Configuring access control using vehicle license plate credentials - 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

You can use a SharpV ALPR camera to read the license plates of vehicles stopped a garage door or parking lot gate. You can then configure Security Center to grant or deny access based on license plate number.

What you should know

  • To capture license plate numbers, the system can use AutoVu SharpV cameras, or cameras supported by the About the Flexreader plugin.
  • You can deploy an ALPR-based access control solution in various ways. The example of a university campus is used to show you how you can customize a solution that is specific to your deployment.
    In the hypothetical university campus, the following rules apply:
    Faculty
    Can park in Lot A and Lot B.
    Students
    Can park in Lot B.
    Management
    Can park in Lot C.
    Maintenance
    Can park in Lot B on weekdays from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
    Guests
    Can park in any lot with approval from security.
    Scofflaws
    Cannot park anywhere on campus, and security must be alerted if seen.

Procedure

  1. Name the Sharp entities.
    Security Center automatically detects all Sharp cameras connected to the network, but you should name each camera according to its function or location. In our example, use the names Sharp Lot A, Sharp Lot B, and Sharp Lot C.
    NOTE: Configuration is simpler when all Sharp cameras are on the same ALPR Manager. However, if the Sharp cameras are on multiple ALPR Managers, you must assign your hotlists accordingly.
  2. Turn on hotlist matching for the ALPR Manager controlling your Sharp cameras.
  3. Create and configure your hotlists.
    Name each hotlist according to its contents. In the university campus example, use the names Faculty, Students, Management, Maintenance, and Scofflaws.
    NOTE: In the university example, Guests represent anyone that shows up unannounced. Therefore, they are they are not included on any hotlist.
  4. Create a schedule.

    For example, if you want the Maintenance staff to only have access to your parking lot between 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm, you must create a schedule in Security Center that reflects that. You’ll use this schedule later when you create your event-to-actions.

  5. Assign your hotlists to Sharp cameras and the ALPR Manager as follows:
    • Faculty to Sharp Lot A and to Sharp Lot B.
    • Students to Sharp Lot B.
    • Management to Sharp Lot C.
    • Scofflaws and Maintenance to the ALPR Manager.
    NOTE: The Maintenance hotlist must be assigned to the ALPR Manager because it depends on a schedule. All hotlists that you combine with schedules must be assigned to the ALPR Manager.
  6. (Optional) If you have only one ALPR Manager on your system, unassign the Faculty, Students, and Management hotlists from the ALPR Manager.
    When you have only one ALPR Manager, new hotlists are assigned to that ALPR Manager by default (new hotlists are left unassigned if you have multiple ALPR Managers). When you assign a hotlist to a Sharp, Security Center does not automatically unassign it from the ALPR Manager; you must do it manually. Otherwise you will get duplicate match events from the other Sharp cameras.
    If you assign the Students hotlist to Sharp Lot B, but forget to unassign it from the ALPR Manager, a plate read from that list by Sharp Lot B will also trigger matches on Sharp Lot A and Sharp Lot C.
  7. Configure event-to-actions for the Sharp Lot A, Sharp Lot B, and Sharp Lot C cameras.
  8. Configure event-to-actions for the Scofflaws and Maintenance hotlists.

Results

Access to the parking lot is now automated for permitted vehicles, and actions are taken when unknown or scofflaw vehicles are detected.