ALPR - Automatic Licence Plate Reading 
Spike is a compact, rugged, fully integrated licence-plate reading camera incorporating the camera, illuminator and the ALPR processor within a single sealed enclosure.

The unit comprises a monochrome CCD camera with a built-in infra-red (IR) light-emitting diode (LED) illuminator. Patented filter and multilevel flash techniques provide suppression of headlights and bright sunlight, and give reliable performance day and night, in almost all weather conditions

There is an optional integrated colour camera, allowing an overview image to be transmitted with the IR and text data. The integrated licence-plate processor incorporates PIPS Technology's ultra-high accuracy Autoplate ALPR engine. Triggering of the ALP read can be internal from the video image, or by an external sensor.

Spike can be integrated into a wide variety of systems via TCP/IP Ethernet with socket and FTP protocols, a relay output (for example to control a barrier), RS232, as well as true IP connectivity over GPRS / GSM. There is an option for wireless LAN connectivity, which can give huge savings in installation and cabling costs in many applications. Set-up and monitoring of the unit is by web-browser interface from a PC or PDA.

Spike can be used with batteries for temporary deployment, with an option for automatic 'wake-up' upon a trigger signal. A USB port allows records to be removed from the camera on a memory stick. 
Spike can carryout a real-time comparison with a large database of 'known' vehicles, with a remote alert / alarm. Real-time JPEG hardware compression is also available as an option for use with the colour overview camera for video streaming over IP.

Spike will output ALPR read data comprising any or all of

• vehicle registration mark (VRM)
• time, date, location
• plate patch image or full IR image
• overview image (if camera fitted)
• read confidence

ALPR camera, illuminator and processor in one rugged package.
Provides savings in system cost, complexity and timescales.
PIPS Technology proven camera and processor technology