ANPR products and application services for road safety, civil security and ITS projects

Jenoptik are experts in ANPR / ALPR technology. We understand exactly what is required to deliver real world, roadside ANPR solutions; providing the software tools, project management and civil engineering works to turn your requirement into a reality.

All of the thousands of camera installations we have worked on centre around the use of ANPR, monitoring vehicles as they travel along a road. Since we first invented ANPR over 40 years ago, our products and service have continually evolved to provide the best achievable solutions within this market area.

Projects will often start as a unique one-off development, which then evolves into an industry standard approach. Examples of this are the City of London ‘Ring of Steel’, SPECS average speed enforcement, and the London congestion charge zone. Working with a single supplier significantly reduces the complexity and risk associated when taking an ITS project from initial concept to roadside operation, and this is particularly important when innovating, to avoid nasty surprises.

If you have an application that could benefit from our peerless experience, we would like to hear from you.

Benefits

• Industry leading experts in ANPR
• A technology toolkit covering all possible applications
• A large, nationwide installation and support team

Jenoptik’s security solutions provide an end to end package, combining data capture devices with powerful big data evaluation and analysis tools.

The world is increasingly data rich, but time poor. Technology solutions provide vast quantities of information every single second, but without the right tools, the critical knowledge can be lost in the data noise.

Intelligent analysis of big data removes the time taken to study and evaluate information. Rather than manually running multiple checks on historical information, Jenoptik’s software tools do all of the heavy lifting, automatically providing immediate alerts or indicators on events that a human operator may never spot. This could be identifying ‘impossible’ journeys or unusual patterns in behaviour, with checks that can be run in real time and simultaneously shared with thousands of users.

ANPR is probably the most cost effective and efficient tool for targeting criminal behaviours. Behind virtually every crime there is a car journey, which means there is a trail of evidence between the criminals home and the scene of a crime. Operating as a fully automatic system, a criminal’s licence plate can be read, identified, compared against search criteria and alerted to a nearby officer in a matter of seconds. Without the use of the roadside camera, communications link and big data backoffice analysis, this check could be prohibitively expensive, both in terms of time and money.

A network of ANPR cameras sending data to a big data backoffice provides a wide reaching security network that can be used to deter and detect criminal behaviour, from terrorism to stolen vehicles and organised crime.

What does this mean? We turn data into knowledge.

Benefits

• Full end-to-end solution
• Intelligent analysis in real time
• Automated and immediate alerts
• Alerts can be shared with multiple users simultaneously
• Increased efficiency and accuracy

Most major roadworks schemes around the UK are controlled using SPECS average speed enforcement cameras.

Jenoptik are the market leaders in roadworks enforcement solutions, having delivered successful schemes on every major motorway in England, Scotland and Wales.

Road works are by their very nature a hazardous environment, so the design and operation of the enforcement scheme is particularly important. SPECS average speed cameras are used because the reduce the risk that high speed vehicles will enter the works zone, whilst also improving flow conditions despite the possible presence of narrow lanes, construction vehicles and temporary road surfaces.

Data from SPECS controlled schemes shows that vehicles travel through the works at a steady, uniform speed. By removing speed variability between the fastest and slowest vehicles, the occurrence of sudden ‘shock wave’ braking is largely eliminated. This means that collisions are less likely, but traffic also flows better, allowing journey reliability to be maintained.

Works for the M1 J6a-10 motorway widening project won a Prince Michael International Road Safety award, where the roadworks were significantly safer than the motorway had previously been.

Benefits

• Fewer injury collisions occur in SPECS controlled works
• Construction workers feel safer whilst working close to the live carriageway
• Journey reliability is improved
• Congestion through the works and around junctions is reduced
• 85th%ile speeds are consistently just below the posted 50mph limit
• Compliance is seen through the works zone, not just the camera locations
• Typically, only 1 in 10,000 vehicle journeys results in a ticket

SPECS is the world leading average speed enforcement system, using networked cameras to cover a length or area of road.

