ANPR real-time monitoring of dangerous and illegal vehicles

The Programma Operativo Nazionale aims to bring economic parity to the regions of Italy. It includes the setting up of a national ANPR network which will allow real-time monitoring of dangerous and illegal vehicles. Tattile is supplying the systems for the regions on Puglia and Calabria

In the southern Italian region of Puglia, in partnership with system integrator SITE Spa, and in Calabria with another partner, 592 Tattile is supplying technology for a project to install a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras linked to a national database of vehicle ownership which is designed to address long-standing issues of regional poverty and lawlessness. The regions of Campania and Sicilia are also currently involved in a programme which will eventually result a network of systems being installed nationwide.

The work is being carried out under the Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON, or National Operative Programme), co-funded by the Italian Government and the 1816 European Union (EU) (see Sidebar, 'PON - addressing regional inequalities') and will put in place a state-of-the-art system able to detect in real time vehicles which are engaged in potentially dangerous or illegal activities. These include: vehicles carrying hazardous goods or those engaged in illegal dumping; stolen vehicles; vehicles which are listed as being of interest by the Ministero Dell'Interno (the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for, amongst other things, counter-terrorism); and vehicles being driven illegally (motorcyclists not using helmets, drivers using one-way streets incorrectly, unauthorised parking, access and lane use, and so on). A particular focus is the recognition and reading of Kemler plates, the rationale being that earlier detection of the movement of hazardous goods allows the emergency services to be aware of their presence and to react more quickly should the need arise.

Although ANPR systems are already in operation across Italy, deployment has tended to be piecemeal - the city of Naples, for instance, is already covered by Tattile's ANPR systems - but the PON is intended to draw together the various existing systems and provide infill in areas as yet uncovered.

Increasing utility

Previously deployed systems demonstrate limited utility by comparison, only being able to guarantee proper reading of the license plates of four to six different nations. The expansion of the EU and the resultant effects on trade have driven the need for a system able to correctly identify the plates of all 27 Member States. Another issue has been the inability of the older deployed systems to recognise the presence of a vehicle which does not have a plate.

To address the issue of different plate types, the use of local devices to evaluate only alphanumerical information was investigated. A centralised system would then take care of formal vehicle identification. In practice, there were perceived issues with incomplete readings being stored in the front-end device and in the case of failure it would have been impossible to send a complete data set to the central system. This approach was abandoned, therefore, and an innovative solution pursued which resulted in a reader complete with an inbuilt compressed database of the different plate formats.

Advanced motion detection

Tattile has used its VEGA 2H camera and has developed new firmware optimised for this project.

Providing embedded ANPR with context, the device follows a conventional format in that it relies on two cameras, a black-and-white unit for the OCR and a colour camera which provides a contextual overview.

The new firmware features an advanced motion detection algorithm. This means that it can detect vehicles without the need for a plate to be present and without the need for an external trigger such as a loop or optical sensor. A testing location has been set up at Site Spa in Naples and in Ministero Dell'Interno evaluations the VEGA 2H has proven capable of reading plates on all different types of vehicles by day, at night and in inclement weather conditions.

The system is able to forward the data through a high-performance network based on fibre-optic and IP protocol technologies (Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, SDH). Data are sent in real time to the regional management systems which store the data and synchronise them with the national database via a dedicated wide area network based on DWDM technology. Connection in real time to the Sistema Centralizzato Nazionale Targhe e Transiti (the centralised system of national plates and transits) allows synchronisation of black- and whitelists and updating of the data held there.

The system is already installed in the city of Lecce, located at Italy's southeastern-most tip, and deployment is still ongoing elsewhere. It is expected that roll-out will be completed by the end of this year. It will eventually cover all of the provinces of Puglia. In total, there are 90 checkpoints located in the region's main urban areas but it is anticipated that this will increase further over time. The management system provided by Tattile will allow expansion to up to 300 units.

PON - addressing regional inequalities

Though they may be picturesque and popular with holidaymakers, the economic realities for the southern regions of Italy are somewhat less than idyllic. The Prodotto Interno Lordo (PIL, or gross domestic product) of the regions of Calabria, Campagnia, Puglia and Sicilia is lower than 75 per cent of that of the average for the rest of Europe. Illegal and illegally operated vehicles are considered to be one of the impediments to economic development.

To address this, the Italian Government has with co-funding from the EU instituted the PON. PON is worth some E1.15 million and takes a three-pillared approach ('Security of economic freedom'; 'Diffusion of legality'; and 'Technical assistance') to improving the regions' economic development and in doing so is looking to achieve greater economic parity with the more prosperous northern regions of the country.

Southern Italy also has a relationship with organised crime which approaches the legendary in terms of scale and reach. The 'Security of economic freedom' pillar of PON is therefore intended to remove any obstacles which local mafiosi might look to put in the way of freedom of competition between commercial organisations. The 'Diffusion of legality' pillar is intended to control migratory flows, promote social inclusion of immigrant members of the population and address the issues associated with individuals working on the black economy. The 'Technical assistance' pillar aims to communicate the existence of PON, its aims and the results achieved.