Vidar Smart ANPR cameras in use in bridge weigh-in-motion systems in Indonesia

The Challenge

Overloading trucks mean a constant danger for drivers and highways alike. Drivers ignoring weight regulations are not only prone to cause damage to roads but may also lose control of their vehicles due to excess weight. They are more likely to cause accidents because of reduced maneuverability and a longer braking distance.

As part of a nationwide initiative to increase road safety and reduce expenses on road maintenance,  the Ministry of Transportation announced a complete ban on Over Dimension and Overload (ODOL) vehicles in 2020. The new legislation came into force on 1 January 2023.

Installing the Vidar Smart ANPR camera

Jasa Marga, the Indonesian highway company and toll road operator, sought an effective way to enforce the new regulations on total weight per vehicle and dimensions. They envisioned an automatic vehicle weighing solution to prevent drivers from entering highways with overload trucks.  

The Solution

Our partner, PT Bia Tekno Solusi (Biateknos), installed a bridge weigh-in-motion system featuring Vidar Smart ANPR cameras by Adaptive Recognition at a major highway between Jakarta and Bandung, West Java. The Vidar Smart ANPR camera is used in combination with the Bridge Weigh-in-motion technology.

When the Bridge-WIM system detects a heavy vehicle, it automatically triggers the camera to capture an image of the vehicle license plate. Images of the vehicles are taken by Adaptive Recognition’s Vidar ANPR cameras.

Vidar Smart ANPR camera as part of a weigh-in-motion system

Vidar ANPR cameras can capture images of cars with their IR-illuminated sensors. The image is then processed, and the information is used to identify the vehicle. The system classifies the vehicle type and evaluates each wheel’s load. This data is then sent to an internal database, displayed to users on a web dashboard, or transmitted to a central traffic system for further processing.   

Pre-selected vehicles are not allowed to continue driving on the road and are redirected to local roads instead. After a successful pilot phase of the project, toll road operators will be able to select whether to outright deny the entry of such vehicles to highways or impose a fine when overloading vehicle offenses are detected.

The system is suitable for weighing and pre-selecting vehicles. Although the ANPR camera component has only been in use for a few months, it achieved a 90% accuracy in identifying license plate data. In the remaining cases, recognition was impossible due to damaged license plates, lack of safety distance, incorrect position of the vehicle on the road, or for any other reason.

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

Vidar Smart cameras are powerful Recognition and reading cameras for vehicle license plates, make, and model recognition. They have onboard ANPR, powered by the Carmen® engine. The dedicated quad-core 4×1.4GHz CPU runs the pre-installed ANPR engine, making the device one of the most powerful standalone ANPR cameras on the market.

The camera has built-in software and hardware trigger and can cover up to two lanes thanks to high-resolution sensors and onboard processing power. It provides speedy and accurate vehicle identification with unparalleled global coverage of Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Thai, etc. plate types. It can also perform image-based vehicle speed estimation with high accuracy. Moreover, it features a dual optic system with varifocal lenses.

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If you are thinking about implementing a solution similar to the weigh-in-motion system of our partner Biateknos, look no further. Adaptive Recognition’s team of experts is happy to answer your questions and determine whether a solution, including a member of the Carmen® ANPR/ALPR software family and an Adaptive Recognition ANPR/ALPR camera, can be adapted to your business needs. Get in touch with us here → 

Vidar is a high-performing component of any weigh-in-motion system. However, thanks to its versatility and advanced features, it may be applicable in many other use cases, from container code recognition to speed enforcement. If you want to learn more about the Vidar camera, visit its dedicated product page → 

Adaptive Recognition delivers Vidar Smart ANPR cameras for a concession project in Colombia 

Vehicle counting can contribute to a great extent to traffic safety on highways by predicting blockages or congestions and preventing accidents resulting from heavy traffic. Recently, our integrator partner Deviteck implemented this technology with Adaptive Recognition Vidar Smart ANPR cameras on the Vías del Nus highway of Antioquia region of Colombia.

The Challenge

Vías del Nus is a busy highway operated by Vinus S.A.S. in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia. The highway has a total length of 157.4 km and connects the town of Bello with Alto de Dolores. It has three toll gates at Trapiche, Cabildo, and Niquía.

For accurate monitoring of traffic on the highway, Vinus S.A.S was looking for a solution to automate the detection and classification of vehicles. The operator wanted to keep track of the number and type of vehicles that enter and leave particular highway segments. The company needed a technology that could compile and synchronize data, share it with other devices, and analyze and process it to get an accurate image of traffic flow.

Vidar Smart ANPR camera fixed on a toll gate in Colombia

Vehicle counting can contribute to a great extent to road safety on traffic-heavy highways. Images about traffic flow generated throughout the day can be used to predict congestion or blockages. These predictions allow drivers to avoid a particular direction or search for an alternative route, preventing overcrowding and potential accidents.

The Solution

In March 2022, our partner Deviteck designed and installed a complex vehicle counting system composed of 13 Adaptive Recognition Vidar Smart 2xHDxLT ANPR cameras at the tolls near Trapiche, Cabildo, and Niquía.


Between July and September, ten employees of Deviteck working in the fields of development, engineering, installation, adequacy, programming, and detail engineering were sent from the Bogotá headquarters to the Antiqueño territory to work on the integration. They assisted in the cameras’ strategic positioning to achieve good vehicle coverage.

Adaptive Recognition Vidar Smart ANPR camera

An image of the license plate of passing vehicles is captured as a result of the Vidar ANPR camera’s built-in triggering. The license plate data and optional make, model, and color information are then forwarded to a central database, and the system can update the counter of vehicles using the highway.


Deviteck also helped with stabilization, including monitoring and testing the vehicle identification functionality, fully optimizing the system for the best possible vehicle identification and classification outcome. The system installation is now ready and can read an average of 50,000 license plates per day.

