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Mission-Critical Visual Communications

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Efficient and effective communications of high quality visual content with low bandwidth is a fundamental challenge. Still image camera sensors now have resolution up to levels where we see 100 MegaPixel cameras on the market, and 250 MegaPixel in the lab. For video there is 8K available with 16K in the labs.

Many mission-critical communication networks can not provide sufficient bandwidth to carry the precision of these camera sensors in real-time, live operations. These are situations where higher detection probability might save lives and increase our security. Such networks include congested 3G and 4G networks, Tetra and Satellite networks. These challenges are applicable in communication scenarios at sea, in the air and remote  terrestrial location, as well as after disasters, natural or man-made, to mention some.

We have a severe bandwidth bottle neck. While memory cards have kept up – communication bandwidth has not.

ASIGN from AnsuR is a software application that solves visual communication challenges for mission-critical operations, using a unique interactive approach for semantic image communication. Users benefit from significantly better quality, lower cost, lower network load and higher speed, improving situational awareness for critical decisions.

ASIGN is optimised for mobile satellite communications networks; working anywhere, anytime, and operates well with any unknown, variable, even unreliable, bandwidth-limited network.

ASIGN supports photos and video in any resolution, geo/time-tagging, tracking, geo-alarms, forms, UAV mode, collections and weather station data associated with images. Able to focus capacity on relevant content for operational impact, providing real-time knowledge of WHAT happens, WHERE and WHEN it happens, ASIGN is more than just efficient compression.

ASIGN uses interactive communication: First observers send a small preview (“a sign”) from the ASIGN Field Client to the ASIGN server.

Via a simple Web interface, analysts do an initial assessment of relevance and, via the ASIGN input management, request any region of interest in any desired quality for further analysis. Next, decisions can immediately be shared via ASIGN output capabilities.

With the ASIGN solution, network resource management and cost control is possible from a central server that can handle multiple remote field clients.

ASIGN can reduce the transmitted data by 99%, compared to sending full resolution photo/video, (e.g. 20 MP photos or HD video). Saving 99% of the time to assess information, ASIGN is fast enough to work interactively, even with slow networks at e.g. 10 kbps.

ASIGN can be applied to photos and video from handheld cameras and smartphones,  but also UAVs, satellite images, medical images and more. ASIGN is available for PC, Smartphones and embedded platforms. There are both Professional and Crowd-sourcing version available for iOS and Android. Embedded Linux version are also available.

ASIGN has been awarded several innovation awards and have been deployed with several prominent users within Police, United Nations and Civil Protection.

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How to Save 90-99% Cost on Critical High Precision Photo Communication 

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Consider the following scenario. You are in the field with a good DSLR camera. Or just a good smartphone. Your photos are large. Typically, between 5-20 Mbyte and you want that full resolution of the camera shared with someone else quickly. Maybe you are a journalist. Maybe you do intelligence gathering. Disaster assessment or security related work. You could be on land, in the air or on water. But you´ve got the limited transmit capacity and the possible cost of several dollars per Mbyte. You´re looking at 20-100 bucks per photo. Every time. Now, you´re not uploading art work. This is geo-spatial visual information. Visual situational awareness: What is happening, when it happens and where. At least some parts of the photo just need that full precision. There is a simple-to-use-option to manage this situation. Using an App called ASIGN Pro. Ask us how to get started.

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ASIGN – Semantically – driven Communications Improve Impact and Reduce Bandwidth

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Mission – Critical Visual Communications for Integrated Space Applications

In mission-critical visual communications, and situations where the need for network capacity a concern, focus is on the impact images may have for operations, not the technical quality of the image. By focusing communications capacity on operationally relevant content, savings in network loads over 99% are realistic while keeping full image quality for relevant parts. Based on several space projects, we have developed an optimal mission-critical visual sensor communications solution for low-bandwidth mobile or satellite networks. It is also applicable live images from UAVs, and for providing hi-resolution satellite imagery details to field users using mobile satellite networks. The operational system has been designed by interactions with United Nations, Civil Protection, Police and Military, and has won several innovation awards.

