Real-time high precision video streaming using low bitrate is a fundamental challenge. Such challenges are present in several mission-critical situations where visual situational awareness is needed via bandwidth-limited networks, including mobile satellite networks. To solve this issue, AnsuR has developed ASMIRA.
ASMIRA can stream good quality video at rates down to 100 kbps, or even lower. This makes the software useful for streaming over satellite or UAVs, for example.
With ASMIRA, the receiver of the data controls how the video is sent, and one can change parameters such as bit rate, framerate and resolution at any time. There are modes for fixed rate and unknown network rates. It is also possible to focus the capacity on certain regions of interest to allow more precision for the given region.
ASMIRA offers substantial benefits when communicating video from remote modes like ships, planes, drones or from crisis situations which may experience connectivity and capacity challenges.
- Providing visual situational awareness
- Low communications capacity compared to the ability to capture video in HD/4K (or more)
- Need to detect potentially small objects on the ground, and better resolution equals higher detection probability.
- Used for tactical decisions with the need for sufficiently high precision in time for decision and situation response.
- Need for operational interaction and to adjust the course of a UAV based on visual information.
- The direction of the traffic is a return link where bandwidth problems are larger in general.
- Terrestrial networks at height, over mountains, or at sea, may be either unstable or non-existent.
- Operations can happen beyond line of sight and beyond range of local radio links.
- Video can be needed not just at pilot location but by other tactical units, analysts and decision makers.
- There can be multiple satcom hops.
- Communications capacity can be expensive
- Communications may be (very) bandwidth-limited and with unknown and varying capacity.
- A relatively powerful dedicated computer can run video processing
- Real-time video means it needs to not be delayed beyond user’s response time to content
- Video is for critical information and not entertainment.
ASMIRA uses a Sender that connects to an ASMIRA Server. An ASMIRA Receiver controls the video, while multiple ASMIRA Viewers can simultaneously view the video.
- Sender
The Sender at the edge ingests the video feed and encodes it for optimized transmission.
- Hub
Hub is the connectivity point where Sender, Controller, Viewer, and Guests log in to either transmit or view the video.
- Controller
The Controller is the operator at the receiving end of the video who controls the encoding parameters of the Sender.
- Viewers
The video can be viewed globally by multiple Viewers on any platform.
The ASMIRA solution is comprised of four main components, each of which can be integrated or embedded into various platforms.
- The video compression mode to fixed rate or unknown rate
- Bitrate to use. Can be capped or use available capacity
- Resolution of video, up to 4K
- Desired framerate
- Desired area of video to stream
- Communication protocols to use
- All relevant details of video processing at sender side.
- Optionally (ask us):
- Control the operational mode of satcom
- Select network to use
- Monitor network signal strength at sender side.
- … and more
The primary benefit of ASMIRA is its ability to provide high precision and quality at low rates, and the flexibility to control the streaming data rate to optimize bandwidth use and focus on what is operationally relevant.
This enables efficient streaming and potentially more video streams can use the available bandwidth.
ASMIRA can also save significant costs when using Satellite Communication.
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