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Racal Launches Automatic License-Plate Recognition System
``` [More about privacy issues in intelligent vehicle-highway systems. You might wish to call your regional transportation authority and politely but firmly inquire whether it plans to implement or conduct field trials of automatic license-plate recognition systems, what these systems' purpose is, what alternative technologies could serve the same purpose without identifying individual vehicles, what technical means and policies will ensure that information derived from such systems is only used for that purpose, who will be liable if the information is diverted to other purposes, and what notification the driving public will receive of all this. A good place to post the answers (including the name, number, and title of the person you spoke with) is the Privacy Digest, privacy@vortex.com -- Phil Agre]
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 13:39:27 -0700 From: fwd@ix.netcom.com (Franklin W. Durand) To: pagre@ucsd.edu Subject: RE: Racal's Talon system
Phil--
This is a press release from Racal Corporation (which I have transcribed for purposes of e-mail). I thought you and others might be interested in what kinds of new "goodies" are being marketed with an eye toward the emerging IVHS market in the United States:
The Racal Corporation Corporate Communications Center 11 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10001 Telephone (212) 268-0918
News
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Contact: For Release: Jack Hillhouse April 18, 1994 IVHS America Exposition Booth 122
or
Edward W. Cheatham The Racal Corporation (212) 268-0918
RACAL LAUNCHES AUTOMATIC LICENSE-PLATE RECOGNITION SYSTEM
ATLANTA, April 18, 1994 -- Racal Electronics Plc today announced a new automatic license-plate recognition system at the annual meeting of the Intelligent Vehicle Highway Society (IVHS America). The system can read vehicle license plates 24 hours a day in a wide range of environmental conditions. Applications range from access control to municipal security and traffic monitoring. IVHS America is a major conference and exposition for companies, government agencies and individuals concerned with intelligent vehicle highway systems and related areas.
The Racal system, called Talon, is the result of an agreement with Cambridge Neurodynamics Limited of England. Cambridge Neurodynamics is an innovative engineering company that has undertaken extensive research in the field of digital signal processing and pattern recognition.
Talon is a significant step forward, based on a new generation of pattern-recognition techniques that make extensive use of neural-network technology. Neural networks offer much greater potential for pattern recognition than conventional template-matching techniques used for license-plate recognition.
Neural networks are not trained in the traditional sense, but instead are "trained" by example on a large number of repetitions of a character set. As a result, the network builds a statistical model that adapts to the features making each individual character distinctive, rather than forming definitive templates for individual character shapes. Consequently, neural networks are more resilient to noise than conventional recognition techniques, so that performance is not compromised when license plates are skewed and the numbers and state names are partially obscured, dirty or distorted.
The Racal Talon system is modular and can be configured for various applications. Ongoing development is producing simple, single-camera systems for parking-garage access control, to multi camera systems for urban security, traffic control and automatic toll collection.
Comprehensive systems comprising Talon, video and data communications links, control programs and database interrogation can be tailored for individual customer requirements. The ease in providing custom systems means many different and varying applications can be addressed, such as the identification of vehicles violating traffic regulations to international border surveillance and road traffic surveys.
David C. Elsbury, chief executive of Rascal Electronics, said, "Rascal's Talon system, which combines sophisticated pattern-recognition algorithms and neural-network techniques, has enormous potential. The intelligent vehicle highway systems marketplace in the United States alone is estimated at approximately $150 billion over the next 15 years. Modularity and flexibility to tailor the system to meet specific customer requirements will keep Talon at the forefront of license-plate recognition technology." ```
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