Monthly Archives: February 2009

As technology moves forward, airborne and space-borne systems will continue generating progressively larger images – more bits per pixel and improved spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. At the same time, the quantity of imagery and data requiring analysis will grow exponentially, and the traditional manual processes of analyzing data will no longer be useful due to the deluge of information.

In addition, combining images in such a way that the relevant information is not lost or degraded continues to be a challenge. Registration is particularly challenging when fusing imagery from different sensors with different resolutions, and when fusing images of a scene that has been derived from different aspects. Manual image registration techniques require the user to mentally correlate the features of one image with another in an attempt to get a more comprehensive understanding of the scene in question. This process is not only tedious but error-prone as well.

In order to avoid expensive and vital imagery to go to waste, the use of Automatic Image Registration is required to provide assistance to image analysts in performing their tasks. Automatic Image Registration (AIR) could be used to facilitate strategic, operational and tactical decisions, in both military and civilian applications.

In comparison with other registration methods, such as manual or intensity-based registration, AUG Signals’ AIR product has several advantages and innovations, providing:

• Fully automatic multi-layer co-registration of images from similar or dissimilar sensors
  • Increased number of automatically identified control points between multi-sensor image pair; 
  • Increased spatial registration accuracy for multi-sensor image co-registration;
  • Increased similarities between the images by extracting feature layers;

  • Automatic vector-to-image data conflation

• Fully automatic processing, the algorithm does not require any prior knowledge of the images
• Sub-pixel accuracy – in the RMS error sense
• Automatic registration capabilities that employ different transformation functions,
• Intelligent and efficient control points estimation and global consistency checking to eliminate mismatched points
• Robust and works for many different kinds of multi-sensor images

Please see AUG Signals’ Automatic Image Registration Demo. 

 For more information or a quote, please contact us.

Intelligent video surveillance, or video analytics, is the next generation of security applications. Whether it is a crowded airport, a subway platform, a nuclear plant, an office high-rise, or a vigorously patrolled border, there is an acute need to be aware of any and all suspicious activity on the premises.

AUG Signals has developed unique multi-sensor video registration and enhancement technologies to provide better detection and identification capabilities for video surveillance.

Video Motion Analysis (VMA)

DIViSS has the capability to filter out moving objects that are inherent to a particular scene, without flagging it as possible security breach by placing a “virtual fence” around such disturbances. Rain, falling leaves, even moving cars will not trigger detection events, providing that these are intrinsic to the monitored environment, while objects and entities foreign to the milieu will be automatically detected. This allows robust, 24/7 outdoor system operation.

The decision as to which objects should be filtered out can be programmed by the end user (i.e. the operator instructs the system which objects to ignore – this can be based on several characteristics, such as size, shape, velocity, etc.) or self-learned. The VMA feature allows DIViSS to learn the scene, either upon being prompted by the operator or independently. This involves the system briefly switching to a “learning mode” and then continuing normal operation.

The VMA also provides the exact segmentation of each object, the number of moving objects, and the direction of movement.

Static Detection

DIViSS can detect and flag an object that was added (e.g., object left unattended) or removed (i.e. object missing) from the scene. This operation is performed automatically, in real-time, includes rotation and scaling factors determination, and does not require any prior knowledge of the object/image.

CFAR Target Detection

Target detection is a fundamental capability for all intelligent video surveillance applications. The false alarms inherent to this process are a problem that reduces the value of target surveillance. The implementation of AUG Signals’ cutting-edge multi-Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) detection technologies vary the detection threshold as a function of the sensed environment, significantly reducing the false alarm rate. 

Sequential frame registration – camera stabilization

Sequential images from individual sensors are registered by a global motion estimation method that achieves accurate image registration and provides the viewer with a smooth spatiotemporal evolution of events. Correct alignment of sequential images serves two purposes:

Fusion and enhancement – multi-frame fusion

While other commercially-available products lack the ability to accurately register complex motions of multiple objects due to their inability to enhance images beyond single-frame based sharpening and de-noising, AUG Signals’ unique multi-frame registration and fusion techniques enable multi-frame based image enhancement (super-resolution capacity).