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

Adaptive Recognition’s Vidar Smart ANPR cameras make up an integral part of the vehicle counting system implemented by Deviteck.

Vidar Smart 2xHDxLT cameras, thanks to two 4-core built-in CPUs, have exceptional computing power: they are capable of video streaming, ANPR, MMR, and data streaming at the same time. They perform ANPR-related tasks onboard with the Carmen® engine and forward license plate, and optionally vehicle make, model, and color information to video management systems.

Vidar can cover up to two lanes thanks to its high-performing sensors. In addition, it self-adjusts its own zoom and focus settings for perfect imaging and flawless ANPR results.


They are equipped with a set of dual optics, which allows them to capture both license plate-focused and overview images of vehicles simultaneously, as well as a built-in laser trigger, which triggers the camera to capture images just at the right time. There is no need for any external trigger source.

Vidar Smart ANPR Camera in action

Chilly nights or summer heat waves do not mean a challenge for this resistant camera. Vidar was designed to withstand even the harshest of weathers.

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Vidar is a top choice for vehicle counting systems such as the one implemented by Deviteck in Colombia.  

Nevertheless, thanks to its versatility and advanced features, it offers solutions for many other use cases, too, such as the recognition of hazardous material signs, vehicle axle identification, and categorization or passenger counting. 

If you would like to discover the range of use cases of the Vidar product family, visit its dedicated category page →  

Adaptive Recognition’s enforcement cameras monitor highway emergency lanes in Greece  

Emergency lane violations are not uncommon on highways in Greece. To prevent such offenses, the Greek Traffic Police installed a complex system to enable a real time monitoring of emergency lanes on highways in the direction to Athens.

The Challenge 

Greece is no less an exception from traffic violations during congestions than any other country. In case of a traffic jam, drivers are often tempted to move along the emergency lane to get ahead to their destination. However, such violations are detrimental to traffic safety: they exacerbate highway congestion and create unsafe driving conditions.  

Not only are emergency lanes interrupted as a result of such practices, but emergency vehicles and road patrollers face obstacles in their emergency responses.  

The Technical Challenges  

The Greek Traffic Police Olympia Odos wanted to install enforcement cameras on Greece’s motorways. They needed a complex system which ensured real-time monitoring of emergency lane violations on highways and was able to log violations automatically.  

Installation of enforcement cameras on a Greek highway

The logs could then be printed by the police and sent to violators.  

The system had to be tested after its installation which was scheduled for spring 2020 when many vehicles were expected on the highways during the Easter vacations. However, the testing of the system had to be delayed because of the coronavirus lockdown.  

The Solution 

The Traffic Police contacted the system integrator NewAlert ICT Systems about its request. NewAlert agreed to co-operate with the client, even if the request was beyond its contractual obligations.  

The integrator partner installed a pair of emergency lane supervision and enforcement cameras in the existing gantries in the direction to Athens, in N. Peramos and Kinetta I/C and a monitoring workstation in the Traffic Police building.  

Enforcement camera installed on a gantry

The installation of the enforcement cameras was communicated to the public and was also covered in the media. The fact that the Traffic Policy has taken steps to enforce traffic violations served as a deterrent. Drivers are much less likely to enter emergency lanes on highways if they know they are being monitored.  

Thus, the new system increased safety and ensured an overall better level of service for highway users. This was also reflected in the fall in the number of user complaints in association with emergency lane violations.  

Adaptive Recognition Solutions used 

Key elements of the system are ANPR cameras manufactured by Adaptive Recognition. EnforceCAM cameras used for traffic analytics and SmartCAM HDx cameras were part of Olympia Odos’ system. SmartCAM HDx cameras are powered by the industry-leading Carmen ANPR Software and are equipped with a quad-core CPU. The device, after capturing an image, attaches the ANPR data to the image and sends it to the central database. SmartCAM cameras have the feature of infrared lighting, which ensures outstanding ANPR recognition even under suboptimal light conditions. These cameras are weatherproof and durable.  

SmartCAM cameras have been discontinued recently and replaced by Vidar ANPR cameras. Vidar ANPR cameras are so smart that they automatically tune themselves for the best settings to optimize image capturing and ANPR recognition. They do this by measuring distance, analyzing their environment and recommending a tilt angle. With this functionality, set-up is a breeze.  

Other capabilities of the camera include built-in laser for vehicle detection, a dual optic system for multi-purpose imaging, license plate recognition, make, model, and color identification, and even speed measurement. Vidar makes it all possible in the most innovative way we have ever designed. 

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Monitoring highway emergency lanes is one of the application areas covered by the modular design of Adaptive Recognition’s VIDAR ANPR camera. 

However, thanks to its versatility and advanced features, Vidar offers solutions for many other use-cases as well from the recognition of hazardous material signs to image-based vehicle axle identification and categorization. Other models are capable of passenger counting. 

If you would like to discover the range of use-cases of the Vidar product family, visit its dedicated category page → 

Vidar PAX cameras manage passenger boarding at Destination Gotland ferries in Sweden

The Challenge

Destination Gotland is a Swedish ferry-line with a fleet of four high-speed Ro-Pax ferries that runs state-subsidized domestic ferries from Nynäshamn, Oskarshamn and Västervik on mainland Sweden to Visby on the island of Gotland. It is a wholly owned daughter company of Rederi AB Gotland that operates other lines and types of vessels. The line transports over 1.4 million passengers and 640,000 lane meters of freight to the island of Gotland each year. During the high season, up to 16 ferries depart for the three-hour journey between mainland Sweden and the island of Gotland every day.  

Passenger cars in line to board a Destination Gotland ferry

Passenger administration is difficult to manage with such a high volume of traffic. The verification of tickets and the check-in of vehicles is a lengthy process, and it is an additional challenge to optimise the use of available parking space. Destination Gotland was looking for a solution to automatically count passengers during boarding to make the process faster and more accurate.   

