Desert Owl captures a vision of its surroundings

Engineers atSentient Vision (Melbourne, Australia) have developed a computer vision system called Desert Owl designed to enhance the situational awareness of soldiers travelling in vehicles used by the Australian Defence Force.

Desert Owl is being developed by Sentient as part of the Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program (CTD) which is managed by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

The system analyzes full motion video images from a stationary, sweeping camera to identify potential targets and threats.

It can also identify variations in a landscape between successive camera transits through an area. To do so, it compares live imagery of the road ahead with recorded imagery and identifies visual changes including disturbances to the ground surface, additional, moved or removed objects.

The Australian CTD Program provides Australian and New Zealand industry and research organizations with an opportunity to demonstrate technology and allows defense organizations to assess their potential and any associated risks.

-- by Dave Wilson, Senior Editor,Vision Systems Design