HomeAssistant Integration¶

anpr2mqtt represents each ANPR cameras as a MQTT Sensor and MQTT Image entities, and uses MQTT discovery so that HomeAssistant automatically picks up components discovered by ANPR2MQTT with zero configuration on HomeAssistant itself.

The MQTT image entity can be used in the same way as a camera entity, so can be included in mobile push, email etc notifications, or added to a Home Assistant dashboard. See the example below, or use Supernotify camera support.

Attributes¶

Both the sensor and image attributes have the same extensive set of attributes.

The target value will also appear in a field named after target_type, for example, plate for easier to read Home Assistant automations.

The reg_info will be populated with the licence plate API lookup, for example UK DVLA, if provided.

Example Automation¶

This example uses Supernotify to generate multiple alerts, such as email with ANPR image attachment, mobile push with the image and click through to Frigate page, voice assistant announcement and sounding chimes. It can also be used with any of the built-in notification integrations, though without the same multiple-transport and media handling capabilities.

alias: Driveway ANPR Alert
description: ""
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id:
      - sensor.driveway_anpr
conditions: []
actions:
  - action: notify.supernotifier
    metadata: {}
    data:
      message: >-
        {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.description }} with {{
        trigger.to_state.attributes.plate }} spotted at {{
        trigger.to_state.attributes.camera }} camera in an
        {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.direction }} direction.

        {% if trigger.to_state.attributes.previous_sightings == 0 %} 
        Not previously sighted  
        {% else %}  
        {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.previous_sightings }} previous sightings,
        last seen on {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.last_sighting[:10] }} at {{
        trigger.to_state.attributes.last_sighting[11:16] }}   
        {% endif %}

        {% if trigger.to_state.attributes.reginfo is defined %}  
        DVLA info: 
        {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.reginfo }}  
        {% endif %}
      title: >-
        {{ trigger.to_state.attributes.description }} spotted on {{
        trigger.to_state.attributes.camera }} camera
      data:
        priority: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.priority }}"
        media:
          camera_entity_id: "image.anpr_{{trigger.to_state.attributes.camera}}"
          snapshot_url: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.event_image_url }}"

Configuration¶

In general, no configuration is needed, if Home Assistant is already running with MQTT, and the defaults haven't been changed.

Make sure anpr2mqtt is publishing to the same broker, the MQTT Integration is installed and automatic discovery is not disabled.

The homeassistant default topic prefix matches the default ANPR2MQTT config, if its changed in HomeAssistant, then the ANPR2MQTT config must be changed to match.

Device Creation¶

A Home Assistant device will be created for each ANPR2MQTT camera, and Home Assistant will then group the relevant entities together on this device page. Use device_creation: false in the homeassistant config block if you want to switch off this behaviour.

MQTT Topics¶

There are 3 separate types of MQTT topic used for HomeAssisstant integration:

• Config to support auto discovery.
  • A topic is created per camera, with a name like homeassistant/sensor/camera/anpr/config.
  • The homeassistant topic prefix can also be configured.
• State to report the last plate seen and attributes
  • anpr2mqtt/camera_name/state
  • anpr2mqtt/camera_name/image

Verifying it Works¶

Rather than wait for a container to need an update, you can check right away that Home Assistant has recognized the ANPR entities.

From the Entities View, or the Developer Tools, filter the entities by anpr.

More Home Assistant information¶

• MQTT Integration
  • Includes setting up a MQTT broker, MQTT Discovery, and trouble-shooting
• MQTT Sensor
• MQTT Image