Vehicle Number Plate Recognition using Raspberry Pi

With the increasing number of vehicles on the roads of our urban centers, vehicle-related security and safety issues are increasingly becoming a matter of concern. With a huge number of cars on the roads, it is nearly impossible to monitor and verify all of them manually. Hence, some type of automated system is needed for vehicle number plate recognition, so that unregistered and suspicious vehicles can be identified. Vehicle Number Plate Recognition using Raspberry Pi can be a good solution for these problems.

₹ 12,800

Project Code: 6351

Description of the Vehicle Number Plate Recognition using Raspberry Pi project

Automatic vehicle number plate detection is very important in areas like toll collection, parking management, traffic policing, and crime investigation. For the efficient identification and detection of vehicles, a Raspberry Pi based Vehicle Number Plate Recognition project is proposed. The project consists of an IR sensor, camera, LCD display, DC motor, buzzer, and toggle switch.

The infrared (IR) sensor is used for the detection of new incoming vehicles. The IR sensor reads the IR signature of a vehicle and informs the controller about the entry of a new car. The number plate of the car is then read using a camera that is attached to the Raspberry Pi controller. The camera captures the image of the car number plate and sends it to the Raspberry Pi controller. The Raspberry Pi then extracts the vehicle number plate from the image using image processing algorithms. The plate number of the detected car is also displayed on the LCD screen.

If the vehicle number is present in the database of registered vehicles then the DC motor is activated to open the entrance gate. If the vehicle number could not be found in the database of registered vehicles, then a buzzer is turned on to notify the concerned personnel. Using the toggle switch in the circuit, we can change the operating mode of the system.

If the toggle switch is on then the DC motor section is also on, otherwise, it is turned off. When the DC motor section is turned off then the vehicle registration number is only displayed on the LCD. But the DC motor and buzzer are not activated under any condition. This type of system is very useful in toll booths and parking areas.

Description of the project block diagram

A brief description of the subsystems present in the Raspberry Pi based Vehicle Number Plate Recognition project is given as follows:

• The IR sensor is an input device attached to the Raspberry Pi controller which informs the controller about the presence of a new incoming car. When a new car is detected, the system gets ready to take a snapshot of its license plate.
• The camera in the project is used to take snapshots of the number plates of the vehicles. The camera is also an input device that sends images to the Raspberry Pi controller.
• The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer system with an ARM microprocessor and Linux OS-based Raspbian OS. The Raspberry contains audio, video, USB, and other peripheral ports. The Raspberry Pi utilizes image processing algorithms to extract the registration number from the images provided by the camera. The Raspberry Pi is most commonly programmed in Python language.
• The DC motor is also controlled by the Raspberry Pi and is turned on when the car registration number is a match from the database.
• If the car registration number is absent from the database of registered vehicles then the buzzer is turned on.
• An LCD display is also attached to the output of the Raspberry Pi in order to display the registration number extracted from the vehicle number plate.
• The toggle switch connected to the Raspberry Pi controller is used to turn the DC motor and buzzer section on or off.

Block diagram of the Vehicle Number Plate Recognition using Raspberry Pi project

Applications, advantages, and enhancements

• The Vehicle Number Plate Recognition using the Raspberry Pi project is an automated system. It automatically detects vehicle registration numbers.
• The Raspberry Pi based Vehicle Number Plate Recognition project is a cost-effective solution. It can be used at toll booths, parking areas, and traffic policing applications.
• We can add WiFi connectivity and IOT communication to this project. This will increase the outreach, flexibility, and efficiency of the overall system.
• The project algorithm can be upgraded and made more sophisticated in order to read unconventional and fancy fonts as well.