The Solution 

In 2022 Adaptive Recognition delivered a complex passenger counting solution to Destination Gotland consisting of Adaptive Recognition’s Vidar PAX ANPR cameras for passenger counting and the GDS data server.  

The VIDAR PAX camera is a purpose-built version of Adaptive Recognition’s flagship VIDAR smart camera, which is standard hardware developed and manufactured by Adaptive Recognition. The integrated polarization filter ensures steady image quality, while the PAX software engine identifies passengers and their location within the vehicle. 

The Vidar PAX camera in action

Upon reaching the optical trigger at the detection zone, the image taken by the primary sensor of the front camera is used to read the car’s plate number and nationality, and identify its make, model and colour. As the vehicle rolls forward, the secondary sensor – combined with the side cameras – feeds the PAX software engine with a series of images taken of the interior of the car. 

The engine records the number of passengers sitting inside and assigns them their detected position. Finally, the optional VIDAR smart camera, placed at the back, provides information about the rear plate number and nationality. The result – broken down to occupants sitting in the first row, seated in the back row, and the total number of people – is added to the event package, which includes ANPR and MMR information. 

An overview of the passenger counting system of Destination Gotland

Passenger Counting is the smart way to automate vehicle check-in procedures, verify pre-booked ferry tickets portside, or control access to traffic lanes and parking spots restricted for high occupancy vehicles, such as families traveling together. For the commercial sector, this system grants real time information about the number of visitors and customers arriving to the company premises before they’ve even left their car. 

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

Vidar PAX is an ANPR camera that takes perfect images of the interior of vehicles and returns the number of passengers seated at the front and the rear of the cabin. The device features a set of dual-optics camera modules and LED arrays to see through all common types of windshields with clarity and without disturbing drivers. Vidar PAX cameras are smart enough to automatically tune themselves for the best settings: zoom and focus is adjusted based on the telemetry report of the onboard gyroscope, accelerometer and laser. 

Built-in triggers ensure that no vehicle is missed. The camera returns high quality images that are suitable for facial recognition, vehicle occupancy detection, as well as seatbelt and mobile phone usage control. Thanks to its strong encryption, this sensitive data is protected.  

Globessey Data Server (GDS) is a combined data server and middleware to make information collected from different endpoints available through a standardized interface. It is a complete traffic data middleware solution which is the soul of any traffic monitoring system.  

The Software includes a database that was designed specifically for the storage of traffic-related information in a high-speed, scalable and easy to manage format, as well as a built-in ergonomic graphic user interface.  

GDS collects data from numerous endpoints and handles queries of various business units effortlessly. Apart from passenger counting, the software is also used by police organizations, toll collection agencies or any other traffic authority. 

Know More

Passenger counting is one of the many use-cases covered by the modular design of Adaptive Recognition’s VIDAR Smart camera. 

However, thanks to its versatility and advanced features, Vidar offers solutions for many other use-cases as well from the recognition of hazardous material signs to image-based vehicle axle identification and categorization. Other models are capable of recognizing container codes. 

If you would like to discover the range of use-cases of the Vidar product family, visit its dedicated category page → 

Adaptive Recognition Passport Readers Support Border Control in Georgia

The Challenge

When our distributor partner MC Technology first visited the site of a border crossing station in Georgia, it realized a great potential for improvement in the existing border control process. Technologies used for passport control were outdated, which resulted in long queues and lengthy waiting times. Georgia’s authorities, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Patrol Police and the Revenue Services Customs Department (RS), were recruiting new employees and training staff on best practices to make border control faster. They needed a new solution to keep up with the increase in the number of border crossings and boost in international travel after the ease of COVID-related travel restrictions. Furthermore, they had to face the use of convincing counterfeit passports that posed a threat to border security.

Georgian authorities decided to upgrade their existing equipment.

The authorities in Georgia had been considering modernizing their existing equipment and training their personnel to use advanced technologies to facilitate procedures for travelers. Overall, they envisioned a smoother border control process without giving up on border security. MIA and RS were looking for an ID authentication solution that spots counterfeit documents within seconds and offers an excellent price per quality ratio. The European Union and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had the vision to enhance border management capacities in Georgia with Adaptive Recognition’s state-of-the-art passport readers.

The Solution 

As part of a broader EU-funded programme aimed at various countries outside major European political and economic unions, the EU and the IOM donated 83 advanced passport readers to Georgia’s MIA and RS in 2021. “Improving border security is an area of close cooperation between the EU and Georgia […]. This is part of the EU’s wider support to ensure modern and efficient management of borders in Georgia and the safety and security of Georgians ”, said Catalin Gherman, Deputy Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Georgia, when the first batch of 20 Adaptive Recognition passport readers was delivered in June 2021 to the MIA’s Police Academy.

A total of 83 passport readers were donated to MIA, of which 63 were distributed at selected border crossing points.

The 20 passport readers, donated to the MIA Academy, are used to train border personnel who will be assigned to different border crossing points of Georgia. Thus, border control officers will get familiar with the device’s capabilities before taking up their duties at border crossing points. Thus, the remaining 63 devices were delivered to trained police officers at selected Georgian border crossing points, completing the objective of strengthening the country’s border control processes.

The results met the expectations of Georgian authorities. With this technological upgrade, Georgia has strengthened its border management capabilities in line with best European practices. Travelers are screened appropriately before entering and leaving Georgian territories, but this does not come at the cost of long waiting times at border crossing points.

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

The key element of the new, more efficient Georgian border control process is Osmond, Adaptive Recognition’s latest advanced passport readers and ID authenticator device. Encompassing over two decades of expertise in the ID verification market, Osmond is a true champion when it comes to quick and efficient validation of the authenticity of passports.

