How to Choose USB camera module for Gas Station AI Security?
Manufacturer: Shenzhen Newlink Creation Limited (www.sznlk.com)
Application Target: Gas Station Automated Surveillance (ANPR, Fuel Nozzle Status, Personnel, amp; Vehicle Tracking).
Mounting Position: Above the fuel dispenser
Height: 2.5 metersTarget 
Distance: 2–3 meters
Field Width: 4–5 meters

Part1: Lens Selection 
I. Side Cameras (Left amp; Right): Angled ANPR 
DetectionCore Task: Detect incoming vehicles and capture clean license plates from a side-approaching trajectory.
Recommended Lens: 3.6mm or 4mm lens provides the necessary pixel density to ensure characters are large enough for OCR algorithms, avoiding the issue of oversized fields of view rendering plates too small.
Crucial Deployment Tips:Horizontal Angle Limit: Keep the angle between the camera view and the vehicles driving path within 30° to 45°.

II. Center Camera: Core Task: Monitor the fuel dispenser, track operator behavior, and determine which specific fuel nozzle (left or right) is active.
Recommended Lens: 2.1mm or 2.8mm (Ultra-Wide Angle)Technical Rationale:At a 2–3 meter distance, the center camera requires a massive horizontal Field of View (FOV) to encompass the entire dispenser housing, hanging slots, and multi-side operational zone without blind spots.

Part 2: Core Hardware Requirements for the USB Camera Modules,the selected cameras must feature:
1. Hardware WDR (Wide Dynamic Range), Gas stations suffer from extreme high-contrast lighting—blinding outdoor sunlight outside the canopy versus deep shade inside. WDR balances exposure instantly, preventing vehicle headlights at night or glaring backlight in the day from washing out license plates or obscuring the dark holster slots of fuel guns.
2. H.264 Hardware-Compressed Video StreamWhy it’s essential: Multi-channel 2MP (1080P) uncompressed streams saturate USB bus bandwidth and overwhelm CPU/GPU decoding resources on the RK board.
The Advantage: On-board H.264 encoding compresses streams at the source, ensuring smooth, freeing up 100% of the RK mainboards NPU/CPU compute for real-time AI inference.
3. Integrated LED Fill Light Support, Built-in or synchronized LED illumination ensures the sensor receives adequate photon count, mitigating reflective plate glare and supporting low-light nozzle activity detection.
Summary all, we need choose 2MP USB camera module with WDR and H.264 and IR-LED for Gas Station Monitoring Camera Bar.
#USBCameraModule #WDRCameraModule