EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Companies Combine Video Analysis Software to Meet Customer Demands
8/1/2013
By Valerie Insinna
By Valerie Insinna
General Dynamics Mediaware and Sentient Vision Systems are integrating their video processing and target detection technologies in hopes of saving customers time and money.
Company officials noticed several Australian and South American military clients who used both General Dynamics’s D-VEX software, which helps analysts manage live or recorded video from sensors and drones, and Sentient’s Kestrel Moving Target Indication (MTI) software that identifies small or hard-to-see objects in electro-optic or infrared video, said Kevin Moore, chief technology officer of General Dynamics Mediaware.
Operators originally had to move back and forth between screens while using both programs, making it more difficult to quickly spot targets. By partnering those systems, analysts will be able to use them on the same screen.
“Over the next couple of months, these customers are looking to begin operational trials of D-VEX combined with the Kestrel Moving Target Indication plug-in,” Moore said in an email. “Using D-VEX with the plug-in reduces the number of systems to maintain, as well as the number of screens analysts need to look at.”
For new customers, General Dynamics will offer Kestrel MTI as an option with D-VEX. Customers who have already bought separate D-VEX and Kestrel licenses will be able to replace them with the integrated software.
The software can be used on video streams coming from a variety of sensors, including those on unmanned aerial vehicles, aerostats and manned surveillance towers.
“A button on the main display enables the moving-target detection and a side panel allows the analyst to fine-tune the detection parameters,” Moore said. “When up and running, targets in the video are automatically detected and highlighted on the video screen using graphical overlays that draw the user’s gaze to the object.”
When in use, the Kestrel plug-in will operate on the video stream as it is displayed on an analyst’s computer screen, but the companies are exploring the possibility of using the software onboard the UAV itself to detect targets before data is transmitted to a computer.
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