Osmond is a win-win for every project owner thinking about strengthening state borders in an easy and affordable manner. For one, Osmond—and Adaptive Recognition’s accompanying free software, Authentication Checker—can analyze documents as they were forgery experts with decades of experience. By using special illuminations, including white light, infrared, UV, and even oblique light, Osmond devices can thoroughly examine each layer of the identity document, going even as far as making even microprints visible. This guarantees that no fake passports slip under the radar, no matter how convincing they may be.

Osmond was designed with the user in mind. All models are guaranteed to last long thanks to having no moving parts and features like the scratch-resistant scanning surface and IP54-protected case. Moreover, Osmond does everything automatically, retrieving data instantly from the document and displaying the results on your computer screen within a second. The device can also read data from the RFID chips of e-IDs and e-passports, allowing border control officers to verify the document even if it’s worn. More impressively, Osmond isn’t hindered by language barriers, being able to interpret passports using Latin, Cyrillic, or even Georgian characters.

Lastly, all Osmond models are ready for integration from the get-go. Although they work as standalone units, they can also be used in automatic border control (ABC) e-gates continuously deployed at airports and border crossing points.

Know More

Osmond is a champion when it comes to safeguarding borders and airports. However, thanks to its versatility and advanced features, it can be used in many more situations. If you want to learn more about Osmond, visit its dedicated website →

Are you interested in creating a border control project similar to the Georgian MIA? Our experts are more than welcome to discuss the details with you and whether Osmond or even a project-specific, special passport reader can be adapted to your business needs. Get in touch with us here →

Automated Road Tolling in Kazakhstan Is Now a Reality With Adaptive Recognition Technology

The Challenge

Being one of the Western neighbors of China—one of the world’s strongest economies—the Central-Asian country of Kazakhstan is an important transportation corridor between China and Europe. As such, it has to deal with massive traffic, most of which is related to transporting cargo between the two continents by road. Ensuring trucks and buses are correctly told apart from cars with regards to correct road usage charging can be a logistical nightmare without partially- or fully-automated tolling systems.

To complicate things further, trucks on Kazakh toll roads are charged based on their overall weight, or, in the case of buses, the number of passengers they carry. The requirement was that trucks and buses should be correctly categorized without stopping them.

Tolling Fees Applied for the Almaty-Khorgos Highway in Kazakhstan
Toll rates for the Almaty – Khorgos highway. Source: KazAvtoZhol.

Kazakhstan recognized the need for a fast, effective, and, more importantly, automated tolling system, especially since the country is now a participant in the “Western Europe – Western China” framework project aiming at creating strong trade relations with Europe and China. To achieve that, KazAvtoZhol (QazAvtoJol), the national road management operator of Kazakhstan, upgraded three major highways with 20 weigh-in-motion stations and ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) technology comprised of special industrial cameras and software by Adaptive Recognition.

The Solution

At the time of writing, there are three highways of 471 km (292.66 mi) in total equipped with the new system:

The new Kazakh system is a hybrid that encompasses traditional toll plazas located at each end of the affected highways, and ANPR cameras. The cameras are at the plazas and on so-called control arches above the roads, reading and recognizing license plates—with up to 99.8% accuracy—and forwarding them to a central system where they are matched with the proof of payment. This way, KazAvtoZhol can effectively and precisely monitor and categorize all vehicles, even if they haven’t entered or exited the highway at the toll plazas. Thanks to the even distribution of control arches, drivers can be charged for only those road sections (zones) they used.

An ANPR-based Tolling Gantry Over One of the Kazakh Highways
A gantry with ANPR cameras above one of the highways.

Drivers are encouraged to prepay their road usage, which costs 50% less than paying at the toll gates. This smart move by KazAvtoZhol prevents long queues from forming at toll plazas, and, simultaneously, shows the future of the Kazakh highway toll automation project—which we’ll also talk about shortly.

The Weigh-in-Motion System

Since trucks on these three Kazakh highways are charged based on their weight, the new tolling system also had to be implemented with a solution that can effectively measure freight vehicles’ individual weights without stopping them on their way. This is achieved by a complex system of special automated measuring instruments (AIC SAIS) that measure vehicles’ dynamic and static parameters. During the measurement, the following data is acquired:

Although different elements within the system generate the majority of data, all photos taken of the vehicles and the license plate data are courtesy of the ANPR cameras.

Adaptive Recognition ANPR Cameras and IR Light Unit on a Gantry
Adaptive Recognition ANPR cameras and IR illuminators on a gantry above a Kazakh highway.

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

As the precise recognition of license plates and vehicle categorization were crucial to the automation of the Kazakh highway tolling system, state-of-the-art ANPR solutions were required. As such, KazAvtoZhol turned to Asia Great, which recommended Adaptive Recognition’s FreeWayCAM models alongside external infrared illuminators and the company’s market-leading ANPR software, Carmen® FreeFlow.

Although the FreeWayCAM product family has been discontinued—being replaced by Vidar that unites the durability and reliability of FreeWayCAM with onboard ANPR processing—the cameras made quite an impression with KazAvtoZhol. Even during the test period, FreeWayCAM and Carmen® stood out with their exceptional 99.8% accuracy. This is why more than 150 cameras have been purchased and spread across the three highways enjoying the benefits of the new automated tolling system. Additionally, since 2012, 32 of these cameras have been also aiding the 20 weigh-in-motion stations by providing accurate license plate data and quality images for categorization purposes.

Adaptive Recognition ANPR Cameras at a Tolling Plaza in Kazakhstan
Adaptive Recognition ANPR cameras at one of the tolling plazas in Kazakhstan.

One of the great advantages of Adaptive Recognition products is that they are future-proof regardless of the date of issuing. The cameras are designed to last long, proven by their durable casing and the minimum amount of moving parts. They can also be easily moved to other locations, which can come in handy in the next phase of Kazakhstan’s highway toll automation project that will completely eliminate the use of toll plazas.