SPECS cameras have been used in the UK to control speeds at accident hotspots and major roadworks since 1999. SPECS can be used on virtually any public road, from a 20mph urban street to a high speed, multi-lane motorway. Cameras can be configured for a variety of links, covering hundreds of metres or tens of kilometres, with the capability to monitor vehicles entering and leaving the speed control zone in different lanes.

Jenoptik introduced a further development of this technology in the shape of SPECS3, which received Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) in 2009, bringing the benefits of SPECS to an even greater range of applications.

SPECS3 VECTOR is the very latest HOTA version of this solution, using integrated cameras that significantly reduce installation costs, achieving approval in July 2014.

More than 130 permanent SPECS installations have been contracted around the UK, delivering significant benefits in terms of casualty reduction, improved traffic flows, all whilst achieving public acceptability. A fantastic example of this is the scheme along the A9 in Scotland. This enforcement scheme is the longest in Europe, with SPECS covering 220 kilometres of the A9. Delivering a first year KSI reduction of 64%, combined with 70% of road users feeling safer, the A9 scheme demonstrates how innovative ITS technologies can rapidly address long-term strategic problems and local community concerns.

Benefits

• Fatal or serious collisions typically drop by >50%
• Journey reliability is improved
• Congestion through the works and around junctions is reduced
• 85th%ile speeds are consistently just below the posted speed limit
• Compliance is seen through the works zone, not just the camera locations
• Typically, only 1 in 10,000 vehicle journeys results in a ticket

VECTOR SR is the latest enforcement solution, providing spot speed, red light and speed on green capability.

Customer demand lead to the development of an entirely new enforcement solution, based on a number of standard proven modules, implemented in a way that provides unique benefits for enforcement operators.

VECTOR SR uses a VECTOR2 camera platform, married to the proven FST3 tracking radar already in use in thousands of installations world-wide. This approach allows for a fully ‘non-invasive’ solution, requiring no loops or sensors in the carriageway. In addition, when operating in red light mode, the system visually monitors the red traffic signal, requiring no physical interconnection to the signal controller.

The device is lightweight and low power, allowing for mounting on passively safe columns or existing street furniture, providing a tool that can be used more flexibly than earlier generations of enforcement camera technology. In addition, a video clip can be included as part of the violation record, allowing back office staff to better understand the immediate situation and environment at the time the potential offence was detected.

Benefits

• No requirement for in road sensors or loops
• In red light mode, there is no need for a physical connection to the traffic signal
• Large ‘dragon’s teeth’ road markings are not required for secondary verification
• A lightweight construction allows equipment to be mounted on passively safe columns
• Tilt-down mechanisms can be used to reduce working at height
• Infra-red illumination means that no visible flash unit is needed, which could potentially dazzle drivers
• In speed mode, the device can operate in either forward or rear facing mode
• Up to three lanes of traffic can be monitored from a single device

Jenoptik offers ANPR journey time cameras, which can be installed alongside SPECS enforcement cameras, as part of an integrated roadworks package.

These cameras can provide accurate, local journey reliability information to road users and regional control centres.

Journey time information is available across most of the strategic road network, using a combination of permanent ANPR cameras and in-road loops. Unfortunately, during major roadworks projects, these devices are often removed, resulting in a data gap at exactly the time it is most needed. Road users like to know if their journey is going to be delayed, so that they can either chose an alternative route or understand the impact on their journey time. Jenoptik provides additional journey time cameras that can measure the journey time leading up to and through a roadworks scheme. This journey data can be displayed on roadside Variable message signs and also be transmitted to regional and national traffic control centres.

Jenoptik supply the SPECS cameras that are used in most major roadworks schemes, so our engineers and equipment is already on site and closely managed. This makes it simpler and more cost effective for similar cameras to be installed and operated – often mounting cameras on the same street furniture. The journey time cameras can be visually identical to the enforcement cameras but they are completely separate, sending journey data back wirelessly to a remote journey time server.

