Enhancing visual communications capabilities in tactical networks

The Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) specifies imaging standards in the military domain. MISB standards are based on commercial standards which, although proven, are at least 10 years old and do not represent the current state of the art in video encoding. High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), a major step forward in video compression technology, has recently been adopted as the H.265 standard by the ITU-T. This paper investigates the disruptive potential of the new HEVC video encoding technology, within the context of motion imagery in the tactical military domain. Firstly current MISB and NATO motion imagery standards are investigated and the potential benefits of adopting H.265 for military use cases outlined. Secondly MPEG-2, H.264 and JPEG2000 profiles from the MISB and NATO standards are mapped to appropriate profiles in the H.265 standard, providing an invaluable insight into potential upgrade paths which will help to inform future procurement requirements. Finally a single tactical use case is examined in detail and a real-time capable H.265 encoding configuration offering both bandwidth savings and quality improvements over the existing H.264/AVC-based MISB standard is presented. The proposed H.265 configuration is validated through an extensive set of experiments which demonstrate the disruptive potential of H.265 to deliver, reliable, colour video at bandwidths compatible with transmission using existing IP enabled tactical radio networks with a quality which exceeds that delivered by current technologies.