38 Video encoding technology is undergoing a fundamental shift to reduce the bandwidth and improve the latency without impacting on the quality of the output. Video compression has been based on mathematical computations of blocks using motion estimation techniques to reduce the amount of data that needs to be sent. Since the first mainstream international video encoding standard was approved nearly 40 years ago, as IEEE H.262 MPEG2 for digital TV broadcasts, uncrewed systems have been using mainstream encoder and decoder chips and software. This has evolved into H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), the mainstream video compression technology. As uncrewed systems, especially UAVs, need to send higher resolution 4K video, so the encoders are adopting H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology. Video is used for various applications, leading to differing requirements for the encoding system. When sending video from a camera on a UAV for monitoring or situational awareness, the video quality is key. But this can also be achieved using analysis on the aircraft to zoom in on a region of interest and encode it with higher quality. The technology is also being used to combine video into augmented reality (AR) alongside other navigation and system data from the UAV, allowing the use of smaller video frame sizes and so reducing the load on the link. This video often also needs to be stored, either on the platform or in a cloud service. Techniques to reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored in a way that can recreate the detail when required can be a key part of the system architecture. There is also demand for higher quality for full frames of video coupled with low latency. Remotely operated vehicles, AI offers a range of benefits for compressing video from uncrewed systems, but as Nick Flaherty reports, traditional methods will prevail for now Do more with less Video compression is increasingly important for VR remote operation (Courtesy of the University of Thessoloniki) October/November 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology
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