Lumenera’s Advanced Network Cameras for Traffic Enforcement

The demand for automated traffic enforcement in urban environments is on the rise. Automated ticketing for red-light, speeding and signal violations, traffic monitoring, and the supervision of toll booths, ferries, and border crossings, are all applications that require the capture of megapixel video sequences for use as evidence, for character recognition of licence plates, and to identify drivers from a still image.

Previously, most traffic video surveillance applications employed under-performing, antiquated analog camera infrastructure, suffering from cost and complexity issues due to coaxial cables used to transmit data, as well as framegrabber cards required to digitize analog video. Increasing the amount of cameras deployed meant increasing the cost and complexity. As digital cameras were first introduced, the benefits of megapixel digital image storage and analysis came at a high cost due to the requirements for framegrabber cards and dedicated computers installed near the camera site.

Today, Lumenera’s network and USB 2.0 cameras eliminate the need for framegrabbers. The on-camera memory can reduce the need for multiple computers when working with numerous cameras at one site. Traffic video surveillance has benefited from Lumenera’s flexible and remotely configurable digital imaging platform by providing the ability to image areas with a wide overview such as multiple traffic lanes, or gather detailed images of specific regions of interest. All models feature user-configurable exposure time, gain level, image size, strobe output, day/night settings, and on-camera memory.

Lumenera’s Le075, Lm165, Le165, Lw235, Le259, Lw11059 and Le11059 cameras feature short-exposure capabilities (<0.1ms), high sensitivity and global-shutter image sensors, and are ideal for capturing crisp images of fast-moving objects that are free of blur, without the skew normally found when imaging fast-moving objects with rolling-shutter devices. Since the imagers operate in a progressive scan mode, the even and odd lines of the image are also exposed at the same time, unlike the interlaced cameras common in analog CCTV.

Lumenera network cameras provide for remote configuration, control, troubleshooting, and upgrades by design. Fast Ethernet (10/100baseT) communications allow for cable runs of up to 300 ft (90 m) over standard CAT5e cable. Every camera hosts a web server that provides a graphical user interface through common web browsers such as Internet Explorer. Internet access to installations over a VPN connection allows for monitoring and troubleshooting without sending technicians to the remote site.

The on-camera memory feature provides an image buffer that can be used to recall the last several seconds of images when a violation occurs. By eliminating the need to process and store all images from the cameras at all times, fewer computers and less storage are deployed. For the same reason, it may also be possible to use lower bandwidth communications to download event data to a central office for offline processing. This approach can dramatically reduce the initial system cost and the number of subsystems that require ongoing maintenance.

When identifying occupants in a vehicle or capturing license plates, it may be necessary to work with strobe lamps or LED arrays to momentarily illuminate the passenger compartment or car's exterior. To synchronize the image capture with a flash, all CCD camera models provide an electrical output option of “output_select=strobe.”

On all models, the user can define multiple day and night settings to be stored in the camera. These settings will be applied automatically when the brightness changes beyond the desired thresholds.  The Le075C and Le165C provide a number of features suitable for imaging under most lighting conditions including varying weather, and both day and night. These include support for dc-iris lenses, automatic day/night modes, and models that are sensitive to near infrared (NIR) light. Color models with the day-night option (Le075C-DN and Le165C-DN) automatically remove the filter that blocks NIR when the camera enters into night mode. Monochrome models (Le175M and Le165M) are NIR sensitive in both day and night modes. Both ‘C-DN’ and ‘M’ types can be used with active NIR illuminators such as filtered halogen lamps or light emitting diodes (LED’s).

Users can easily resize the image to capture only a specific region of interest within the camera’s field of view. For instance, the user may choose to process only a limited number of rows of the image, while still using the full horizontal resolution. Such a large aspect ratio is often suitable for monitoring wide intersections or multiple lanes of traffic. This approach can yield increased frame rates or reduce data storage requirements.

Lumenera’s range of IP cameras includes several models with global shutter CCD imagers suitable for stop-motion applications such as traffic enforcement and highway speed traps. The various models offer a variety of capabilities. The VGA resolution Le075 is capable of up to 70 frames per second. The ultra-sensitive Le165 is the mainstay of many traffic applications. Both the Le259 and Le11059 pair large format high-end imagers with remote controlled 35mm lenses.

Alternative USB 2.0 Cameras:

Lumenera also offers the Lm165, Lw235 and Lw11059 for automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) and traffic applications. These USB 2.0 models can be useful when accompanied by a CPU, and for clients who need raw images for future processing.

For additional information, please contact us at industrialsales@lumenera.com

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