Typical project · Quebec and Ontario
Licence plate recognition at the gate of a logistics yard
These are typical projects, described from the kind of work we do. They do not describe a named client or a specific building.
Trucks queue in the street while a guard writes plates in a notebook, and when a trailer is missing nobody can say when it left. This is how a gate is equipped to read plates, open for known vehicles and keep a record that can be searched.
The situation: a busy gate, a notebook and a yard nobody can account for
The client is a logistics company with a fenced yard where tractors, trailers and employees' cars come and go all day and part of the night. At the gate, a guard notes each plate by hand and raises the barrier. At peak hours the trucks wait on the public road, and at night the barrier stays open because there is nobody to operate it.
When a customer asks at what time its trailer arrived, or when a trailer cannot be found, someone turns the pages of the notebook. The yard does have a few cameras, but none shows a plate that can be read, and the recordings cannot be searched by vehicle.
What the first visit to the gate finds
- Headlights and a low sunThe lanes run east to west. An ordinary camera sees a plate at noon and a glare at dawn, at dusk and whenever headlights are on.
- Plates in more than one placeA tractor carries its plate at the front, a trailer at the rear, and the two do not stay together for long.
- No cable to the gateThe gate is far from the building, across a paved yard. The barrier has power, but the guard house has no network connection.
- A barrier with a simple inputThe barrier controller accepts an opening command from another system: that is all it takes to tie it to a list of authorised vehicles.
What is designed, and why
The plate is read by cameras made for that one task; other cameras show the vehicle and the rest of the story.
- Plate-reading cameras on each laneEach lane, in and out, has a camera built to read plates, with its own lighting and a narrow view set for the speed and the angle of the vehicles. Front and rear plates are read where the layout of the gate allows it.
- An overview camera beside each readingA second camera shows the whole vehicle: each reading is kept with a picture of the truck and the trailer, not only a line of text.
- A list that opens the gateThe plates of the company's fleet, of the regular carriers and of the employees are on a list kept by the yard office. A known plate opens the barrier at the hours allowed for it; an unknown plate calls the guard or the office over an intercom at the lane.
- A record that can be searchedEach passage is kept with the plate, the time, the direction and the pictures. The office finds a vehicle by its plate, even a partial one, and sees all of its entries and exits.
- A radio link across the yardA short point-to-point radio link joins the gate to the building, which avoids opening the pavement. A small cabinet at the gate holds the switch and the power supplies.
How the work is sequenced while the trucks keep moving
The gate never closes for the work. One lane is taken at a time, and the guard keeps the notebook until the readings have proven themselves.
- Trial readings before the final mounting
A camera is set up temporarily on one lane, and the readings are compared with the guard's notes over several days, by day, by night and in bad weather.
- Link, cabinet and poles
The radio link, the cabinet and the camera poles are installed beside the lanes.
- One lane at a time
The cameras of the entry lane are mounted, aimed and adjusted, then those of the exit lane. Meanwhile the other lane serves both directions, under the guard's direction.
- The list and the barrier
The list of authorised plates is loaded with the yard office, and the barrier is connected only when the readings are reliable, by day first, with the guard present.
- The change to a night gate
The barrier is then closed at night and opens from the list, the intercom serving everyone else.
What is handed over
- The reading rates measured during the trial, by lane and by time of day
- The list of authorised plates, with the procedure for adding and removing a vehicle
- Accounts for the yard office and the guards, with what each may see and change
- A short guide for searching a plate and exporting a passage with its pictures
- Drawings of the gate: cameras, poles, cabinet, link and connection to the barrier
- The retention settings of the plate records and of the recordings
Services involved
Industry
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A project like this starts with an hour at the gate at the busiest time
Tell us how many lanes the gate has, who operates it and what you need to be able to find afterwards. We watch the traffic, measure the angles and the light, then quote the cameras, the link and the connection to the barrier. We reply in English or French.