LEADTOOLS Multimedia SDK for UAS and UAV Applications

UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have become increasingly popular over the last few years for both military and civil applications. As the number of sensors gathering data and the amount of video captured from UAVs grows, so does the demand for stable and reliable streaming. There is a requirement to reliably receive video data coming from UAVs, process incoming video and KLV data, and efficiently archive the data for later retrieval.

LEADTOOLS MPEG2 Transport Module includes everything you need to create robust applications capable of receiving, displaying, navigating, processing, and archiving all of the data MPEG2 Transport data from UAVs. LEAD’s experience in the UAV streaming arena has allowed us to create the most powerful package for developers looking to create UAV viewing stations. This module includes decoders for all popular MPEG2 Transport streaming formats today including H264, MPEG2, MPEG4, and H263. Also included is our DVR Module which allows ground control viewers to pause, play, rewind, fast forward, and “jump to live” streaming video. Other features include:

Minimal Latency – When viewing UAV streams, it is very important to ensure you are viewing
the stream in real time. Configurable maximum tolerated latency ensures that users see what is
happening in real time.
Minimal Startup Delay – Viewers on the ground can connect quickly to any MPEG2 Transport
stream and begin viewing the real time stream immediately.
Stable decoders/demultiplexers – Corrupted video is often encountered with air to ground streaming. LEAD’s filters and codecs are stable, robust, and handle corrupted data without disrupting the current connection.
KLV Parsing – LEAD’s MPEG2 Transport Demultiplexer allows developers to receive and parse KLV data from the most popular KLV standards today including the UAV Datalink Local Metadata Set (EG 0601 12 Jan 2006), and the Predator UAV Basic Universal Metadata Set (MISB EG 0104.4 25 August 2005).
Synchronize KLV data with the video stream.
DVR functionality – Allows viewers to pause, play, rewind, fast forward, and “jump to live”
streaming video.
Byte Accurate Seeking – In cases where the time stamps of the video are corrupted, you still
have the ability to accurately seek the stream using byte seeking.
DirectShow based SDK – All LEADTOOLS Multimedia SDK’s are built on top of Microsoft DirectShow technology which means you have he ability to integrate any DirectShow filter. (See LEAD’s extensive list of DirectShow filters).
Multithreaded Decoders – LEAD’s decoders have been optimized for multi processor machines
allow the display and processing of high resolution video in real time.
Supports both UDP and TCP streaming protocols.

The LEADTOOLS MPEG2 Transport Module is also capable of creating MPEG2 Transport streams, and streaming it via UDP. With LEAD’s extensive experience in compression, developers can create high quality video streams that require little bandwidth, a must have feature for air to ground streaming over low bandwidth mediums. Also included is the ability to include KLV data within the stream.

This is a screenshot of the MPEG2 Transport demo streaming from a live UAV (KLV included):

The LEADTOOLS MPEG2 Transport Module includes the below filters. It also includes complete demos with source code which allow you to quickly test the functionality with your existing hardware or sample streams.

