Speeder Detection with LPR and RADAR (technical posts only!!)

[Laserray]

I've started this new thread for technical details on my Speeder detection setup. I call the package "OPENRoad". As time permits I will update this post.
Please use other thread for any political talk, objections, comments, or advice. Administrators please delete or move posts not related to technical issues at hand.
Political thread -> https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/my-speeding-dectector-setup.42045/


Speeder control - Move video from temp location to permanent spot. Backups correct LPR camera and does a LPR plate scan of speeder.

Adjust LPR Cameras


Pictured here are the outside components.
A speed sign using a Speedster III sports radar setup. I suggest starting with this $300 radar to first sample speeds of oncoming vehicles. If they aren't going over 35 mph, give up now.
There is a picture of the speed sign control box. It contains 4 network ports, 4 12v power jacks, and 2 control jacks, one for the sign, and one for warning lights.
The green board is a network switch to distribute the network. We use a Brainbox to control the relay to turn the speed sign off at 35 mph. The Brainbox is connected to the master computer via the network.
The silver device is a voltage converter changing 12v to 15v for the speed display sign.

The pictures of the back post with the two boxes are the radar setup.
The top box is the Speedster III radar gun sealed into a water tight box. It communicates to the speed display via RF signals. We hope to replace the display at some point.

The bottom box is the radar control that collects the data to be transfer to the master computer.
It contains a DRU III radar module, a serial to network converter, and a network switch. We are reworking this box. Pictures will be coming soon.

Each post has two cameras, one for LPR, an one for wide view. We decided on using 4 - Loryta IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E IP Cameras.

The middle post was suppose to use for signage, and extra cameras but turn out it is useful as a IR light blocker. The 4 cameras are point at each other so it is important not to flood them with each others IR lights.

more to come....

 

[Laserray]

System Description

Main Computer - Shuttle XPC Cube SH370R8 16 core Coffee Lake CPU - Windows 10 - $1600 + $250 for NVIDIA GPU
Main Programming Language -Python
LPR software - OpenALPR via Python web API for commercial version. Open version used for bulk work.
Blue Iris for video capture. Moving to Python at some point, -- $60
Web server - Apache and Wordpress. WP to be replaced by Python/Flask front end.
Grafana - for charts, graphs, and gauges.
Brainbox drivers, and Serial to network drivers. $120
Serial to network converter - $80
Sportster III radar gun with display $400
DRU III radar box $400
Cameras 5x @ $250 each.
Network switches 2x $15
Water tight boxes 3x at $30 each

 

[Laserray]

Radar Explained:

The reason we added radar with our cameras is to get calibrated and accurate speed readings. Even though everyone will tell you, you can't arrest anyone off the collected data, you will be attacked about "calibration, and certification". (see political thread)
Make sure you buy a $35 calibration tool.

We use a DRU III radar module. You supply 12v DC and it send an RS232 signal out. The signal is in a <dir><speed>\r format every 2 seconds. Speed = current speed, dir = direction.
This is important! Old radar boxes use to send tone signals. This would give the operator an idea of target location, and speed direction. Radar can pick up multiple targets at once. Now we do it in digital form will direction signals.
"+" = towards the unit, "-" = away from unit, "?" - bad directional info, "0" no directional signal (35mph + "0" = calibration).


The DRU III needs no license to operate. It seems to work up to 1000 feet away. It comes with certification, and calibration paperwork. Accuracy will NOT be an issue!!!

Any trained police officer will tell you they can not cite by radar alone. They must visually confirm the target. Radar has some short comings.
You must back up radar data with video recordings.

Cosin Error:
The farther away from being parallel to the target the more Cosin error you will get. You form a triangle and the travel distance is further for your radar.
This is always in favor for the speeder.

Reflections:
This is and will be the biggest issue.
Radar will track anything that moves. It also likes large metal objects and can reflect signals from them instead of your target.
Reflection problem increases with wet weather. Rain, snow, and wind can send false readings.
Large trucks, extended mirrors approaching from the back side of the radar horn and produce bad readings. Lawn blowers and such also cause bad readings.

We use the direction signal, and change in speed to root out most false readings. I'm still working on the back horn reflection issue.
The solution was to reject all "?" and "0" < 35mph signals. At 35mph and "0" direction means we are calibrating the system with a tuning fork.
Any change in speed from minimum speed (15 mph) that change more than 30mph between readings is rejected as well.
The speed event must be at least 6 seconds long. (gets rid of wind blowing wet trees)
This seem to clear up most false readings, if not all of them.

It is possible to set the DRU III to give you more information. Number of targets, signal level, etc. I haven't seen a need yet for that.
12/11/19

We have updated the entire system. We scan at 2 per second instead of every 2 seconds, and added signal level to the data.
The system much more sensitive about rejecting bad data. So if we get a 0- no direction, ? bad direction, or a signal less than 10, we reject the speed data.

 

[Laserray]

Software:

Blue Iris - Currently using BI to record with 4 cameras plus property security. I want to get away from BI but not ready YET.

Python - Turns out this a great language to work with. I just started learning it a few months ago, so bare with me.
Routines and functions.
Camera control - focus, zoom, reboot, and day/night more.
Sunrise/Sunset - calculate for date and local position. Called by timer function to change modes.
Speed Data - record quarter, half hour, and hourly data
Timer -
Speeder control - Move video from temp location to permanent spot. Backups correct LPR camera and does a LPR plate scan of speeder.
Adjvideo - Adjust LPR Cameras. Use to setup LPR cameras and real-time LPR. We crop out as much of the picture as we can. This make OpenALPR very fast. We use thecommerical version during the day time on new plates and store that dat to be used again by free version. This in turns cuts down on commercial plate LPR.
ALPR - Use both free, and commercial versions.