Super-resolution increases spatial resolution of video images on a frame by frame basis to meet end user needs (e.g., assist online investigations and increase screening capabilities on request). Based on correctly aligned sequential frames, AUG Signals’ super-resolution algorithm obtains super-resolution image by performing multi-frame fusion. The algorithm is able to increase the spatial resolution far beyond the sensor’s resolution, facilitating the recognition/identification of fine details of an object (e.g., fine labels or other features that are smaller than the video sensor resolution).

Original

State of the art technology

AUG Signals multi-frame fusion

AUG Signals has also developed multi-frame blur reduction algorithms to compensate for the loss in resolution of moving objects that occur due to finite exposure time of cameras:

Original

State of the art technology

AUG Signals multi-frame blur reduction technology

Fusion and enhancement – multi-sensor fusion

Recent advancements in sensing technologies have allowed the development of a wide range of cameras. These cameras range from light sensors (e.g. CCD, CMOS) to infrared (IR) sensors, electromagnetic radar sensors, thermal sensors, etc. These different types of sensors provide complimentary scene interpretation and surveillance capabilities. Multi-sensor capabilities allow video surveillance to be adapted for applications with less than ideal environments; for example, IR cameras can be used in low-light situations while CCD can be employed when sufficient lighting is available. Additionally, AUG Signals has developed the necessary technology to allow various sensors to be used simultaneously. The fusion of data streams coming in from multiple sensors provides a synergistically more comprehensive and accurate representation of the scene and enhanced object detection.

In real time automatic implementation, computational complexity is one of the major requirements of multi-sensor registration algorithms. The state-of-the-art spatial domain registration methods are all computationally expensive. AUG Signals’ multi-sensor registration algorithm is very efficient in estimating the motion parameters between the reference image and each of the other images, achieving real time implementation while outperforming the other existing frequency domain registration methods.

Video content authentication

The security and protection of the content of video recordings are crucial for most video surveillance applications. AUG Signals’ watermark-based authentication techniques provide tampering tracking and analysis and ensure content integrity by imposing an encoded, invisible tag (i.e. the “watermark”). Cropping or otherwise modifying the image (including frame deletion and object removal and substitution) alters the watermark, which allows the user to easily identify and pinpoint image tampering as well as estimate the degree of tampering. In addition to incorporating the most advanced security measures, AUG Signals’ video content authentication distinguishes malicious attacks on content integrity from incidental distortions.

AUG Signals’ video content authentication results are invariant to image format conversion, features low computational complexity and storage requirements, and introduces no significant delay in real time streaming applications.

As technology moves forward, airborne and space-borne systems will continue generating progressively larger images – more bits per pixel and improved spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. At the same time, the quantity of imagery and data requiring analysis will grow exponentially, and the traditional manual processes of analyzing data will no longer be useful due to the deluge of information.

In addition, combining images in such a way that the relevant information is not lost or degraded continues to be a challenge. Registration is particularly challenging when fusing imagery from different sensors with different resolutions, and when fusing images of a scene that has been derived from different aspects. Manual image registration techniques require the user to mentally correlate the features of one image with another in an attempt to get a more comprehensive understanding of the scene in question. This process is not only tedious but error-prone as well.

In order to avoid expensive and vital imagery to go to waste, the use of Automatic Image Registration is required to provide assistance to image analysts in performing their tasks. Automatic Image Registration (AIR) could be used to facilitate strategic, operational and tactical decisions, in both military and civilian applications.

In comparison with other registration methods, such as manual or intensity-based registration, AUG Signals’ AIR product has several advantages and innovations, providing:

• Fully automatic multi-layer co-registration of images from similar or dissimilar sensors
  • Increased number of automatically identified control points between multi-sensor image pair; 
  • Increased spatial registration accuracy for multi-sensor image co-registration;
  • Increased similarities between the images by extracting feature layers;

  • Automatic vector-to-image data conflation

• Fully automatic processing, the algorithm does not require any prior knowledge of the images
• Sub-pixel accuracy – in the RMS error sense
• Automatic registration capabilities that employ different transformation functions,
• Intelligent and efficient control points estimation and global consistency checking to eliminate mismatched points
• Robust and works for many different kinds of multi-sensor images

Please see AUG Signals’ Automatic Image Registration Demo. 

 For more information or a quote, please contact us.