Broadcasting technology enhances battlefield ops

The U.S. Joint Forces Command will be using the same technology sports broadcasters use to assemble the day’s top highlights to improve battlefield decision-making.

The command’s Valiant Angel system will use components from the Harris Corp.’s Full-Motion Video Asset Management System (FAME) and Lockheed Martin’s Audacity video-analysis system. NetApp will design and integrate a new system to manage the video processing, exploitation and dissemination cycle using its Data ONTAP storage architecture with up to 14 petabytes of capacity.

Valiant Angel will give commanders better visibility into real-time and archived video, which is collected from manned and unmanned aircraft and ground-based sensors.

Specifically, Valiant Angel will:

• Collect and store incoming video streams from a variety of sensors in a secure, networked database.
• Categorize and manage videos by keyword, geographic region or other items of interest or set up alerts to tell users when new clips with a specified description are posted to the network.
• Fuse intelligence data from multiple sources into incoming video streams. For example, if two users are discussing a video over instant messenger, Valiant Angel will embed that chat history directly in the video stream, so other users can follow what was discussed.

“Video is a powerful intelligence tool, but today there is so much being collected, it’s difficult for troops and analysts to sort through the mountains of available data in search of the specific clip they need to make a decision,” said Dan Rice, Lockheed Martin vice president for Spatial Solutions. “With Valiant Angel, commanders will be able to quickly find the video they need, package it into an actionable intelligence report, and share it securely with the front-line troops who need it.”

The project is part of a $29 million contract the command awarded to Lockheed Martin.