International Journal of Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering

Volume 5, Issue 3, ISSN (Online): 2249–071X, ISSN (Print): 2278–4209

Automatic License Plate Recoganization System Based

on Image Processing Using LabVIEW
Rachana Chahar
PG Scholar (M.Tech), Computer Science
Amity University Rajasthan
rachuchahar.chahar@gmail.com
Dr. Jitendra Kumawat Himanshu G. Bhavsar
Amity School of Engg. and Tech. Director, VBTech Automation,
Amity University Rajasthan Ahmadabad, Gujarat, INDIA
jkumawat@jpr.amity.edu himanshu@vbtechautomation.com

Abstract – Automatic License plate recognition (ALPR) parts including license plate localization, character
system is one kind of an intelligent transport system and is of segmentation and finally character recognition which either
considerable interest because of its potential applications in has several subparts.
highway electronic toll collection and traffic monitoring
systems. This allows traffic fines to be automatically
generated and sent to the appropriate violator without the II. IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ALPR
need for human intervention. An ALPR system can be
located on the side of or above a roadway, at a toll booth, or Selection of camera & CCD size:
at another type of entrance way. All ALPR systems follow a Selection of camera is very important concept to acquire
basic high level process. The process starts when a sensor high contrast image with maximum clarity, more accuracy
detects the presence of a vehicle and signals the system and more précised. CCD sensor is the heart of the camera.
camera to record an image of the passing vehicle. The image
is passed on to a computer where software running on the
computer extracts the license plate number from the image.
License plate numbers can then be recorded in a database
with other information such as time vehicle past and speed of
vehicle. And finally, chain code concept with different
Fig.1. Sensor Size
parameter is used for recognition of the characters. The
performance of the proposed algorithm has been tested on
real images. The Proposed system has been implemented
Selection of lens:
A. Lens Mounts: Common Types – C, CS, and F Mounts
using Vision Assistant & LabVIEW.
i). C Mount Lenses work with CS Mount cameras using an
Keywords – Image Acquisition, Image Scissoring, Vehicle adapter.
License Plate Detection (VlPD), Segmentation, Morphology ii). CS Mount Lenses can NOT work with C Mount or F
Algorithms, Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Mount Cameras.
iii). Mount Lenses work with C Mount cameras using an
I. INTRODUCTION adapter
B. Lens Format
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is a
C. Focal Length
transportation intelligent control solution that nowadays
Focal Length = S x (WD / FOV)
inseparably combines with several technologies. This
S= sensor size
technique in software area is chiefly based on concept and
WD=working distance
principles of machine vision. However, different scientists
FOV=field of view
utilize these techniques along with various intelligent
D. Minimal Working Distance
structures and intuitive synthetic methods. In regard to the
Aperture, Depth of Field
essence of problem one can classify three factors as main
reasons and goals of researches. First is the accuracy which
itself is divided into two subclass including accuracy on
localization of vehicle license plate and accuracy on
recognizing the license plate characters. The second factor
is algorithm time complexity which is significant when the
science purpose is implementation. Third factor is
adaptability as we expect the intelligent agent, the
algorithm or the model has the ability to adapt itself with
environment to cope with dynamic outdoor conditions
therefore without human being intervention the expected
tasks has been done. Generally, this work divided into three Fig.2. Fundamental Parameters

Copyright © 2014 IJECCE, All right reserved

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 International Journal of Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering
Volume 5, Issue 3, ISSN (Online): 2249–071X, ISSN (Print): 2278–4209

Selection of Illumination: start

Controlled light that can bright up the plate, and allows
day and night operation. In most cases the illumination is Image acquisition
Infra-Red (IR) which is invisible to the driver. High
Performance Infra-Red LED illuminators provide class
Image enhancement
leading performance. LED’s to deliver excellent night-time
pictures with improved optical output, outstanding
Image restorartion
reliability and even output illumination.
Selection of Image Digitizer:
Morphological process
Image digitizer is an electronic device that captures
individual, digital still frames from and analog video signal
segmentation
or digital video stream. It is usually employed as a
component of a computer vision system, in which video
frames are captured in digital form and then displayed, Character recoganization
stored or transmitted in raw or compressed digital form.
Representation
This has substantially changed in recent years as direct &
camera connection via USB, Ethernet 1394(fire wire) description
interfaces has become prevalent.
stop
Selection of Sensor Interface Hardware:
A microcontroller is a highly integrated chip which Fig.4. Steps of Image Processing
includes, on one chip, all or most of the parts needed for a
Threshold1 is a Niblack local threshold. Advanced
controller. The microcontroller could be called a "one-chip
Morphology 1is used to remove border objects. Basic
solution". It typically includes: CPU (central processing
Morphology 1has been used here for dilation. Dilation is
unit) RAM (Random Access Memory)
used to fill any gaps in the characters and connect them.
EPROM/PROM/ROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only
The Dilated image is then fed to a Gaussian filter, Filter 1,
Memory) I/O (input/ output)-serial and parallel timers
for smoothing and noise reduction prior to the particle
interrupt controller.
filter. Advanced Morphology 2is used here to eliminate
small objects, relative to the characters, that are considered
as noise.

