Title :
Hardware-Accelerated Vehicle License Plate Detection at High-Definition Image
Author :
Yang, Sheng-Yan ; Lu, Yan-Chen ; Chen, Li-Yen ; Cherng, Der-Chun
Author_Institution :
VATICS Inc., New Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract :
Localizing license plate in an image enables vehicle detection and identification. Processing at high-definition (HD) image allows a better access of visual information but also enhances the necessity of multi-resolution analysis because license plates may appear in various sizes and shapes. A great computational burden is accompanied by processing the great number of candidate windows during multi-resolution analysis. This paper proposes a hardwired license plate detector capable of conducting feature analysis on millions of candidate windows with the size of 100-by-100 pixel in average for one HD image. It employed a multiple-layer classification analyzing color, gradient and texture features at the rate of thirty frames per second. Candidate window fusion subsequent to classification compensates the over-detection occurred during multi-resolution analysis. A dual-loop processing is adopted to schedule the efforts in feature extraction to achieve a real-time system. Compared to the pure software implementation, a third-order speed up was found for the same algorithm with hardwired acceleration in FPGA emulation.
Keywords :
feature extraction; field programmable gate arrays; image classification; image resolution; object detection; vehicles; FPGA emulation; classification; feature extraction; hardware-accelerated vehicle license plate detection; high-definition image; multiresolution analysis; vehicle detection; vehicle identification; Detectors; Feature extraction; Histograms; Image color analysis; Licenses; Support vector machines; Vehicles;
Conference_Titel :
Robot, Vision and Signal Processing (RVSP), 2011 First International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Kaohsiung
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-1881-6
DOI :
10.1109/RVSP.2011.11