Who We Are
Perceptics has been making high-performance imaging systems for the transportation industry for nearly 40 years. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, we design, engineer and manufacture equipment for border control, commercial vehicle enforcement, electronic toll collection and security industries. Our operations department, customer service department, training center and test lab are also located at this facility. We have about 60 employees, one-third of which have been at the company for over 15 years.
Over the years, the license plate reader has been Perceptics’ dominant product. Other high-performance imaging systems developed more recently include driver and scene cameras, USDOT number readers, and container code readers. We have also developed several products to support our current operations such as our Unique Vehicle IDentification (UVID) module for trip matching, and our Central Management Console to monitor the health of our equipment.
Not only does Perceptics serve its customers with high-performance imaging systems, its employees are dedicated to serving the communities in which they live. Since 2008, the Perceptics Foundation has contributed over $1 million to non-profit organizations supported by its employees in company matching and donations. Whether its building houses for Habit for Humanity in Knoxville or participating in Wreaths Across America, Perceptics employees believe in community service.
How Do LPRs Work?
There are two parts to a license plate reader: the camera and the optical character recognition (OCR) engine. The camera captures the image and the OCR is the software that interprets the image. The OCR can be embedded inside the camera or housed elsewhere depending on the application. Perceptics' LPRs have the OCR embedded so when data leaves the camera it includes an image and the corresponding data from the image. Perceptics' OCR can also pair with other cameras and is flexible enough to be housed either in the camera, in the lane, in a back office or in the cloud.
Image data varies depending on customer needs but can include the state/province and number of the license plate, the type (commercial, taxi, emergency, etc.) of plate, the date and time of the image capture, and the confidence factor which indicates how confident the system is in its read. The image data is then transferred to the customer for processing.
To keep the OCR functioning at the highest level possible, Perceptics regularly reviews sample sets of images manually. This health check of the system is to ensure the OCR is properly processing the newest plate designs that are constantly entering the market.
Is an LPR Solution Right For You?
License plate readers are valuable tools in helping to control access to your secure facility, collect revenue on toll roads, and facilitate a quicker and smoother process for ensuring compliance. By automating the process of reading the license plate in a secure access or commercial vehicle enforcement application, the need for a person to type in license plate data is negated, thus keeping that person protected either in the booth or in a different location entirely. It also speeds up the verification process.
For electronic toll collection, the benefit of using an LPR is the ability to capture an image of each vehicle that travels on the toll road regardless of whether that vehicle has an RFID tag. License plate data can also be used to verify an RFID tag read.
License plate readers vary greatly in design, application, and cost. We’re committed to working with you to find the right fit.