Fig.3. Parallax HomeWork Board

III. IMAGE PROCESSING

Image processing is a method to convert an image into
digital form and perform some operations on it, in order to
get an enhanced image or to extract some useful
information from it. It is a type of signal dispensation in
which input is image, like video frame or photograph and
output may be image or characteristics associated with that
image. Usually Image Processing system includes treating
images as two dimensional signals while applying already
set signal processing methods to them. The masked image
is passed through the set of processes, to prepare it for the
segmentation and OCR phase. We call this preprocessing. Fig.5. Steps of Applied functions in Vision Assistant

Copyright © 2014 IJECCE, All right reserved

589
 International Journal of Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering
Volume 5, Issue 3, ISSN (Online): 2249–071X, ISSN (Print): 2278–4209

IV. CHARACTER SEGMENTATION

Character segmentation applies to both the training and
reading procedures. Character segmentation refers to the
process of locating and separating each character in the
image from the background.

Fig.7. Concepts involved in Character Segmentation

1. Acquired image
2. ROI
3. Character Bounding Rectangle
4. Character
5. Artifact
6. Element
7. Vertical Element Spacing
8. Horizontal Element Spacing
9. Character Spacing

V. CHARACTER RECOGNITION

The OCR tool extracts unique features from each

segmented object in the image and compares them to each
character stored in the character set. It then returns the
closest character from the character set that best matches
the object and returns a nonzero classification score. The
character would be accepted if its value is higher than the
acceptance level.

Fig.8. OCR Training Interface

LabVIEW block diagrams that were utilized to perform

the previous processes are shown

Fig.6. LabVIEW code for above process

Copyright © 2014 IJECCE, All right reserved
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 International Journal of Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering
Volume 5, Issue 3, ISSN (Online): 2249–071X, ISSN (Print): 2278–4209
Fig.9. LabVIEW code for OCR
VI. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have developed and implemented a
system for license plate recognition using the NI’s
LabVIEW software. The system is developed under NI
environment so that seamless deployment on other
commercial platforms is possible. The system starts with
Copyright © 2014 IJECCE, All right reserved
591
thresholding and other morphological techniques to locate
the license plate in the image. A built-in OCR tool for
character segmentation and recognition is then used to
identify the LP. A database of more than 100 images was
used to test the system. A success rate of 94% was
achieved under optimum conditions and an overall success
rate of 84% with an average processing time of 38 msec/
image. The simplicity of the system and its low
computational load makes it very attractive for real-time
applications. Future work considers improving the
localization technique, and the extension of the system to
other GCC license plates.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is indeed a great pleasure and matter of immense
satisfaction for us to express our deep sense profound
gratitude towards all the people who have helped, inspired
us in our project work. First I would like to give our
gratitude to Dr. Jitendra Kumawat (Assistant Professor,
ASET) for the effort taken by him right from the selection
of the project to its completion. He spent his precious time
whenever I was in need of guidance.
Moreover I would like to thank Himanshu G. Bhavsar
(Director VBTech Automation, Ahmadabad, Gujarat,
INDIA), who was always there whenever we needed any
support and was a constant source of inspiration for
accomplishment of this project.
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 International Journal of Electronics Communication and Computer Engineering
Volume 5, Issue 3, ISSN (Online): 2249–071X, ISSN (Print): 2278–4209

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AUTHOR’S PROFILE

Rachana Chahar
received the B.Tech. degree in Computer Science
and Engineering from BMIT, Rajasthan Technical
University, Jaipur, India, in 2012, the full time
M.Tech. Degree in Computer Science and
Engineering from Amity University Rajasthan,
Jaipur, India, in 2014. Her research interests
include Image Acquisition; Image Scissoring; Vehicle license plate
detection (VLPD); Segmentation; morphology algorithms; optical
character recognition (OCR).
Email: rachuchahar.chahar@gmail.com

Jitendra Kumawat
received the B.E. degree in Computer Science and
Engineering from Sri Balaji College of Engineering
and Technology, Jaipur, University of Rajasthan,
India, in 2004, the M.Tech. degree in Computer
Science and Engineering fro Sri Balaji College of
Engineering and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Technical University, Kota, India, in 2010 and the Ph.D. degree in
Computer Science and Technology from the CMJ University,
Meghalaya, India, in 2013. He is currently Sr. Lecturer and Program
Coordinator in Computer Science and Engineering Department of Amity
University Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, Since July 2011. His research
interests include Wireless cellular networks, Communication and
Networks and Security. He has about 10 years of teaching experience,
since 2004. He has served as lecturer, Sr. Lecturer and the life Member of
IET, India.
Email: jkumawat@jpr.amity.edu

Himanshu G. Bhavsar
received his degree in Bachelor of Science With
electronics From Gujarat University, Gujarat, India.
He is Director of VBTech Automation, Ahmadabad,
and Gujarat, India. He is having more than 25 years
of experience in Industrial Automation, Laboratory
Automation, Process Control, Research &
Development and LabVIEW based automation. During his professional
carrier he has worked for multinational engineering, IT & automation
companies as Technical Director. He has started his own company
VBTech Automation in the year 2003 to provide exclusive IT enabled
Automation solutions on National Instruments LabVIEW platform. He is
one of the system integrator of NI to provide software /hardware based
automation solutions.
Email: Himanshu@vbtechautomation.com

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