Adaptive Recognition: Automatic Pay-per-Weight at a Landfill Site in the New Zealand Capital

The Challenge

The landfill operates on a pay-per-weight principle, meaning that the price customers pay for the service depends on the weight and the type of their waste. In the past, this involved manually entering number plates and weights into the system. It was a time-consuming and error-prone process.

The Solution

Adaptive Recognition’s New Zealand partner, Focus Digital Security, designed and installed an automatic number plate recognition system consisting of three ANPR cameras.

The cameras capture the number plates of the vehicles as they enter the site. Then, the vehicles drive onto a weighbridge that takes their total weight (waste included). Once the vehicles have disposed of the waste, they are measured again on the way out.

The system automatically cross-references the measured amount with the number plate and their weight upon entry. In the meantime, the system also calculates the price to be paid. The weighbridge operator notifies the customer of the charge. Conveniently, the customer has the choice between paying by card or cash. Commercial customers get charged on their account, with no payment required on-site.

Systems Used

The system consists of three Adaptive Recognition SmartCAM 3 HDx cameras integrated into the weighbridge software and the software responsible for automatic charging and invoicing.

The cameras automatically read number plates and send ANPR data into the weighbridge software. The software references them against a pre-registered commercial customer list.

Thanks to the onboard storage capacity within the SmartCAM, operators can manually verify images by local web browsing to the camera’s interface, should the need arise. They can also review internally stored images with a simple search by number plate, saving them time and effort.

A New Camera for Similar Systems

As of 2021, there is a new camera for those who are looking for creating a system similar to the one described above: Vidar. It has everything SmartCAM provided—and even more. To learn more about this camera family, visit the product page.

About Adaptive Recognition

Adaptive Recognition is a group of creative minds, developing and manufacturing AI-based image processing technology, for the traffic, security, and identity industries. 

Adaptive Recognition's first major successes came with our globally market-leading Carmen® ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) product, which is capable of automatically recognizing and reading images of car license plates. This was followed by introducing various standardized codes, which are used, among other things, in shipping or printed on ID documents like passports.

The small startup transformed into a professional international company with locations in Denmark, the USA, Asia-Pacific, Central-Europe, and Singapore, with 300+ employees and 30+ representative partners worldwide.