HALO Continues to Deliver State-of-the-Art Solutions

RFEL will be demonstrating cutting edge applications of its multi-award winning, video processing platform, HALO at this year's Eurosatory.

HALO is a highly optimised FPGA based video processing platform, designed for fast integration of high-performance vision capabilities into any demanding video application.

Over the past two years RFEL has successfully deployed its extensive video processing IP library onto HALO, and delivered it to a diverse range of customers, typically to meet demanding requirements. This has included enhancement solutions for civilian maritime users; for a range of EU and US defence vehicle, naval and airborne mission equipment manufacturers; for crew served and remote weapon stations; for covert and very long range surveillance; for rugged embedded video distribution over networks and for low-latency video switching and overlay. All of these applications have benefited from both RFEL's high performance video processing techniques and the HALO platform low size/weight/power (SWaP) characteristics.

Now with an exciting product roadmap planned out, RFEL will be showcasing improved and extended enhancement capabilities, as well as providing an exclusive look-ahead at HALO's future which will see more off-the-shelf products and complete processing solutions. Those attending Eurosatory will be amongst the first to learn about this exciting future and how RFEL is evolving to deliver even more compelling solutions to video processing applications.

Wayne Cranwell, RFEL's Video Processing Business Development Lead, explained, "HALO is a modular platform that enables customers to easily add whatever video correction features that are required. It can be easily deployed both on legacy systems and into new equipment, safe in the knowledge that it has been fully tested, therefore delivering a fast time to market. We will also be discussing our roadmap of new features at Eurosatory so that customers can start to plan them into their designs."

As well as this, RFEL will have demonstrations of proven technologies including Non-Linear Image Contrast Enhancement (NICE), Video Fusion, HD Stabilisation and network enabled multi-channel video management. Visitors will also be able to find out about StableEyesHD, a plug-and-play solution to camera shake, for security and situational awareness systems.

StableEyesHDâ„¢ is an off-the-shelf solution for real-time, HD video stabilisation that automatically removes unwanted camera shake, vibration and roll. It is ideal for a wide range of surveillance and security applications that are subject to camera or sensor platform movement. This standalone, in-line design is the simplest and most effective way to dramatically enhance a video surveillance system by increasing the quality of the video output, thus reducing viewer fatigue.

The rugged enclosure of StableEyesHD is compact, light and low-power. There are no moving parts to ensure a long working life, even in the most challenging of environments such as pole-, boat- or vehicle-mounted. StableEyesHD automatically senses and corrects horizontal, vertical and rotational scene movement, which may be tiring for the system operator to watch for long durations. By removing global movement and shake, without degrading features or local movement, it becomes easier to notice and respond to smaller targets and areas of interest in the scene.

The smart technology of StableEyesHD is not fooled by mild defocus and works in the presence of rolling shutter problems. Users can selectively program the rate of change of global movement that is corrected, in order to optimise the device behaviour and hence tailor the response to applications, such as those with panning behaviour. All of this is delivered in real-time and at high definition, making StableEyesHD a compelling video processing solution for new systems or upgrades alike.