Project Aegis - Geospatial Solution to Create 2d and 3d Maps From Full-Motion Video

It currently is not possible to produce geospatially accurate 3D models and maps in real-time, on a consistent basis, because of limitations inherent in the frame selection process. Frame selection is costly and time-consuming process that is currently performed by manually by human technicians. Addressing needs outlined under the U.S. Air Force Environmental Geographic Information System program for real-time geospatial collection and display, and the U.S. Army One World Terrain initiative for generating geospatially precise synthetic training environments. Viele Exploratory Sustainable Solutions LLC and its team are developing and conducting a final demonstration for a next generation geospatial software solution capable of generating 2D orthomosaics, 3D point clouds, digital terrain models, and 3D textured models by processing Full-Motion Video (FMV file) or video stream’s in real-time for increased battlespace situational awareness and synthetic training environment generation. The first-generation geospatial solution, developed by the U.S. ERDC has been developed and tested in a relevant environment (tested by AFRICOM and 101st Airborne in Iraq and Afghanistan), and will be utilized to develop a 2nd generation system that will provide Air Force Intelligence operators with real time situational awareness of the battlefield (collected from any video source) allowing them to increase manned-unmanned teaming, decrease reaction time and potentially saving lives. The invention uses sophisticated photogrammetry — the science of making measurements from photographs and for recovering the exact positions of surface points — to build the images. The software solution, ingests FMV file or live UDP stream (User Datagram Protocol) from an airborne drone or aircraft. The automated process extracts metadata and video frames for importation into photogrammetric processing software. Once the data has been ingested and interpolated, the software generates 2D orthomosaics, 3D point clouds, digital terrain models, and 3D textured models by processing the FMV file or stream into separate cluster sets. Geospatial products such as orthomosaics for each calculated cluster are then automatically created and exported. The team will further develop the AEGIS solution to meet the data and security standards of the Air Force, and integrate the solution into common geospatial intelligence servers/products for rapid adoption. the team will develop and test a 2nd generation system capable of ingesting live video from soldier-based and unmanned vehicles to develop 3D maps of a target area in real-time. While integrating with AFRLS “Android Team Awareness Kit” (ATAK) and TAK server to enable common architecture and utility of our solution for military personnel.