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  • Open Road Tolling
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  • Plate Processing
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Plate Processing System (PPS™)

The UTS Plate Processing System (PPS) is a revolutionary advancement in automatic license plate recognition that can be used in addition to, or as a viable stand-alone alternative for, Electronic Toll Collection (ETC).

Leveraging the imaging capabilities of UTS Vehicle Capture and Recognition System (VCARS™) and complex image processing algorithms, the UTS PPS™ is able to achieve plate identification accuracies of 97% – 99%.

Design Benefits

• Multiple cameras and viewing angles and advanced algorithms yield extremely high OCR accuracies
• Ability to accurately identify both issuing state and plate type within state (OSR)
• Automatic, fast and accurate identification of plates can be performed in the lane in near-real time

The traditional approach to automatic license plate recognition in the toll industry has been to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engines on the single best image available. There are drawbacks to this approach, however, one of which is that there may not be a “single best image” capable of yielding an accurate OCR result. Many plates are dirty, damaged, or obscured by trailer hitches or other obstructions that prevent them from being accurately identified using OCR.

The UTS PPS™ solves this problem by analyzing all of the available images, rather than just the “single best image”. In a tolling lane with the UTS VCARS™, the vehicle plate is photographed by multiple cameras from different viewing angles. Employing complex image processing algorithms, the UTS PPS™ then uses the resulting image data to yield a highly accurate overall result for both the front and rear plates of a vehicle.

A notable advantage of the UTS PPS™ recording both front and rear license plates is the ability to support a more advanced video toll process with a higher likelihood of revenue collection on multi-axle, tractor-trailer, commercial vehicles.

Another limitation of traditional OCR plate recognition solutions is that they are not capable of determining the license plate’s issuing state. While these traditional systems may be able to determine the plate’s characters with varying degrees of success, a manual review is ultimately required to confirm state recognition. With the UTS PPS™, however, Optical State Recognition is automatic and it can even identify the type of plate within the state. Using the UTS VCARS™ full color, high resolution, digital images, the UTS PPS™ is able to detect and identify even the subtle differences between plate types within a state, resulting in very accurate license plate identification that includes the state, the type of plate, and the individual characters. As states continue to issue growing numbers of specialized license plates, identification of plate type becomes an increasingly important capability. (Note: At the time of deployment, the OSR system typically requires an initial training and calibration period for the particular license plates of the area where it is being operated.)