Simple smart-city upgrades

Intelligent smart city upgrades

Adding extra capabilities to existing roadside infrastructure is a powerful way to roll out smart city solutions at an affordable price

Words | Neil Dillon, MAV Systems, UK

MAV Systems predicts that automatic license plate recognition (ALPR – also known as ANPR) cameras will become the logical hub for a growing range of add-on environmental and analytic sensors that will revolutionize smart city deployments worldwide.

The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is often associated with smart cities because it offers a massive array of modular sensors and communications devices. However, these devices are often proprietary and require their own communications channels and back-office tools. They are also often logging devices with bulk upload of data rather than real-time analysis. Unification of these additional technologies, linked to an intelligent ALPR camera, not only makes sense financially by avoiding duplication of bearers, but also creates a depth of information that will improve the analytic capabilities of back-office systems.

Hardware add-ons

MAV Systems is actively involved in using high-quality calibrated IoT devices to feed information into smart city solutions with an extensive range of add-ons for its IQ ALPR camera range, to take the IQ to a higher intelligence level.

The IQ range provides edge-based analysis of multiple subsystems and sensors such as speed, pollution monitoring and weigh-in-motion (WIM) inputs that are associated with passing vehicles. This extra functionality is underpinned by the quality and performance of the IQ range and ensures that MAV’s partners are provided with the latest technology required to extend

Opposite: The IQ ANPR

cameras can cover one, two and three lanes of traffic

Left: The IQ range of

intelligent, fixed and mobile ANPR cameras

Below: Safe-Speed System

their market penetration and offer unique services to their end users.

The MAV IQ has built a reputation as the de facto multilane intelligent ALPR camera of choice in many markets. It performs all the functions associated with ALPR including plate reading, vehicle counting, direction of travel and multilane identification, but now has the potential for far more.

Radar integration

MAV’s Safe-Speed range offers multivehicle radar-based speed information alongside the IQ’s ALPR metadata. Not only can speed information be used for enforcement, but equally, and more powerfully, it can be used to model road flow, safety and congestion. Spot speed data coordinated between multiple locations with anonymized license plate data also opens journey time, average speed and mesh analysis of traffic flow, both in real time and historically, to provide dynamic feedback options.

Emissions integration

It is increasingly common to see an array of roadside sensors collecting data on the local environment. Steve Walker, managing director of MAV Systems, comments, “Air quality data without understanding the local factors that impact it is relatively worthless – it is telling you what, but not why. However, looking at the emissions information, ALPR lookup and radar data together provide a more complete picture of what combination of vehicle speeds, classification and traffic density caused those sensors to record dangerous levels. This is an exciting time for MAV, providing smart city developers with intelligent ‘edge’ technology to build into their solutions.”

By adopting such a model with a live feed from calibrated sensors linked to the MAV IQ cameras, it is possible to see the direct impact of traffic on pollution levels in real time rather than by annual inspection or modeling. The ALPR data is vital in this solution, not only for understanding traffic flow, but also in using reference data for the specific vehicles that are passing, in order to understand their published emissions data and how that compares with reality.

Multilane vision, low power consumption

The IQ range provides opportunities to capture up to three lanes of fast-moving traffic from a single camera. MAV IQ solutions offer not only high performance but also low power consumption. The MAV IQ has been independently measured as the lowest consumption intelligent ALPR device on the market today. It can run from solar/wind solutions for fully off-grid outstations or by taking minimal power from available unmetered sources.

MAV offers customized hardware to meet solution demands for both technological and geographic variations. The company understands the need to constantly evolve its product range through consistent investment in R&D. This investment in product development and partner relationships has led to MAV becoming a key player across all ALPR-based applications. n

This is an exciting time for MAV, providing smart city developers with intelligent ‘edge’ technology to build into their solutions

Steve Walker, managing director MAV Systems