Automatic vehicle detection & fueling authorization

Concept & system design for a hydrogen refueling operator.

THE CHALLENGE

Fleet drivers lose time on authorization at the dispenser: cards fail, apps need accounts. The operator wanted fueling to start the moment a known vehicle arrives.

Identification must work in rain, at night and across mixed fleets — no single method is robust enough.

WHAT I BUILT

I designed dual-modality identification: an ANPR camera with IR illumination reads the plate, a BLE adapter detects an active tag in the vehicle — two independent paths to the same whitelist. HF RFID was field-tested as a third option.

A backend checks the whitelist and authorizes dispenser and payment automatically, with defined fallbacks for the station-to-backend link.

WHAT CHANGED

Authorization time drops to zero for whitelisted fleets — the driver just fuels.

Dual identification (optical + radio) stays robust where either method alone fails.

Architecture handed over ready for pilot implementation.

Infographic of the optical identification path: ANPR camera with IR reads the plate, OCR result is checked against the fleet whitelist and fueling is released — FIG. 01 — OPTICAL PATH: ANPR + IR → OCR → WHITELIST → RELEASE

Infographic of the radio identification path: an active BLE tag in the cab is detected at the dispenser, a signal-strength gate assigns the lane, whitelist match releases fueling — FIG. 02 — RADIO PATH: BLE TAG → PROXIMITY GATE → WHITELIST → RELEASE

Infographic of the field-tested HF RFID path: a passive 13.56 MHz transponder is read in a short, defined zone at the dispenser and checked against the whitelist — FIG. 03 — FIELD-TESTED: HF RFID → DEFINED READ ZONE → WHITELIST

Automatic vehicle detection & fueling authorization

A data or systems problem in hydrogen or e-mobility?