As for the ANPR software accompanying the cameras, its future-proof nature is ensured by constant improvements to recognition speed and accuracy. This is how Carmen® can now recognize over 38,000 plate types—including Kazakh, Russian, Chinese, etc.

Related Products for Similar Tolling Projects

As we mentioned, the ANPR cameras used in this Kazakh project aren’t available anymore. Their upgraded successor is the Vidar traffic monitoring camera. With Vidar’s versatility, however, projects like the automated tolling of Kazakh toll roads can be easily achieved with various other traffic monitoring and road safety enhancement options.

Vidar Speed

Vidar Speed is the camera that knows everything traffic monitoring system providers need, combining a sturdy traffic monitoring camera with license plate recognition and speed measurement. In fact, the 4D radar included with each unit isn’t just for getting METAS-certified speed results up to 320 km/h (199 mph); it can accurately and effectively separate objects based on speed, distance, horizontal and vertical angles. The ANPR data, courtesy of the onboard ANPR processor powered by Carmen®, is only the icing on the cake.

Vidar Axle

Vidar Axle is a member of the Vidar family designed for axle identification and counting. It’s ideal for various application areas, including but not limited to road tolling. This camera stands out from the competition because it provides side-scan-type reconstructed images containing axle count and vehicle category metadata.

Vehicle detection is highly accurate thanks to the industry-first built-in laser trigger technology complemented by an image-based vehicle detection algorithm. All of this is housed under the same sturdy, IK10 and IP67-certified all Vidar models are known for.

Vidar PAX

How can you determine the number of vehicle occupants without blinding them with glaring flashlights or stopping the vehicle? With solutions like the dedicated Vidar PAX camera for passenger counting and identification.

This model of the Vidar family is designed to capture high-resolution images for accurate recognition and identification of vehicle occupants. It has extra-wide lenses and synchronized, built-in LED illuminators—that can be accompanied by optional external high-performance illuminators—always guaranteeing the results you are looking for. High speed, tinted windscreens, darkness, high-glare sunlight, bad weather, etc., aren’t a challenge either; Vidar PAX easily penetrates most windscreen types in any condition.

Know More

If you are an end user or system integrator looking to implement a solution similar to our project in Kazakhstan, look no further. Adaptive Recognition’s team of experts is more than happy to answer your questions and determine whether a solution including a member of the Carmen® ANPR/ALPR software family and/or an Adaptive Recognition ANPR/ALPR camera can be adapted to your business needs. Get in touch with us here →

Adaptive Recognition ID Scanners Ease Guest Registry at Caribbean Hotel Chain

The Challenge

Being mostly established in the Spanish-speaking regions of the world, the Be Live Hotels chain handles an immense amount of traffic all year around. Guest experience can be severely hindered though if the impression is a cumbersome client registration process.

This is exactly what the Be Live Hotels chain was facing: tired guests arrived after many hours of travel, and their data was registered manually, which took several minutes. Furthermore, guests’ IDs couldn’t be properly checked against national and international criminal databases. The Caribbean Be Live Hotel establishments decided to significantly accelerate client registry and ID verification processes by acquiring state-of-the-art passport reader devices developed and manufactured by Adaptive Recognition, a major European player in the ID scanner market.

Swimming Pools Inside a Be Live Hotel in the Caribbean

The Solution

The solution provided for the Be Live Hotel chain is simple, straightforward, and, more importantly, future-proof. Adaptive Recognition ID scanners are designed for easy use, 24/7.

During the guest registration process, the guest or personnel member places the ID document onto the scanning surface of the ID reader. The device then snaps photos of the document using different lights to expose hidden security elements, proving the ID’s authenticity. At the same time, information stored in the document’s visual inspection zone (VIZ) and machine-readable zone (MRZ) is read, recognized, and forwarded to the hotel’s registry software, where it’s entered into the appropriate place, such as a registry form. All of this takes mere seconds, significantly speeding up the time guests have to spend at the reception.

Thanks to these improvements, the Be Live Hotels chain not only achieved what they were aiming for—a better and safer client registration experience—but it also plans to acquire two more devices besides the existing two scanners. In fact, the already deployed ID readers are supposed to serve the hotel chain as long as possible, proven by the fact that when the system received a major software upgrade, integrators made sure that the new software was fully compatible with the scanners.

Reception Desk With Combo Smart ID Scanner at Be Live Hotels

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

System integrators creating the new guest registration system for the Caribbean branch of Be Live Hotels opted for the Combo Smart ID scanner models.

Although these scanners have since evolved into an even more advanced model, their durability is unquestionable. Not only that, but Combo Smart models are compact and can be used for multiple purposes when it comes to the full-page reading and verification of ICAO-standard travel documents, as well as their non-ICAO counterparts. As Combo Smart—and subsequent smart ID scanners—possesses an OCR software library and SDK, integration is as easy as it gets.

Combo Smart models were equipped with RFID antennas to read data from e-IDs own RFID tags, giving further options for hotel staff to verify the scanned document’s authenticity. At the same time, Combo Smart always takes such images of the examined ID that they reveal all of their ‘secrets,’ down to the tiniest of security details.

Combo Smart and Hungarian Passport During Guest Registration

Products Ideal for Similar Guest Registry Systems

Like we mentioned, Combo Smart models have been discontinued and replaced by even more sophisticated passport readers and ID scanners. In the following paragraphs, you can learn more about these products, allowing you to choose the model best fitting your needs to create systems similar to that of the Be Live Hotels chain.

Osmond

The successor of the Combo Smart and Adaptive Recognition’s flagship passport reader product, Osmond is virtually unbeatable in enhancing ID verification processes. In addition to providing everything its predecessor did in stylish housing, Osmond ups the ante by providing oblique light with which embossed and tactile elements of travel documents can be easily made visible. Osmond also fully supports the reading and authentication of security elements developed by JURA and can take information out of RFID chips, barcodes, and more. Thanks to features like Adaptive Light Control and Reflection Removal, all images taken with Osmond are optimal for ID verification.