Target Challenges

While both fixed and mobile broadband networks continue to expand in coverage, there are still a vast number of situations where communications network capacity is a fundamentally limiting challenge. Many of these situations are related to satellite communications, space, UAV, earth observations and satellite navigation, which all are applicable in missions for critical operations where lives, security, infrastructure and property may be a critical stake.

A fundamental challenge is how to communicate visual data in near real-time, such as photos, video or satellite EO images with operationally important information in sufficiently high speed and quality for supporting rapid decision-making in a cost- and bandwidth efficient manner. Visual situational awarenessis needed in situations like disaster preparedness, response or recovery, surveillance, safety, security, UAV operations and more.

High-definition visual data can require substantial and potentially excessive communications network capacity, specifically in situations where regular telecommunications infrastructure could be severely limited, or when mobile satellite systems (MSS), like BGAN, are used.  In realistic situations, using multiple networks must be expected, like Wi-Fi access to a SatCom terminal, multiple hops in the core network, potentially limited access to field receiver.

Situational Awareness

ASIGN, Adaptive System for Image Communications in Global Networks, is motivated by needs for improved Situational Awareness, to know what is going on, where – when it happens. Situational Awareness is important for critical decision-making, in particular in any emerging situation where safety, security, lives, environment and other values are at stake. Visual field images, in-situ photos/video, remote satellite/UAV observations, maps and geographical information systems (GIS), from professionals or the public, form essential components.

In critical situations, “things” need to always work, and one needs to trust both the observations themselves, and that they reach their destinations.  The objective is communications of operationally relevant informationanytime and anywhere, even under potentially difficult network conditions, such as low bandwidth, varying capacity and blocking. Relevance is mainly decided by analysts and decision-makers, considering multiple inputs and sharing a common operational picture. We also need to reduce operational cost and increase speed of transfer for visual communications over mobile satellite networks. Needs are focused around 3 operational phases:

  • OBSERVE: Trustful, reliable field content capture (images, sound, text) and meta-data as location/time/weather.
    • Professionals, crowdsourced, unmanned.
    • Highest image quality. Adaptive compression.
    • Rapid communications for analysis & decision.
  • DECIDE: Analyze relevant content, by experts and/or computer vision different locations. Decide actions.
    • Common operational picture and portal.
    • Observations communications management.
    • Rapid Mapping, rapid data fusion. Security.
  • ACT: Secure decisions communicated quickly to field for performing actions. Work interactively. Monitor status.
    • Share relevant observations and content details.
    • Add interpretations and commands. Coordinate.
    • Manage communications networks.
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Mission-critical communications should focus bandwidth on content with effect

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In mission-critical communications, the core focus is on communicating content with effecton operations. This introduces a few new approaches that has not been widely explored. The effect is achieved if information is received in time for being actionable – which is a time dependent on the situation in question, and a more relaxed definition than “real-time” generally is understood to be. Also, similar photos or video as already seen may not have as much additional effect on SA. These elements can be explored.

While Claude Shannon, inventor of modern information theory, wrote in 1948: “The semantic aspects of communication are irrelevant to the engineering problem”, his colleague at Bell Labs, Warren Weaver’s paper (Recent Contributions to The Mathematical Theory of Communication, 1949) observes that the effectiveness of a communications process could be measured by answering any of the following three questions

  1. COMMUNICATIONS: How accurately can symbols encoding a message be transmitted (“technical”)?
  2. CONTENT: How precisely do transmitted symbols convey the desired meaning (“semantics”)?
  3. IMPACT: How effective is the received message in changing conduct (“effectiveness “)?

While communication is an interactive exchange of messages among humans, communicationsis the technology used to achieve that goal. Weaver is noting that Shannon’s “information theory” concerns itself only with the answer to question A. Information networking for mission-critical operations fundamentally differs from e.g. traditional broadcast services for entertainment where full quality of visual and audio data is paramount. Instead, mission critical communications focus on information relevance and impact for operations, like in emergency and disaster management, security and safety operations. AnsuR has been targeting also the two other levels Weaver described.  We use “Response time”, rather than “Real time”. Information is needed in time to be able to respond to it. Often a few minutes delay is no problem, for instance in the context of flood, earthquake damages, forest fires, search and rescue, border patrol and more, while at other time a response may need shorter delays, like if controlling a plane (drone).