Smart Toll Booth

ABSTRACT

The World is aware that development of a country depends upon its basic infrastructure. An express highway is one of
them, we experience a long queue at each toll plazas on expressway which wastes a lot of journey time, fuel and emissions
of CO2. As of now, at each toll both the vehicle has to stop for paying the toll. A System is proposed that would pay the
toll automatically and reduce the queue at the toll booth.

For the purpose of auto system, the image of the vehicle number plate and its class is important. In this system a high-
resolution camera is used for capturing the image of the vehicle number plate. The captured image would be converted
into the text using LPR and the toll would be cut from the customer’s prepaid balance account or he will pay the toll
using online payment. After successful payment the gate would automatically be opened when the vehicle reaches Toll
Booth.

KEYWORDS

License Plate Recognition (LPR), Application Programming Interface (API)

I. INTRODUCTION

In the existing system, according to the manual toll collection methodology, a driver has to stop at a toll
booth and pay the required fee directly to a collector. The amount to be paid by each vehicle is determined
by its characteristics or classification. The manual toll payment system time consuming. The proposed
system uses high resolution cameras which would click the front and rear images of the vehicle and uses
LPR system to detect the number plate. The vehicle number plate of users vehicle is verified and if the user
has an online account then it would check if the user has paid the required toll amount in advance, if not then
it would verify if there is prepaid balance in the user’s account and in case there is required amount in his
prepaid account then the amount would be deduced and the user will be notified via message. If both the
above cases fail then using the License Plate Number the bill will be generated which can be paid at the toll
booth.

The System uses an Android Application and a web site which would be developed to be directly hosted on
web server. The Android Application uses Google Map API which would track the android mobile of the
user and a pop notification would be sent to the user if in case a tool booth is arriving within 4-5 km radius.
This would help the user to pay toll tax in advance. The web site would be helpful for those users who doesn’t
have the Android Application and desire to use the Web Site in order to pay toll tax in advance.

II. LITRATURE REVIEW

There are various systems which are used for toll collection ,some system uses RFID (radio frequency
identification which is a form of wireless communication that incorporates the use of electromagnetic or
electrostatics coupling in the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify
the vehicle the RFID reader is used to receive the information of the vehicle of the system mapped to the
database the GSM module is used for connecting to the internet. The LCD system is used to display the RFID

1|Page
id, number plate ,the existing balance of the vehicle passed from the toll plaza. the advantages of RFID
technology is that it is highly reliable . the major disadvantages include duplicating the tags , installing tags
on an uneasy location and continuous requirement of power in order to actively transmit the information .

Fastag : NHAI(national highway authority of India ) rolled out the program for automatic toll collection .
on toll plazas on national highways to be called as Fastag . the Fastag is a device that uses RFID technology
for making toll payment directly from the prepaid account linked to it . Fastag is affixed on the wind screen
of the vehicle and enables the user to drive to the toll plaza . Fastag can be used for making payment through
check or through online net banking or Credit /Debit cards . the Fastag user has to follow standard operating
procedure

III. PROPOSED SYSTEM

The proposed system will be using High Resolution Cameras, an Android Application, a web site and a web
server. The proposed system uses high resolution cameras which would click the front and rear images of
the vehicle and uses LPR system to detect the number plate. The vehicle number plate of users vehicle is
verified and if the user has an online account then it would check if the user has paid the required toll amount
in advance, if not then it would verify if there is prepaid balance in the user’s account and in case there is
required amount in his prepaid account then the amount would be deduced and the user will be notified via
message. If both the above cases fail then using the License Plate Number the bill will be generated which
can be paid at the toll booth.

The System uses an Android Application and a web site which would be developed to be directly hosted on
web server. The Android Application uses Google Map API which would track the android mobile of the
user and a pop notification would be sent to the user if in case a tool booth is arriving within 4-5 km radius.
This would help the user to pay toll tax in advance. The web site would be helpful for those users who doesn’t
have the Android Application and desire to use the Web Site in order to pay toll tax in advance.