Long-lasting operation is guaranteed by containing no moving parts and support regarding firmware, software, and necessary certificates.

Combo Smart Kiosk

Designed for flexible physical integration in kiosk applications—including reception desks—Combo Smart Kiosk is the perfect way to add the power of Adaptive Recognition ID scanners to your system in a discrete way. Aside from the most important features disclosed in the previous section about Osmond, Combo Smart Kiosk models are equipped with easy-to-interpret LED lights and buzzers, aiding guests in performing client registration for themselves in mere seconds. For those looking for the full Osmond experience with the kiosk integration option, contact our experts, who can tell you more about this opportunity.

Combo Scan

The power of flawless ID reading and verification in the palm of your hand; this is Combo Scan, Adaptive Recognition’s most compact passport scanner device to date. It is more than capable of doing the tasks its bigger ‘brothers’ can and features everything users look for in compact and straightforward ID scanners: powering via USB connection and LED-indicated operation feedback for a better user experience.

Know More

Are you planning to use an ID scanner to improve your clients’ experience? Do you want to know more about the current line of Adaptive Recognition ID reading and verification solutions and how they fit into your application area? Our experts are more than happy to answer your questions. Contact them here →

Adaptive Recognition Cameras Keep Watch Over Dubai World Expo

The Challenge

A world expo is always a prestigious event. During a short period of time, countries from all around the world represent themselves in some form or another, including the host. In fact, expos are a great opportunity for host states to show the rest of the world what they are best at.

Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had to face unprecedented challenges throughout the construction of the site housing Expo 2020 Dubai. Planned to be held between October 2020 and April 2021, the expo had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic—the effects of which required visitors to provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test once the expo finally opened after a one-year delay.

Technical Challenges

To comply with the expo’s strict requirements and be future-proof at the same time, the end user wanted a complex system comprising several elements.

These include automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) devices, under-vehicle security systems (UVSS), access control systems (ACS), and video management systems (VMS). In addition to integrating with the existing security systems, the new solution also had to comply with the security standards of the relevant authority in Dubai.

All vehicle movement at the 2020 expo had to be logged and shared with the authority’s city link server, and all the systems were required to be handled from a single interface.

As for ANPR’s role in the whole equation, logging all movement within the expo’s territory was only the most basic task. ANPR was also used for access control purposes at the expo’s gate barriers to allow restricted access of, i.e., employees, VIPs, delivery vehicles, and contractors into the expo parameters.

Picture of the Dubai Expo 2020 Showing the Pavilions

The Solution

Having installed a similar system for the Safe City Platforms of Dubai before, the client decided to opt for the solution proposed by SSK Technologies. In contrast with the previous system, the new solution by SSK managed to unify everything the client wanted under a single platform named VDS. Aside from aggregating all the information from the separate system components, VDS can also handle individual alerts, displaying them on its single interface for the client.

Impressively, VDS not only turned out to be highly flexible, reliable, and accurate, but it also surpassed the expectations of the client by offering the aggregation of all of the following:

The collection of accurate license plate information heavily relies on the eyes of the whole system. This has been realized by using a total of 256 cameras throughout the expo’s territory—all of which were developed and manufactured in-house by SSK’s partner, Adaptive Recognition.

Adaptive Recognition Solutions Used

Adaptive Recognition’s highly-advanced ANPR cameras are key elements of the project. Although the system mostly relies on earlier models, out of 256 cameras, 46 are the latest Vidar models.

Vidar is a win-win for projects like the one realized by SSK Technologies. These smart cameras perform ANPR-related tasks on board, meaning that images captured by the device are already forwarded to video management systems with all relevant license plates and, optionally, vehicle make, model, and color information. Constant accuracy is provided by Adaptive Recognition’s industry-leading ANPR engine, Carmen®, a set of dual optics to capture license plate-focused and overview images of vehicles simultaneously, and an industry-first built-in spot laser that triggers the camera to capture the necessary images at the precise moment they are needed, allowing long-lasting, economic operation.

Vidar is designed to withstand extreme situations too, such as extreme heat, chilly nights, (sand)storms, or even desert critters. The smart models chosen for the Dubai Expo project are also equipped with dual optics, allowing operators to snap overview images simultaneously with pictures focusing only on the vehicle’s license plate.

Products Ideal for Expanding Existing Traffic Monitoring Systems

Since SSK’s system developed for the Dubai Expo was never realized in this form before, opting for brand new ANPR cameras was a better choice than relying on IP cameras already in place. However, Adaptive Recognition has products for project owners who would rather upgrade their existing systems with most of their equipment left intact.

Carmen® ANPR Software Family

The Carmen® ANPR software family relies on the same engine that has been in continuous development for decades. Depending on your chosen solution, number plates, dangerous goods labels, shipment tracking codes, or vehicle make and model information (MMR) can be easily retrieved by Carmen®, transforming images into valuable data packets. In addition to providing worldwide coverage for over 38,000 different license plates and being easy to integrate into any system, Carmen® is also fully camera-agnostic, making it an ideal solution for project owners who want to keep their existing IP cameras.

Carmen® Nano & Box

The latest additions to Adaptive Recognition’s fleet of innovative ANPR solutions, Carmen® Nano and Carmen® Box are the ideal options for those who want to upgrade their existing traffic monitoring, parking, or access control systems with the power of license plate recognition without paying a fortune.

Being based on the NVIDIA® Jetson NanoTM, Carmen® Nano and Box provide powerful processing power, video-based triggering, and ultra-fast, precise ANPR capabilities for many applications. Being camera-agnostic like their big sister, Carmen®,  you can easily create future-proof traffic analytics systems and handle video streams from any IP camera. Additionally, both Carmen® Nano and Carmen® Box utilize Adaptive Recognition’s Device Tool. This simple and straightforward interface handles the cameras connected to these solutions and provides various settings to make sure you are always in full control of your system.

