Street enforcement applications for mobile ANPR systems

Developments in automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems have opened up opportunities for cost-effective enforcement applications. Hitherto, ANPR applications have been based on high-powered PCs working on video feeds from full size cameras. Mobile ANPR has tended to be limited to specialised applications such as equipping police vehicles to assist their search for stolen vehicles. For mobile applications, miniaturised cameras are attached to ruggedised processors within the vehicle. Additionally there has been considerable debate about the relative merits of infra-red sensitive and colour-sensitive cameras for particular applications. For mobile applications, size matters, for both camera and processor. Recent camera system developments, requirements for enforcement and pressure on the budgets to pay for enforcement have all combined to provide incentives for innovators like NCP and its suppliers to create new tools and processes for enforcement. This paper discusses trials conducted by NCP using mobile ANPR systems to assist in its on-street enforcement activities.