2|Page
License Plate Recognition (LPR):

The proposed system provides a base for implementing automatic

number plate detection using image processing for toll collection
at toll checkpoints. This system will help in saving time as well as
help in reducing congestion at toll checkpoints. This system will
also help in monitoring any fraudulent behaviour that takes place
at the toll checkpoints. The proposed system will capture an image
placed at the toll checkpoint and will perform certain processes to
detect the number plate of a vehicle.
Following are the steps that needs to followed to detect a
number plate: Fig1. Number Plate detection using image
A. Image Acquisition. processing

B. Image Pre-processing.
C. License Plate Localization.
D. Character Segmentation.
E. Character Recognition
A. Image Acquisition: The first step is to acquire the image from the camera. The image can be captured
using a high-resolution camera.
B. Image Pre-processing: After acquisition of an image we need to perform certain pre-processing
techniques like grey scale conversion, noise reduction, contrast enhancement to remove noises, low
contrast, and unwanted background.
C. License Plate localization: License plate region are localized based on the features of the license plates.
Localization can be performed using the following steps.

• Opening and Closing of Image.

• Image Binarization.

• Elimination of unwanted region.

• Mapping of co-ordinates.

• License plate extraction

D. Character Segmentation: Unwanted objects like dots or some noise needs to be removed. After
removing unwanted objects, dilation is performed.

E. Character Recognition: Character Recognition is the final step in License Plate Recognition. Two
main components of License Plate Recognition are Feature Extractor and Classifier.

3|Page
 • Feature Extractor- Given a character image,
the feature extractor derives the features that
the character possesses. The derived features
are then used as an input to the character
classifier.

• Character Classifier- Classification is

performed by comparing an input character
image with a set of templates from each
character class. Each Comparison results in Fig 2. Character Recognition
similarity measure between the input
character and the template.

3.2 Working:

Fig 3. Flowchart of working of the System

1. With the help of a camera, the number plate of the vehicle will be captured.

4|Page
 2. The number plate of the vehicle will be processed using an image processing technique.

3. Once the license number is extracted from the overall image, it will be compared and searched in
the centralize database and the respective vehicle owner’s details will be fetched.

4. Along with the details, it will also check whether the owner of the vehicle has an online prepaid
account.

5. If the possession online prepaid account. does not exists, then go to step 6 else check the balance
in the account if it is sufficient enough then deduce the amount else notify the user to recharge his
balance.

6. If there is no possession of online prepaid account check for the users account over online payment
server if yes then notify him to pay the amount online.

7. If no online account is found then generate a receipt for the user to pay at the toll booth.

Using the proposed system mentioned above, the overheads of toll collection at the toll checkpoints will be
minimized. This system helps in keeping a watch on the total toll amount collected as well as helps those who
possess online prepaid account. There are many techniques used previously to detect vehicle number plate in
order to implement automated toll collection but the concept of online prepaid account and online payment
account was ignored and the LPR techniques were used to detect the number plate. In India, online prepaid
accounts are widely used because there are commuters who travel frequently near the toll checkpoint areas, for
them online prepaid account are very much beneficial, and for those who travel less frequently for them online
payment account is available.

IV. Payment methodology using android app:

Paying toll has always been a cumbersome process resulting in long queues. Using this user-friendly app, users
can pay toll without having to wait in queue at the toll plazas. To avail the app facility, users will have to first
download and install the application on their phones or tablets. Then the User would need to register for the online
account. There he will have two choices whether to have an online prepaid account or whether to have an online
payment account. The Online prepaid account would have a prepaid balance which would directly be deduced
when a vehicle crosses a toll booth. The Online Payment account would be a slightly different it would send a
notification to the user about the toll booth on the way of user and asks him to pay the toll tax so that he can save
his time and easily cross the toll booth without wasting his time. The Online Payment can be done via credit
cards, debit cards or net banking. Once this information is submitted, it gets stored in the toll database When the
user approaches the toll booth, the LPR camera will recognize the license plate and check its details automatically.
The details about all the vehicles passing through the toll booth will be stored in the database

Modules in App:

i. Customer App Modules:

5|Page
 Registration Module.