Know More

Are you interested in any of the products mentioned in this article? Would you like to know more about how they can be used in other application areas? Our experts are more than happy to answer your questions and whether a solution including a member of the Carmen® ANPR/ALPR software family and/or an Adaptive Recognition ANPR/ALPR camera can be adapted to your business needs. Get in touch with us here →

ANPR Prevents Drive-Off Fuel Theft at New Zealand Fuel Stations 

The Challenge

Although there are still some fuel stations where forecourt service is provided, self-service stations are more common. They offer the right amount of convenience and freedom for motorists to fill their vehicles on their own, pay for the chosen fuel via various methods and then continue their journey. However, ever since the introduction of self-service fuel stations, operators and staff had to face the dreaded phenomenon known as drive-offs, a form of theft in which motorists drive away without paying for their fuel. 

Fuel stations without forecourt service, which comprise the majority of New Zealand fuel sites, are especially prone to this type of crime, but even at those places where forecourt service is provided, the staff needs to stay extremely vigilant to prevent unpaying customers from leaving without paying. This prevents the fuel station staff from performing other, more important tasks, not to mention that if they fail to recover the fuel theft, the service station has to face severe financial damages. In 2016, prior to rolling out Focus Digital Security’s Carmen-based ANPR technology, Z Energy alone reported that they were losing around $1.5 million per year as a result of drive-offs.

Refueling a Car at a Fuel Station Not Prepared for Drive-Offs

The Solution

To combat the phenomenon of drive-offs, several of New Zealand’s largest fuel operators have implemented a solution that prevents fuel thieves from committing the crime even before exiting their vehicle. The selected computer-vision technology system was pioneered by Focus Digital Security Solutions, New Zealand’s most experienced ANPR solution provider and a major reseller of Adaptive Recognition’s advanced security hardware and software.

Aside from protecting over 3,000 fuel lanes throughout 50+ towns and cities nationwide with Adaptive Recognition’s industry-leading automatic number plate recognition software, Focus Digital’s custom-designed fuel solutions, which are designed around the Digifort Video Management System, also comprises of

A Speciality Against Drive-Offs

What makes this new system unique is that it works in perfect unison with Auror, the Retail Crime Intelligence platform used by New Zealand’s and the world’s largest and best retailers to reduce crime, loss, and harm. On this intelligence platform, any retail crime can be reported in a fast and efficient manner. Thanks to this seamless integration, the system can detect a license plate and match it against the Vehicle of Interest (VoI) list of the retailer. This list comprises of vehicles that have been involved in prior non-payment or crime incidents at that retailer. When the plate matches the VoI list, Auror instantly generates an on-site alert, preventing crime before it can be committed. Auror can even determine if the detected plate has been registered as stolen, or is a vehicle of interest for Police.

The Schematics of the System That Prevents Drive-Offs
This is how the system works.
On top: manual reporting of drive-off via Auror.
On the bottom: automated reporting of drive-off via Auror using ANPR technology – if no prepayment is involved.
Image courtesy of Auror.

Interestingly, the solution also takes care of first-time offenders. When such an offender drives off without paying for fuel, their license plate is registered by law enforcement databases. Auror offers a debt recovery solution to recover the missing fuel payment and ensure that the first-time offender has the opportunity to repay the amount should the drive-off be the result of a genuine oversight, or think twice before attempting to re-offend.

Adaptive Recognition’s Role in the System

The heart of the whole system is Carmen® FreeFlow, one of the most powerful and versatile solutions for license plate capturing on the market. Since Carmen® is an SDK, it supports any platform that enabled the video monitoring system chosen by Focus Digital to integrate ANPR features easily aside from providing regular video surveillance. In addition to that, Carmen® is fully camera agnostic, which smartened up the 600+ network cameras to detect, capture, and even recognize the license plates of organized retail criminals.

Carmen® also offers region-based or worldwide coverage of license plates from a total of 160+ states of the world. In the case of New Zealand fuel stations, this means that it doesn’t matter if the offender’s vehicle is registered in the country or another state; the license plate data is returned instantly and then matched with the appropriate databases, preventing offenses like drive-offs.

Further ANPR Options for Similar Systems Preventing Drive-Offs

For clients like fuel station operators, Carmen® is the perfect choice to reduce the number of fuel thefts to zero. It even allows oil and fuel companies and their branded wholesalers to install more fuel stations without forecourt service to speed up the refueling process—thus further elevating customer satisfaction—but without the risk of losing revenue via fuel theft.

Carmen® is so much more than an accurate, high-end ANPR software. Aside from its speed, reliability, camera agnosticism, and platform independence, Carmen® also offers an MMR engine add-on to return such data as the vehicle’s make, model, category, and color. With this, you can further aid authorities’ work in exposing crimes such as a license plate switch or build valuable databases to understand better customers’ habits and improve services.

For clients wishing to build a complex system similar to the one described above from scratch, there is the option to choose the Carmen® plus third-party cameras solution. However, Carmen® works even better with Adaptive Recognition’s ANPR cameras, like Vidar or Einar. Both models integrate Carmen® onboard the camera and via a cloud connection, respectively. The integrated ANPR features allow Vidar and Einar to perform the license plate recognition right before the images are sent to the client for further use and processing.

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To learn more about these projects and whether a similar solution utilizing Carmen® can be adapted to your business needs, get in touch with us here →

Carmen® Deals With 40,000 License Plates a Day in Cairo, Egypt

The Challenge

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is notorious for heavy traffic. Traffic monitoring isn’t an easy task for authorities. They have to read and recognize the license plates of tens of thousands of vehicles. Also, they have to do it as quickly as possible if traffic flows at a rapid pace. This becomes crucial when authorities want to identify a wanted vehicle and stop its driver from escaping.

