Vehicle license plate localization using wavelets

Abstract

This paper presents a new method for vehicle license plate localization. The proposed method uses wavelet decomposition for localizing the license plate. We first preprocess the image by masking the non-license plate border with the prior knowledge of the distance of the vehicle. We then use the unique property of sudden and a frequent transition which takes place across characters of the license plate to convert it to a license plate location detectable image by dividing the rows into its component zones. The component zone set which includes the license plate is determined using a transition counter and the zone which holds the maximum value is determined and validated using the wavelet based method. Simulation results are included to show the effectiveness of the proposed method for the localization of Indian license plates. © 2013 IEEE.