Mobile Advanced Data Compression Adaptive Technology

The U.S. Army is seeking video compression techniques for rapid distribution of situational information among rotorcraft, ground personnel, fixed wing aircraft, and unmanned air vehicles. Physical Optics Corporation's (POC's) Mobile Advanced DataCompression Adaptive Technology (MADCAT) integrates video transmission capability into tactical radios without requiring new data link equipment, significantly reducing platform weight and integration cost. MADCAT is a unique integration of IC hardware andsoftware for optimized MPEG video hypercompression at an unprecedented 4000:1, which is critical to transmitting 525-line EIA-170 and 875-line EIA-343A video (original bandwidths of 84 and 234 Mbps, respectively) over low-bandwidth (16-64 kbps) tacticalradio channels. In addition, MADCAT offers secure transmission by means of FHSS and crypto, and strong error resilience to up to BER = 0.01 for maximum video stream continuity through noisy channels. In Phase I, a demonstration prototype MADCAT system wasdeveloped that combines 4000:1 compression, tunable bandwidth, and error resilience to up to BER = 0.01. In Phase II, full prototype MADCAT hardware/software will be developed, including new integrated circuit hardware and a communication interface totactical radios, with extensive prototype testing/validation in a relevant environment. POC's video compression is MPEG-1 standard compliant, and ROSA compatibility has been proven.The basic commercial benefit of scalable video transmission overlow-bandwidth communication channels will be in the areas of live video and TV broadcast over wireless channels, visual communication with sensors, target monitoring, video conferencing, security, and telemetry.