Benefits

• True journey time data can be displayed at the roadside
• Delay advice can be displayed on roadside VMS signs, prior to the works area, informing drivers of potential delays ahead
• Driver behaviour is modified through the speed control zone, resulting in reduced congestion and more reliable journeys
• Journey time data can be sent to the regional control centre, allowing congestion / flow conditions to be actively monitored
• Rapid feedback of flow conditions allows traffic management to be altered as and when volumes are low, rather than waiting for a particular time
• Traffic flows improve where SPECS is used, offering more reliable journeys

Jenoptik specialise in ANPR based journey time solutions, having delivered hundreds of JTMS systems around the UK.

Jenoptik offer a range of JTMS solutions, which can be used for either temporary or permanent applications. All solutions involve the use of distributed ANPR capture points, using either standalone integrated cameras (containing the camera module, ANPR reader and communications) or ANPR cameras connected to a local processor. These ANPR capture points then communicate over a communications network to a remote journey time server (JTS).

Because an ANPR based JTMS system monitors individual journeys along a known link, it provides very accurate data for completed journeys, and is not ‘confused’ where there are multiple routes that may run in parallel – for example a minor road running alongside a highway. In addition, ANPR monitors all classes of vehicle, whereas other data sources may be skewed by a high number of commercial or fleet vehicles.

The JTS can operate in a number of ways, depending on the exact requirement of the customer. In general, the JTS is able to calculate journey times between capture points and can carry out a comprehensive range of data processing functions; for example graphical outputs, web browser access, historical analysis and many more.

Benefits

• ANPR provides very accurate, link specific journey time data
• ANPR data can be configured to operate with Police back offices
• System design is modular, allowing additional sites to be included
• Multiple software tools allow for a wide range of data analysis activities to take place

Moving vehicle offences can be identified and managed using Jenoptik’s family of camera and software tools.

The UK’s first VCA certified Bus Lane solution was developed by Jenoptik, using knowledge and experience gained from the SPECS average speed enforcement camera. These tools can now be applied to a wide variety of moving vehicle offences, including:

• Bus lanes
• Banned turns
• Yellow box junctions

The VECTOR camera provides a robust and powerful platform for these applications, producing clear images 24/7, even on a fully dark road. Combined with evidential standard data capture and encryption, violation records are communicated to a remote back office, allowing operators to view and process a range of offence types.

The ANPR technologies used for enforcement and security projects can also be used in a variety of commercial applications.

The VECTOR ANPR camera is currently operating in hundreds of car parking applications across the UK, providing operators with accurate number plate reads and clear images in real time. Using standard interface formats, this data can be used for local control or can be ingested into a large data management system, allowing a car park operator to easily identify the abuse of parking spaces.

The VECTOR ANPR camera has been successfully integrated with a number of different payment technologies to provide a full cashless and modern solution. It has also been integrated with various car park management back office systems to provide permit management, access control and enforcement solutions. Such versatility has resulted in the VECTOR camera being used for clients such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s, Asda, Iceland, Premier Inn, Travelodge, Chiltern Railways as well as various shopping centres, hospitals and airports.

Maintenance, calibration and support services are available for the operational life of a Jenoptik solution.

Thousands of Jenoptik’s camera based solutions are currently maintained and supported by a dedicated team of ANPR engineers and technicians, covering the length and breadth of the UK. These expert staff are based from regional offices as well as the Camberley head office, providing a fast and effective service to our customers.

Over 20 field and office based support staff are available to carry out the full range of maintenance activities, from remote status checking, through calibration procedures to roadside servicing and equipment replacement. All staff are experts in ANPR solutions, which ensures the most appropriate processes and procedures are used, in accordance with the challenging requirements demanded when working on equipment at the side of a highway.

Depending upon the type of equipment in operation, a range of support packages are available to our customers – from return to base warranty through to a full service provision with associated KPI’s and a service level agreement.