LEAD MPEG-2 Transport Multiplexer
- Create MPEG-2 transport streams and MPEG-2 program files.
- Add private data such as KLV data to a stream.
- Supports all compressions supported by MPEG-2 transport format (ISO/IEC 13818-1).
  - Video
    - MPEG-2
    - MPEG-4
    - H.264
  - Audio
    - MPEG1 Layer 1, 2, 3
    - AAC
    - AC3
    - LPCM (Requires an LPCM audio encoder)
LEAD MPEG-2 Transport Demultiplexer
- AutoLive – automatically jump ahead if it drifts behind the live stream.
- Play MPEG-2 transport streams and MPEG-2 program files without using the Microsoft demuxers.
- Receive streaming MPEG-2 data through UDP ports.
- Parse the private data such as KLV data from a stream.
- Seek in byte mode.
- Seek in files with incorrect timestamps.
- Play all compressions supported by MPEG-2 transport format (ISO/IEC 13818-1).
  - Video
    - MPEG-2
    - MPEG-4
    - H.264
  - Audio
    - MPEG1 Layer 1, 2, 3
    - AAC
    - AC3 (Requires an AC3 audio decoder)
    - LPCM (Requires an LPCM audio decoder)
LEAD MPEG-2 Transport UDP Source
- Built-in DVR support.
- Automatically detects and handles RTP packets.
- Unicast and multicast IP support.
- Configurable listening port.
- Network interface card (NIC) selection.
LEAD MPEG-2 Transport UDP Sink
- Unicast or Multicast IP support.
- Configurable listening port.
- Network interface card (NIC) selection.
LEAD MPEG-2 Encoder and Decoder
- Easily create 1080 and 720 HDTV video.
- MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 streams.
- Low, main & high profiles implementation.
- Inter-prediction accuracy of 1/2 pixel.
- Preprocessing frame-rate adjustment.
- Fixed and variable bit rate compression options with a wide range of quality factors.
- Preset compression options for VCD, SVCD and DVD.
LEAD MPEG-4 Encoder and Decoder
- Supports linear and nonlinear quantization.
- Supports frame rate adjustment.
- Delivers 3 output formats: MP4V (standard), LMP4, and XVID. LMP4 is LEAD’s proprietary MPEG-4 video and includes options to achieve better compression performance.
- Configurable motion estimation.
LEAD H264 Encoder and Decoder
- Mechanism for smoother playback of corrupted video data.
- LEAD’s super compression option uses H.264 standard compression in an innovative way to produce super small streams using less resources when compared to other H.264 encoders. With this “super” performance it is possible to stream H.264 compatible videos in real time without additional hardware or excessive CPU usage making the super compression option ideal for video conference applications.
- Play high definition formats (720p and 1080i) in real time.
- User definable motion estimation settings controls the balance between encoder speed and quality.
- Multiple reference frames of any combination of past and future frames, providing precise interprediction as well as improved robustness during packet loss while streaming over the network or Internet.
- Unrestricted motion search uses reference frames that may be partly outside the frame improving network performance by predicting missing data.
- Only the difference between motion vectors is saved, increasing the compression ratio.
- Intraprediction may be performed either on 4x4 blocks or 16x16.
- Motion vector prediction is performed before the frame is prepared for compression (pre-DCT) improving prediction and compression performance.
- A context-sensitive deblocking filter smoothes out internal edges, significantly improving the visual quality of the video.
- Employs Context-Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC) to encode transform coefficients.
- The Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) method continually updates frequency statistics of the incoming data and adaptively adjusts the algorithm, improving compression performance.
- Control of the number of frame types encoded into the video stream.
LEAD DVR Sink
The LEADTOOLS DVR Sink filter uses LEAD's intelligent time-shifting algorithm to write live video/audio streams to disk for playback. Developers have complete control of the buffer size including support to have the buffer span more than one disk.
LEAD DVR Source
The LEADTOOLS DVR Source filter reads video and audio streams from files created by the LEADTOOLS DVR Sink filter. With the DVR Source filter, the LEADTOOLS Player control can play, pause, rewind and fast forward live streams.
LEAD Screen Capture Encoder and Decoder
- Advanced delta optimizations for encoding and decoding captured screen data.
- Perfect for whiteboard, remote control and video conferencing applications.
LEAD MPEG Audio Encoder
- Compress audio data using the MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio compression standard (ISO/IEC 11172-3).
- Can be multiplexed into an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file.
- Create MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 DVD files.
LEAD AAC Encoder and Decoder
- Supports both variable and constant bitrates.
- Output channels selection.
- Surround feature.
- Supports both versions of AAC, MPEG-4 and MPEG-2.
- Supports Low Complexity, Main, and Long Term Prediction profiles.
- Supports 2 stream formats; Raw and ADTS.
- Output sample frequency selection.
- Cut-off frequency option.
- Optionally force stereo output.
LEAD AC3 Encoder
- Supports Mono, Stereo and 5.1 Surround sound
- Supports bitrates from 32kbps to 640kbps

Other LEADTOOLS SDK Technologies Related to UAV Technology

LEADTOOLS SDK Products that Include Multimedia SDK Technology for UAV Applications

LEADTOOLS MPEG2 Transport SDK Module