Appian Technology PLC

Talon

Appian Technology is the leading manufacturer and supplier of high performance, high accuracy Automatic Number/License Plate Recognition (ANPR/ALPR) systems. Appian's ANPR products are based on a proprietary neural network recognition engine called Talon. Neural network technology is superior to any template based Optical Character Recognition (OCR) ANPR system, offering significantly higher performance and accuracy, typically better than 97%.

Talon is a software based processor designed to be installed on to modern computers running the Windows operating system. Software holds BOF2.2 Web Services accreditation allowing all customers to continue to meet National ACPO ANPR Standards.

Talon ANPR can be supplied with a diverse range of additional Talon application software, providing a complete 'end to end' ANPR solution.

Talon is the result of the most extensive development program undertaken by any ANPR company. Development was started by Racal Electronics in 1993 with an initial £10 million investment; the system has been continually refined and improved to maintain its leading market edge and superiority.

Talon Features

• Unique Neural Network Processing
• Automatic "in Picture" Trigger - no need for an external trigger
• Automatic geometric correction for skew, tilt and rotation
• Automatic plate character segmentation and size normalization
• High accuracy - typical performance in excess of 97%
• High speed vehicle plate recognition - in excess of 195 kph
• 24 hour/365 day 'all weather' capability
• Manual and synthetic training
• International number plate reading capability
• Automatic positive database matching and system alarms
• Operates on any industry standard PC platform
• Vehicle and Number Plate Image Output and Archiving

The Talon ANPR Recognition Process

First of all Talon finds the presence of a vehicle registration plate. Talon has a sophisticated 'plate finding' algorithm, this algorithm very accurately detects the presence of license plate in the camera's field of view. When a license plate is detected, a trigger is activated which initiates a suite of software recognition algorithms. These algorithms identify the position of the plate in the image, extract the plate image, apply geometric distortion compensation if necessary and segment the plate into individual characters.

Each character is then fed into a software neural network. This network uses a unique mathematical perceptron model, unlike multi layer perceptron models (MLP) the Appian model cannot suffer from 'over learning' and a reduction in accuracy. The network produces an estimate for every character input resulting in a string of characters, which is its best estimate for the number plate. For each passing vehicle multiple recognition results are obtained and our advanced post processor will analyse and produce the best result. 

These features contribute to the extraordinary accuracy of the Talon system.

What does a Typical Talon ANPR system comprise of?

The basic Talon system comprises of a PC, when we install Talon SP the PC becomes a Plate Recognition Unit (PRU). The only other elements to consider are a suitable frame grabber and a video camera.

The PRU can also host addtional hardware such as relay cards to control barriers and traffic lights and communications interfaces such as modems. 

The PRU can also host a database and any additional application software if required.

The camera provides a video feed to the Talon PRU, which processes the images to produce a log of all number plates recognised, along with a time and date stamp, a confidence level and a camera identifier for each log entry.

Why should Talon be your first choice for your ANPR requirement?

• Trained Neural Network - Neural Networks have a distinct advantage over alternative OCR solutions as the correct read rate of number plates is significantly higher. The Talon Neural network is simply the most advanced and accurate commercially available APNR solution. The networks are not programmed in the traditional sense but are trained by example on a large number of repetitions of character sets. Consequently neural network based techniques are more able to recognise poorly defined, distorted and dirty characters, ensuring accuracy in the most demanding real world conditions.
• Multi lane Processing Capability - The Talon Neural Networks are capable of accurate high speed plate recognition from multiple lanes of high speed and high density traffic. The system is currently capable of processing 4 camera feeds on a single PC.
• Confidence Levels - Each individual character within a vehicle number plate is given a specific score, this score is the confidence of read accuracy. Multiple number plate images are processed for each passing vehicle. This allows the PC to post the best possible result for each vehicle.

• BOF2.2 compatible- Software holds BOF2.2 Web Services accreditation allowing all customers to continue to meet National ACPO ANPR Standards.

Our Talon ANPR products are available for a number of ANPR applications:

• Fixed Site System -town and city centre, border control and access control systems
  
• Mobile In-car Systems - commonly used by Police forces and security forces worldwide.  
  
• Portable System -
• Laptop System - up to 2 lanes per PC

Talon Software Applications

Talon ANPR can be supplied with a range of application software:

• Policing, Surveillance, Counter-Terrorism
• Imaging
• CCTV Integration
• Access Control
• Car Park Management
• Traffic Management
• Enforcement, Tolling, Congestion Charging
• Bespoke

ANPR Cameras

The choice of camera depends largely on the application and deployment of the system. The Talon system is designed to operate with standard CCTV cameras, avoiding the need to use expensive, high resolution equipment. Both monochrome and colour cameras can be used and even camcorders and digital cameras.

An option which has been found to be particularly effective against reflective number plates is the use of an infrared (IR) sensitive monochrome camera associated with a collocated pulsed IR light source. This produces a very high contrast image of the plate, which is ideal for number plate recognition.

Due to a policy of continued product development, Appian Technology PLC reserves the right to alter or amend any published specifications without notice.