Login module.

Add and List Vehicles.

Online Payment.

Paid toll.

ii. Toll Employee App Modules:

Registration Module.

Login module.

List of Vehicles paid.

Scan QR code.

View verified vehicle.

V. Payment Methodology using Website:

Why website when we have Android Application?

Android Apps don’t run on IOS.

Devices not Compatible with the version.

Storage space running out.

Modules in Website:

I. Customer module:
 The customer can register and have an online prepaid account as well as online
payment account on the website.
 The customer can add and list vehicles, can edit them and can make payment online
 The customer can also view the paid toll on the website.

II. Toll Employee module:

 The Employee can login and see the vehicles passed from the toll.
 Employee can scan the QR code and verify whether the vehicles are verified
are not.
III. Request module:

 In this module the police department can request the toll booth for details of
vehicles crossed the toll booth.
 They’ll need to request and enter the details and the number of the vehicle in
this module which would be saved in the central server.
The Web Site is running on web server where the centralized database is stored. The Authorized Personal at the
Toll booth will be able to access the Admin Account by filling in valid login id and password and he would

6|Page
directly get the License Plate Number of the coming vehicles through LPR system and High-resolution cameras.
The web site would also have a Request Account for Police Department and a User account for the local users
who don’t have the Android Application.

CONCLUSION

Thus, a system used as an Automated Toll collection booth, based on image processing saves the time at toll
booth, minimizes the fuel consumption during the ideal condition of the vehicle. In turn we can save the
environment from emission of extra carbon monoxide (co2). Hence, we can save our country. Also, it serves
in providing the tracking system for theft vehicle which is secured and highly reliable. It can be used to
remove all drawbacks with the current system such as time and human effort and it also doesn’t require any
tag only required best quality camera and fixed font number plate on each vehicle.

REFERENCES

[1] ARMAmol A. Chapate, D.D. Nawgaje Electronic Toll Collection System Based on International Journal of Science, Engineering
and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2015.

[2] Galande, Oswal, Gidde ,Ranaware N. S. Bandgar, Automated Toll Cash Collection System For Road Transportation’, IJCSMC,
Issue 1, 2015.

[3] K. LakshmiSudha, Reversible Data Hiding using QR Codes for Android International Journal of Computer Applications
Department of IT SIES GST L, India July 2014.

[4] S. Lauren, B. Mariko, Electronic Toll Collection Online, 2007, June 20. [5] Satyasrikanth P automatic toll collection system using
RFID, Bangalore International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing.

[5] Guo-Huang Hsu, Liang-Rui Lin, Rong-Hong Jan, and Chien Chen ,” Design of ETC Violation Enforcement System for Non-
payment Vehicle Searching”, ICACT Transactions on Advanced Communications Technology (TACT) Vol. 2, Issue 1, March 2013

[6] Saijie Lu, Tiejun He, Zhaohui Gao,” Design of Electronic Toll Collection System based on Global Positioning System Technique”,
2009 ISECS International Colloquium on Computing, Communication, Control, and Management 978-1- 4244-4246-1/09/$25.00
©2009 IEEE CCCM.

[7] Z. Feng, Y. Zhu, P. Xue and M. Li, “Design and realization of expressway vehicle path recognition and ETC system based on
RFID,” 3rd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (ICCSIT),vol. 7, pp.S6- 90, 2010.

[8] Z. Feng, Y. Zhu, P. Xue and M. Li, “Design and realization of expressway vehicle path recognition and ETC system based on
RFID,” 3rd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (ICCSIT),vol. 7, pp.S6- 90, 2010.

7|Page