Date - -- AFRL engineers improved battlefield communications with the development of an advanced video encoder that will increase the transportation speed, quality, and quantity of images that unmanned air vehicles supply while surveying battlefields. The technology will enhance the flow of video information from the battlefield through the use of commercial off-the-shelf products, including software.
AFRL teamed with FastVDO, a video imaging
technology company based in Columbia, Maryland, to produce a new and improved video encoder. FastVDO is one of 46 companies--including commercial entities such as Motorola, Nokia, Sharp, Sony, and Texas Instruments--who belong to the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) Alliance, a nonprofit community of like-minded companies committed to the active promotion and the industry-wide success of AVC technology. AFRL and FastVDO began their team effort in 2002 under the Dual-Use Science and Technology program, which encourages Air Force and industry collaboration in a 50-50 technology development cost-share to contribute to military capabilities and commercial markets. The highly successful program has enabled the military and its commercial partners to quickly advance technological innovations in a cost-effective manner.
The new video encoding technology appeared in an exhibit during a National Association of Broadcasters convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFRL supplied military funding, and FastVDO supplied commercial money--with both organizations hoping to reap the benefits of an advanced video encoder that converts traditional video to digital format for subsequent transmission to a distant user.
The new video encoder complies with the new AVC standard that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) jointly developed. ISO and ITU are two international standards organizations that set broad interoperability and design criteria for world manufacturers to employ while producing ISO and ITU products. The new standard allows the advanced video encoder to transport better-quality information using less bandwidth and frequency spectrum.