An automatic system of vehicle number-plate recognition based on neural networks

This paper presents an automatic system of vehicle number-plate recognition based on neural networks. In this system, location of number-plate and recognition of characters in number-plate can be automatically completed. Pixel colors of Number-plate area are classified using neural network, then color features are extracted by analyzing scanning lines of the cross-section of number-plate. It takes full use of number-plate color features to locate numberplate. Characters in number-plate can be effectively recognized using the neural networks. Experimental results show that the correct rate of number-plate location is close to 100%, and the time of number-plate location is less than 1 second. Moreover, recognition rate of characters is improved due to the known number-plate type. It is also observed that this system is not sensitive to variations of weather, illumination and vehicle speed. In addition, and also the size of number-plate need not to be known in prior. This system is of crucial significance to apply and spread the automatic system of vehicle number-plate recognition.