MotionDSP debuts advanced wide area motion imagery exploitation capabilities

MotionDSP, a provider of video analytics software, announced on July 24 the commercial availability of its IKENA WAMI (Wide Area Motion Imagery) software suite, providing the private sector the ability to rapidly scan and analyze footage of large areas taken from fixed, drone or satellite cameras.

Originally developed with commercial applications in mind, IKENA WAMI was quickly identified by the U.S. armed forces as a solution that could provide real-time, advanced intelligence from video captures of large areas of terrain. With the software, analysts have been able to have high-fidelity imagery and analytics of an entire town or city, rather than traditional video’s “soda straw” view of just a city block or building. This type of technology and its capabilities will become increasingly important in the private sector as the market for commercial satellites and drones continues to grow.

“IKENA WAMI provides a whole new level of analytics and insight to images and video with its ability to track the movement of even the smallest objects with very high accuracy,” said Sean Varah, CEO and founder of MotionDSP. “Our solution is a perfect fit to help reap the value of new wide-area satellite or drone data that’s generated for commercial use because our software can accurately extract data from tens of square kilometers of visual data in real-time.”

The applications for this advanced technology are widespread and in many instances mission critical. IKENA WAMI can identify and analyze, in milliseconds, objects in shadow, through cloud cover and over constrained networks. This means observers can more effectively view individuals and assets over large areas of land or sea, including traffic patterns, wild fire hotspots, wildlife migrations, disaster sites, and remote areas.

With IKENA WAMI, changes in activity can automatically be identified, a task that would take a person many painstaking hours to observe manually. Other examples include remotely verifying the integrity of an oil pipeline or the number of ships navigating a sea lane. Virtually any instance where visual intelligence needs to be mined can be achieved with IKENA WAMI.

IKENA WAMI was originally developed internally at MotionDSP to anticipate the commercial market’s move from HD to 4k and higher imaging systems. In 2011, based on an Air Force requirement for Wide Area Motion Imagery processing, MotionDSP proposed to integrate this existing commercial capability with DoD’s WAMI/WAAS systems and was awarded a contract from the DoD’s Rapid Innovation Fund in 2012.