Visitors to Tampa, Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base the weekend of March 19 and 20 were treated to displays of some of the most sophisticated aircraft in use by the United States Armed Forces as well as the most daring stunt flying they are likely to see in their lifetimes as the base’s annual AirFest air show returned for the first time since 2014. What attendees may not have noticed was the advanced security technology helping to keep them safe during the show’s two-day run. At AirFest 2016, the cornerstone of MacDill’s security was Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology from Oldsmar’s PlateSmart. Technologies. PlateSmart worked in partnership with integrator Sentry View Systems of Melbourne, Fla.

PlateSmart provided its ARES ALPR-based video analytics solution for use at AirFest. It was connected to numerous cameras that were positioned in strategic locations on the base. Many were previously installed on utility poles, and others were mounted on specialized trailers from Sentry View Systems. The entire deployment was accomplished in a few hours. When activated, ARES enabled the cameras to function as license plate reader cameras in addition to their usual monitoring function. License plate numbers and state jurisdictions from all vehicles that passed through the cameras’ views were compared to law enforcement databases to check for possible wanted persons.