New player in arena: Metrici 3.8 version hits the market

What is new in 3.8

• Red light runner detection – engine and interface
• Red light infringement - dedicated menu entry
• Vehicles speed has a dedicated menu line in the interface
• Anti passback feature introduced in LPR Parking module
• Special development integrating Metrici MultiController with access cards in LPR Parking module
• Option for access card ID to be converted into license plate in LPR Parking module Interface- useful in cross-checking scenarios and better access control
• Crop special setting feature for detection windows in Area Counter engines
• Microscope special setting feature for detection windows in Area Counter engines- special analysis for large images and small objects
• Argentina and Kosovo added in the list of countries for LPR
• Updated license plate syntax for Ukraine, Moldova, Germany and Slovenia
• New settings in Parking for LPR as it was introduced the concept of border cameras
• Export for tenants and groups settings in LPR and Parking for LPR Interface
• Import for tenants and groups settings in LPR and Parking for LPR Interface
• Export and import for the number plates for each tenant and each group in LPR and Parking for LPR
• Double parking detection engine and interface in Parking Place Detector- when a car is parked on two parking spots
• New settings for tenants that can be introduced in more than one zone in a location and settings for the cameras as well to know when one is leaving a zone and enters other in same location using bidirectional cameras
• Detection window visible on Live view in LPR engines when set in Metrici Control Panel
• Self fit (auto-correct) for the detection window when dragged outside of the frame's edges
• Changed algorithms for better managing hardware resources and improved performance on same machines (more cameras or better calculation with the same resources)
• Frame limitation setting for companion cameras
• Changes in LPR action list- check button for showing or not plate which belongs to groups
• Tenants' number platess are not visible anymore in LPR module action lists, but only in Parking for LPR module- Reports- Vehicle of tenants
• Search function in tenants' vehicles in Parking for LPR, with instant link to each tenant settings or its vehicles list
• API extensions for integration with automated payment machines
• Improved Container Code Recognition with upside down codes reading
• Size limit and backup option for log files
• New AI model and training for better and faster detection and improved accuracy and speed in object recognition

Some explanations. What some features bring?

The concept of border cameras refer to the ones that are allowed to introduce and exit cars (add and substract and calculate cars inside report) from a parking lot when a number plate is detected. The other cameras will only act as sensors and will do an action if set but they will not decrease or increase number of vehicles in the parking lot. The new version comes to solve some challenges for the customer: in fact, the border camera setting is meant for a parking lot that has more areas where one is transited in the way to another, so only one camera will have the functionality of adding or subtracting numbers of vehicles from the parking lot.

Crop is a special setup in Area Counter where only the defined areas are cut out of the image and analyzed independently. In comparison, the “full” setup means the defined areas are also analyzed but all at once, not individually. Crop will analyze each detection area as it would be an independent frame, for a better accuracy.

Also, the Microscope feature means a single image frame is cut into very small areas (tens for each frame, but depends on the resolution of the image) which are analyzed individually. This will lead to better detection for very small objects in the image but a very slow speed, usually up to 10 seconds for each frame. You can see as such people which are very small in a high resolution camera watching a biq square, for example. In fact the engine does the same as in the Crop feature. Each “image cut” is analyzed independently as it would be a normal frame. Then the entire image is recomposed, the duplicates are eliminated (if an object happens to be at the intersection of a cut) and a final result is delivered with the output of the detection.

The better the resolution, the better the results, but also the speed will decrease, as the image is split in tens of other small parts which are analyzed one by one and this is where the slow result comes from.

Anti-passback is a feature that can be used to prevent users from passing their access credentials back for another user to borrow and to stop users entering an area. When a vehicle/access card is detected and this feature is activated, Metrici is searching in its database to see if it is already registered as in the parking or out of the parking. If that's the situation as this particular number plate /access card is registered at that moment as being "inside", the action set for that particular number plate will not be taken. This feature will prevent the habit of borrowing access cards for multiple accesses in a parking lot. It aims to prevent consecutive entries for one access card, or prevent multiple people from using the same access card. It is a security protocol that prevents cardholder credentials from being used for improper access.

Other features in the launch

Tenants and Groups import and export are meant to easy the work of our clients, who have a better possibility to manage parking with tens or thousands of users. For any import, you have the option to eliminate and replace the old list or to add only the new entries. On the other hand, the show groups number plates button is useful in situation of import and exports actions when only new cars can be imported which do not belong to neither groups or tenants. So you can manage the groups individually.

The import and export for groups and tenants allows also to change one to another if one wants to. For example, you export a created group and you can import it as tenant. Or the other way around.

Comparing to the group, the tenant has the possibility of managing its own plate and add as many number plates as it wants, but can only enter a parking with the maximum number of vehicles allocated to it.

You can have 20 cars in the list, but only two parking spots, so this is the maximum number of cars permitted to be inside simultaneously, at any given time. One goes out, then another can enter and so on.

Also, the tenants action list and number plates will have a distinct entry in the Interface and will not be visible in LPR menu. This allows managing plates which are not included neither in group or tenants with import and export options, among other settings.

What next

The version has already been tested in the Metrici labs for a while now, but also in beta releases in some already implemented projects around the world.

The update is free for all Metrici partners who have purchased a license in the last year, but also available for everybody else on request to the distributors. Meanwhile, the Metrici engineers are already working at the next version that will soon hit the market with even a bigger surprise.

Metrici is a globally-renowned solutions provider in the video surveillance industry, object recognition and Artificial Intelligence applications, which lately also approached and delivered custom applications for industrial sector and robotics. It focuses on different object recognition and AI based video analysis.

The company is one time winner and two times top 3 finalist in OSPA contest, which rewards the best of the best in security industry.