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TECHNOLOGY FOCUS All-seeing ANPR The night has eyes


Truvelo UK’s new TRIMMS infrared illumination source provides an effective solution to mobile speed enforcement in the dead of night, as Jason Barnes explains


image captures caused by wet film maga- zine capacities are a thing of the past and the consequent always-on capabilities of cameras which self-trigger can be combined with fixed or wireless connectivity which allows data transfer around the clock. Operational flexibility has been signifi-


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cantly improved and, as legislation evolves, digitisation opens the door to new and more complex enforcement applications. In markets where enforcement operations are not ring-fenced for political reasons we may yet see enforcement systems manu- facturers start to supply solutions with traffic management functions. Cameras which constantly self-trigger are capable of providing real-time information on traffic presence and flows, for example. But not all in the garden is roses. With


the exception of the latest high-end offer- ings, digital cameras do not offer the dynamic range of older, wet-film systems. This, combined with the retro-reflectivity of modern licence plates such as those used in the UK, causes problems when attempting to successfully capture proof of an offence at night. It has resulted in a situ- ation where mobile enforcement is largely restricted to the hours of daylight and, as a consequence, on some rural roads some motorists feel that they can speed with near impunity at certain times of the day.


ADDRESSING BURNOUT Evidential proof of an offence requires both a licence plate capture as well as identification of the make and model of the host vehicle. Particularly at night, the levels of illumination needed to capture


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igitisation has been a good thing for automated enforcement. The limits on the numbers of potential


a vehicle image can cause burnout of the characters on a retro-reflective plate. Infrared (IR) illumination solutions,


well-considered in the sense of light intensity and source placement, offer a solution to an issue which has hith- erto remained unsolved in the mobile enforcement sector. Since last year, Tru- velo UK has been developing TRIMMS (the Truvelo Infrared Make and Model Solution), an IR illumination system which works with the LASERwitness Lite digital video speed enforcement system from US firm Kustom Signals. The LASERwitness Lite, for which


Truvelo is the UK distributor, is a mobile enforcement solution which can be set up for manual and auto operation. It cap- tures short, five to six second video clips of speeding offences and already offers an appreciable night-time capability by virtue of an in-built IR illuminator for use in street-lit urban environments or the lower light levels experienced at dawn and dusk. TRIMMS extends that performance to true pitch-black conditions, enabling effective mobile speed enforcement on roads away from external light sources. Developed using in-house expertise, TRIMMS consists of a bank of IR flood- lamps and a power-pack. It is an entirely standalone system which when in use can be sited up to 60m ahead of where the LASERwitness Lite is positioned. This contrasts with visible-spectrum illumina- tion solutions which have to be physically or electronically linked to and triggered by their host camera systems.


IN-VEHICLE SOLUTION Because it is an IR source, and therefore largely invisible to the naked eye – a faint


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red glow is all that the human eye can detect – TRIMMS can provide constant illumination without causing driver dis- traction. Another significant feature is that it can be used in conjunction with camera systems without the need for UK Home Office Type Approval. This dramatically simplifies and shortens pro- curement and deployment times. Prior to launch, Truvelo carried out on-road test- ing in conjunction with Road Safety Sup- port, the ACPO-related, not-for-profit organisation which provides expert opin- ion and help on matters relating to road casualty reductions. Road Safety Support attested to TRIMMS’s effectiveness. Image burnout can still occur with IR


if light levels and angles are incorrect. The standalone version of TRIMMS sits at a 45° angle to the direction of traffic and is now in use by the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership. However a develop- ing trend is to use civilian operatives for enforcement and there is a reluctance to have non-police-trained individuals leav- ing the safety of their vehicles at night. The ‘Holy Grail’ solution is to have an enforce- ment solution which is entirely enclosed within a van. This requires collocation of camera and illumination source in the enforcement vehicle, and a re-thinking of light angles and outputs. Truvelo now has a vehicle-mounted version of TRIMMS ready for market and this will enter police service in southern England in the very near future.


  truvelouk.com  roadsafetysupport.co.uk Vol 2 No 1 smartHIGHWAYS


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