ALPR access control - Security Center 5.11

Security Center Administrator Guide 5.11
Product
Security Center
Content type
Guides > Administrator guides
Version
5.11
Language
English
Last updated
2024-07-05

By installing SharpV cameras at the entry to a gated parking lot, AutoVu™ License Plate Recognition technology can be used for access control by matching license plates to one or more hotlists, and then granting or denying access to vehicles at the entry point.

How ALPR access control works

In an ALPR access control scenario, you use SharpV cameras, hotlists, and Security Center event-to-actions to automate access to a parking lot or similar facility.

SharpV reading the vehicle license plate and the gate opening for the vehicle.

You begin by installing your SharpV cameras at a facility’s entry points to capture the plates of vehicles attempting to enter. You then create the hotlists that contain the license plates of the vehicles which are allowed to enter, and assign them to the ALPR Manager or to individual Sharp cameras in Config Tool.

After creating and assigning your hotlists, you then create Security Center event-to-actions for the License plate hit and No match events generated by the Sharps and hotlists to grant or deny access to the vehicles.

For example, if a plate matches one or more hotlists assigned to a SharpV, Security Center triggers an action that lifts a gate or opens a garage door, while a No match event (plate does not match any assigned hotlist) triggers an action that sounds an alert, or sends a message to security personnel so they can question the vehicle’s driver.

You can also trigger event-to-actions on hotlists of stolen vehicles, scofflaws, or other vehicles of interest. These hotlists are typically assigned to the ALPR Manager so that the event-to-action can be triggered by any of the Sharps capturing the plate.

About assigning hotlists

Hotlists are lists of vehicle license plates that can be assigned either to an ALPR Manager role, or to individual SharpV cameras.

  • Assigning a hotlist to an ALPR Manager: When you assign a hotlist to an ALPR Manager, all SharpV cameras controlled by the ALPR Manager can match against the hotlist and trigger the event-to-action.
  • Assigning a hotlist to a Sharp camera: When you assign a hotlist to an individual SharpV camera, only that specific SharpV camera can trigger the event-to-action. This is useful for parking facilities that have specific entry points for different groups of vehicles. For example, this allows you to assign a VIP hotlist to a SharpV camera that is installed at the entrance to the VIP parking garage.

Events used in ALPR-based access control

There are two main types of Security Center events used in an ALPR-based access control system, License plate hit and No match.
NOTE: You can also use License Plate Read events to trigger actions such as starting video recording for the SharpV context camera. However, only the License plate hit and No match events are described here.
License plate hit events
When you turn on Matching for an ALPR Manager in Config Tool, Security Center tries to match the plates captured by SharpV cameras to plates on loaded hotlists.
If a plate is matched to a hotlist, Security Center generates a License plate hit event. By creating an event-to-action that triggers on this event, Security Center can grant access to a facility by opening a gate, a garage door, and so on.
No match events
You can also turn on No match events for an ALPR Manager in Config Tool. A No match event is generated when a plate is not matched to a hotlist. For example, you can use a No match event to account for guests, delivery vehicles, or other vehicles not typically registered ahead of time on a hotlist.
Event-to-actions for No match events can either have a hotlist or a SharpV camera as the source of the event. If the hotlist is the source, it means the plate is not found on that particular hotlist. However, if the SharpV is the source, it means that the plate is not found on any of the hotlists assigned to the SharpV. This is a subtle but important difference you should keep in mind when configuring your system because you can have more than one hotlist assigned to a single SharpV.

No match events are not generated against hotlists assigned to the ALPR Manager because they would apply to all the Sharps controlled by the role. For example, if you have a hotlist of stolen vehicles assigned to the ALPR Manager, any plate read not on that list would generate a No match event. Since the majority of the plates read by the SharpV will not be stolen vehicles, No match events would be generated for nearly every plate read.

ALPR access control overview:

Watch this video to learn more. Click the Captions icon (CC) to turn on video captions in one of the available languages.