In addition to the extreme number of vehicles to be monitored, license plate recognition is further challenged by the wide variety of plates. Egyptian license plates feature small Arabic letters and different background colors to clearly distinguish vehicle types from each other. Moreover, placing plates on vehicles isn’t regulated. This means that they can appear in different positions which makes reading and recognizing them quite challenging.

As such, the end-user needed a solution that would confidently deal with Egyptian and other Northern African license plates, capturing their data with utmost accuracy and forwarding them to a centralized location with the relevant statistics included.

The Solution

In the end, the Egyptian client went with a complex system proposed by 6SS, a provider of advanced security solutions. Their solution comprises of the following elements:

Thanks to this system, the client resolved multiple problems at once. For one, they got a centralized, fully automated system that can handle information coming in from 15 different IP cameras scattered across the city of Cairo. Since the new system heavily utilizes these cameras, there was no need to install special devices either. Thus, the operator could achieve goals without spending a fortune.

The software client arranging the acquired data in a straightforward manner solves another issue: data storage. The solution of 6SS significantly reduced the size of data without compromising quality. The connected servers store data for a year before deletion. Optionally, users can export information in Excel or PDF format to free up space at any time.

Results in the Archive After ANPR Performed by Carmen® ANPR Image
Data can be easily searched for a year thanks to the intuitive data storage solution.
Image courtesy of 6SS.

Speaking of exporting data, the servers are connected to the databases of Egyptian law enforcement authorities. As such, the user can easily perform cross-checks for stolen or wanted vehicles. In fact, the end-user receives alerts of any wanted vehicle captured by any of the 15 IP cameras via a built-in alarm, allowing road traffic authorities to take action.

Systems Used

Due to the complexity of reading Arabic license plates, 6SS decided to use Adaptive Recognition’s flagship automatic number/license plate recognition (ANPR) product, Carmen® FreeFlow. By being on the OCR market for many decades, Carmen® had the time to develop into a true powerhouse that can deal with any license plate regardless of location. In fact, Carmen® can confidently recognize a total of 36,000+ different license plates—a list that is expanding to this very day.

However, reading and recognizing Egyptian license plates wasn’t the only reason why Carmen® was chosen for this project. The software is also fully confident with vehicles coming from countries neighboring Egypt. It can also categorize plates based on the country of origin. Plate color isn’t an issue for Carmen® either; the software can easily retrieve license plate characters, regardless of light and weather conditions. More impressively, Carmen® also solves the issues regarding the position of license plates on the vehicle. This way the operators can capture license plates in situations where the naked eye may already fail.

The Interface by 6SS Using Carmen® ANPR Image for Arabic License Plate Recognition
Examples of Arabic/Egyptian license plates confidently recognized by Carmen® ANPR Image and displayed via the interface of 6SS.
Image courtesy of 6SS.

In addition to that, this project perfectly demonstrates two of the key features of Carmen® FreeFlow. Firstly, Carmen® has no problems with reading and recognizing tens of thousands of license plates daily. And secondly, this software is fully camera agnostic, meaning that it can use any images originating from an IP camera.

Client Feedback About 6SS and Carmen® FreeFlow

Feedback from the end-user has been overwhelmingly positive. The system perfectly satisfies customer needs, especially regarding the accuracy of license plate recognition, which has been the main concern before the realization of the project. It also solved additional issues such as the daily management of 40,000 vehicles, centralizing data collection, and direct connection to road traffic authorities. As such, the end-user decided on a future system expansion to cover all governmental facilities and the highways around them.

Products Ideal for Expanding Existing Traffic Monitoring Systems

Thanks to Carmen®’s versatility regarding IP camera brands, you can integrate a new set of cameras into any system similar to what we just presented, whether or not you have already installed those devices. Although Carmen® ANPR Image is fully camera-agnostic, providing utmost confidence and reliability all the time, it best works with industrial cameras developed and manufactured by Adaptive Recognition.

Einar

Governmental facilities are well aware of the importance of monitoring the access and parking of those arriving by car. A regular IP camera might provide good image quality, but lacks smart features like automated barrier control or even advanced ANPR capabilities.

The Einar smart access control and parking camera, in addition to being highly economical—thanks to its plug-n-play design and its support of PoE+ technology—is a powerhouse hidden under a sturdy shell. The camera is also GPIO-compatible, meaning that by request, the camera can open barriers without human interference based on a list of authorized vehicle owners. Moreover, Einar fully supports onboard ANPR powered by Carmen®, whether ordered with the device or as part of a later software upgrade.

All Einar models come with memory expandability, video event storage, and the option to capture images in black & white or color.

Vidar

When it comes to advanced traffic monitoring solutions, Vidar is an undisputed champion. By now, durability has become an industry standard, but Vidar managed to take this to the next level. It can withstand extreme weather conditions—including Saharan heat. Certain models come with dual optics; they allow operators to snap overview images simultaneously with pictures focusing only on the vehicle’s license plate.

Thanks to the built-in laser trigger—an industry-first—the camera is triggered exactly the moment its optics detect a vehicle. Smart models of Vidar cameras have a dedicated onboard ANPR processor, powered by Carmen®. This way, the camera performs the necessary license plate recognition before the operators even retrieve images from the device.

Vidar is a long-lasting, economical device designed to tackle any traffic situation, from monitoring highways to performing access control-related tasks.

Know More

Would you like to know more about Carmen®, Vidar, or Einar? Are you interested in how you can utilize them in projects of traffic monitoring, logistics, retail, etc.? Our experts are happy to answer your questions and whether a solution including a member of the Carmen® ANPR/ALPR software family and/or an Adaptive Recognition ANPR/ALPR camera can be adapted to your business needs. Get in touch with us here →