st. LOG File

Records each transaction (date, time, lane, license ID) in file

2nd. Images File Save

1. Automatic image file saving on/off

2. Image file name prefix string and path

3. Image type (jpg with various compression levels; bmp)

4. Single image (the ‘best’) or all images (from various illumination levels)

2nd. Configuration File - automatic save (after changing the setting)

6.8.Communication

1st. RS232

1. Standard transmission (name and vehicle code)

2. Special mode transmission (for special equipment)

3. Custom format (with a flexible optional prefix & suffix strings which can be

set to transmit recognition fields and special characters)

2nd. Large display transmission– via RS232 (with prefix and suffix codes)

3rd. Windows messages

DDE messages - with recognition results, image pointer and authorization

Indication and data.

6.9.Options (with the See/Data product)

1st. Networking - connects several See/Lane units to one or more Central servers, by transmitting the DDE message over the network

2nd. Database - inserts the data to an Access Database

7.Support and more Information

You can contact us for more information and assistance at:

See/Lane application is also available in a simulated version - which is available on our web-site.

Visit our Home page http://www.I-Cube.co.za and download recognition demo players, see sample applications and get updated information. Qualified customers also receive on-line updates in the support page.

Visit our Home page http://www.I-Cube.co.za and download:

demo applications

See/Lane simulation program

Latest tools and releases (in our on-line support page)

We also recommend to install pcAnywhere with TCPIP connection. This software package will allow us to view the on-line operation, fine-tune the parameters, download images and update the software. See more details in the web site support page.

Police contact centre on track

BY LEON ENGELBRECHT , ITWEB SENIOR WRITER

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State-of-the-art

i-Traffic solutions

[ Johannesburg, 8 June 2007 ] - The police say its new R600 million 10111 contact centre, at Grand Central in Midrand, is on track for commissioning in the next few months. Gauteng police director Mac Mclachlan says the system is “on time, on budget” and will replace six antiquated contact centres in the province.

Meanwhile, the SA National Road Agency Limited (Sanral) is commissioning an expanded i-traffic system to monitor Gauteng's highways from a command post in Midrand. Both Sanral and the police expect the two centres to become interoperable in due course. Mclachlan says a liaison officer will probably be placed at Sanral as an interim solution.

State-of-the-art

The new 10111 centre employs state-of-the-art technology, including a digital trunking system in the place of analogue. It will use Tetra to communicate with police in the field and will also be able to track and monitor the whereabouts of every operational police vehicle deployed in the province.

He adds that current personnel are being retrained to operate the new systems that will also be able to track and trace complainants who phone for assistance or help. New personnel are also undergoing training.

Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, in his February State of the Province address, said technology would be deployed in the present year to improve policing. He said R600 million has been set aside to build and equip the “world-class police emergency response centre” in Midrand.

“We are expecting the new centre to become operational during July 2007 and are confident it will make a substantial contribution to police service delivery in Gauteng,” he said.

Shilowa noted the latest technology would be introduced to ensure each emergency call is attended to as quickly as possible. This includes the introduction of satellite tracking devices in all police emergency response vehicles and radios.

i-Traffic solutions

Meanwhile, Sanral toll and traffic manager Alex van Niekerk says the Midrand centre will shortly improve its coverage of Gauteng highways from a 30km stretch to 180km. Sanral has also just awarded a R25 million contract for 44 more electronic signboards to signal road conditions and news of accidents, roadworks, as well as congestion, to motorists.

Another decongestant on the verge of introduction, at least on Samrand and New roads, in Midrand, is traffic metering. This will allow Sanral to pace the flow of traffic onto the highway, a measure that has been proved to ease flow.

Turning to the cameras, Van Niekerk said the extended network from the N1/N14 confluence in Centurion, along the Pretoria N1 eastern bypass to the N4 highway and a stretch of the N4 itself, will be operational by the end of this month.

The same applies to cameras along the N1 in Johannesburg, between Hans Strijdom road and the Buccleuch interchange. Cameras recently installed along parts of Johannesburg's southern highways – the N3 and N12 – will be brought online in September.