An editorial guide on applying machine vision to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is available from Vision Systems Design. “Vision in Intelligent Transportation Systems,” which features a compilation of articles from systems expert Dr. Ned Lecky, covers what constitutes an “intelligent transportation” application, the challenges that are posed by these applications, and the spectrum of components used in vision systems designed for ITS tasks.
Lecky, who heads up Lecky Integration (Little Falls, NY, USA), breaks the design challenges down for readers in the first article, “Machine Vision Gets Moving: Part I” He describes ITS applications that may include traffic law enforcement, license plate recognition (LPR), and monitoring transportation infrastructure conditions, among many others. The article also delves into the challenges of adapting industrial machine vision to the often harsh and/or changing conditions one sees in traffic and transport environments.
The second part of the ITS guide focuses on the appropriate selection of cameras and lighting to meet the needs of a particular intelligent transportation application. Many factors must be considered, including dynamic range, camera exposure and gain control, and image-acquisition parameters, to name a few. Lighting conditions in a transportation application may vary, so filters and other specialty optics may be needed to compensate for the ambient lighting.
Part III puts the selection of computers and software for the ITS marketplace into perspective. Some applications may require only an embedded PC, whereas others may benefit from an entire server farm to store and process captured image data. Software needs vary, says Lecky, due to the broad range of tasks that might need to be performed by different systems, such as LPR, barcode reading or optical character recognition (OCR), or even automated recognition of the make and model of a particular vehicle.
“Vision in Intelligent Transportation Systems” is available for free download to anyone who provides contact information. You can download the guide here.
For additional information on using machine vision in ITS applications, view an on demand webcast presented by Lecky, entitled “Machine Vision Moves into Traffic.”
-- Posted by Vision Systems Design