Grafana - Makes nice graphic dashboards.

 

[Laserray]

I think you guys want the cropped night shots. One camera is the 41, and the other is an older 31. I'm going to replace it soon and see if it helps.





rarely gets this plate correct.

 

[Laserray]

I replaced the IPC-HFW5231E-Z12E with a IPC-HFW5241E-Z12E
Now the adjustments are the same and the results are the same.
I'm still adjusting the camera position. Slowly pulling each camera to the left or right depending on vehicle direction. This has the effect of taking a bad picture but pulling the plate distance closer to the camera making IR viewing MUCH better. I'll see how far I can go until the angle is too large.

 

[Laserray]

View attachment 1576608687.CooperRdPlusW.mp4
Blue Iris is giving me less fits lately. Most of the problems being poor camera voltage, and poor programming of the video overlay. We learned how to get the overlay to work in almost realtime.
Plate ID takes 3-4 seconds then posts the results on the video as well as various radar/speed data.

 

[Laserray]

LPR Camera Settings

This will help get you started. I will add more information as I learn more. Most of this knowledge is posted in these forums.
Thank you everyone for sharing. Feel free to add something or disagree.

The camera settings are for plate viewing only.
All other details will be dim or poor. B&W only. Night time focus position is completely different than day.
Dahaula cameras are report to have difficulty switching between day and night focus settings. (insert links)(insert sunrise program)

You need lots of IR light to reflect off dimly lit plates. The IR light can only extend out to less than 100m/300ft, 65m/200ft will get better results.

All settings to default. Set your zoom and focus positions, and record them. It is best to zoom as close to he plate as possible. I set mine to the max zoom, and adjust focus for night viewing. You will need to fine tune the focus as you make adjustments. I use a Python program to adjust a crop box, and the camera settings while watching the video stream. Otherwise your stuck with the camera web controls. Useless you have a visible target the auto-focus will not work well at night. I set the focus to manual mode and send it a focus position to stay at during the night.

===================
Night Time Settings
===================

Profile - Night

IR in manual, 100%

Exposure Settings:

Anti-Flicker - Outdoor

Exposure:
Mode - Manual
Shutter Priority 1/1000
Start at 1/500, gradually work your way up to 1/2000 (if you can). The more light the higher you will be able to go.
** as you adjust shutter you need to fine tune your focus
The higher the setting the more motion blur will be reduced.
You are only trying to get clear details on the plate letters.
Gain - 40 - 50
Iris - 65
3D NR - On
Grade - 30-50% (35%)
Be very sparing with this setting. Too high, more blur. Too low, too much grain.

Backlight Settings
HLC - 60-90%, 80%
HLC controls how bright the headlights are. If you have a lot of IR light you can set this higher.
Start at %60 increase as needed.


Picture Settings

Start be leaving all settings at default. Adjust these settings last.
At this point after try various settings. Default seem to work well.
You can play with brightness, decreasing it, and with contrast by increasing it.
It didn't seem to help the ALPR very much.


=================
Day Time Settings
=================

I can't leave the exposure settings on auto. I will get either to much light and loss of details, or too little light and motion blur.

Profile - Day

IR in auto

Anti-Flicker - Outdoor

Exposure Settings:
Mode - Manual
Shutter Priority 1/2000
Gain 0-45
Iris 45
Grade 30-50%

Backlight Settings:
WDR - 30-50%, 35%
I use this feature to put detail back into over lit plates. The sun sometimes overwhelms the plate number.

Picture:
Brightness 40-50
Contrast 50-60

 

[Laserray]

I am resurrecting this thread as we are going to start making serious changes to the current setup.
I purchased a VIDAR LPR Camera with radar option.
Camera is $3240 - 10 times cost of the current camera.
Radar option $1200 about 3 times current setup.

Camera uses a laser in the camera to find the plate to scan. Won't know most technical details until I receive the unit in about three weeks.
Looks very well built.

Vidar ANPR/LPR Camera｜Adaptive Recognition

Automatic number plate (ANPR/LPR), make and model (MMR), and dangerous good code recognition camera designed for high-speed traffic.

adaptiverecognition.com

VIDAR LPR Camera
VIDAR With Radar

 

[Laserray]

I just wanted to report the SmartCAM came in a few weeks ago. It's going to be a bit of a bear to get going. The unit includes radar with the LPR camera.

Adaptive Docs

 

[Laserray]

Also,
Here is a complete ticketing solution that is legal in Tennessee Blue Line Traffic Enforcement.
A full system at no cost to city.
Speeders your days are numbered

 

[Desertsweeper]

I am resurrecting this thread as we are going to start making serious changes to the current setup.
I purchased a VIDAR LPR Camera with radar option.
Camera is $3240 - 10 times cost of the current camera.
Radar option $1200 about 3 times current setup.

Camera uses a laser in the camera to find the plate to scan. Won't know most technical details until I receive the unit in about three weeks.
Looks very well built.

Vidar ANPR/LPR Camera｜Adaptive Recognition

Automatic number plate (ANPR/LPR), make and model (MMR), and dangerous good code recognition camera designed for high-speed traffic.

adaptiverecognition.com

VIDAR LPR Camera
VIDAR With Radar

Greetings - an old thread but fascinating...did you ever get the Vidar set up and if so - does it work well? I am seeking a solution to calm the insane residential-traffic problem I have in my street.