Lund Weather

This is a live demonstration of LYYN real-time video enhancement. For demonstration purposes we have selected a lyynification window in the image, showing the un-enhanced original video on the outside of that window.

Equipment:

LYYN Hawk System
Deltaco CCD-17V (1/3″ Sony CCD chip. 520 TVL resolution. BNC-video connector.)
AXIS Q7401 Video Encoder

Öresund bridge at sunset

Soldiers training at night. Photo courtesy of US Army

This garden is lit by some small garden lights

"Birds nest" Olympic Stadium in Beijing in lowlight

Raffles Hotel bar in Singapore in lowlight

Lowlight break-in. Captured image from surveillance video.

Lowlight target practice. The dark ground below horizon enhanced.

St.Louis cemetery in New Orleans at night. Photo by Ken Lund/Flickr

The human eye has the ability to see millions of shades of color. But when evolution developed this fantastic image sensor, something was sacrificed; our ability to see in darkness. This has been a challenge for mankind since we lived closer to nature. Many of the big predators, like tigers and lions, have a much better night vision than we have.

Modern man has developed many different technologies to support the failing eye in low light or completely dark situations. The strategies behind these technologies varies. For instance, Edison invented electrical light to illuminate the dark streets. But, more interesting are the technologies that actually supports the human vision. The two most common technologies are:

Image enhancement

Enhanced night vision system. Photo courtesy of US Army

This works by collecting the tiny amounts of light, including the lower portion of the infrared light spectrum, that are present but may be imperceptible to our eyes, and amplifying it to the point that we can easily observe the image.

Thermal imaging

IR camera with LYYN T38 as dehazer

This technology operates by capturing the upper portion of the infrared light spectrum, which is emitted as heat by objects instead of simply reflected as light. Hotter objects, such as warm bodies, emit more of this light than cooler objects like trees or buildings.

LYYN real-time video enhancement

LYYN® video enhancement does not compete with these technologies. However, LYYN® “turbo-charges” commonly used color video systems, enhancing their lowlight abilities. If you have an application where you would like to see through visual disturbances, you get the lowlight enhancement included! You can also post process stored material, seeing what was actually there on “that black tape”…

LYYN® is a powerful complement to the traditional Night Vision technologies, for example Day-and-night surveillance systems that has a combination of a color CCTV camera and an IR camera. When LYYN is added you will benefit from the enhanced visibility in the color camera system. Also, even though the IR camera is monochrome, the LYYN enhancement will act as a very powerful dehazer.

IR camera enhanced by LYYN:

Some live recordings in lowlight conditions with a LYYN unit:

The SAAB security Remotely Operated Tower (ROT) is a breakthrough for airport operators and could be just what small and medium sized airports need to survive.

General

The remotely operated tower concept addresses many of the issues airport operators are concerned with, such as cost-effectiveness, safety, and punctuality. More than a few airports today suffer from a harsh economic situation and for some, the remotely operated tower could mean the difference between survival and closure.

Cost savings

The cost running small and medium sized towers consists to a large extent of staff expenditures. With the remotely operated tower concept, fewer employees will be needed to provide aerodrome control service, enabling airports that today only offer aerodrome flight information service to offer control service as well. In a next phase, one controller could potentially provide aerodrome control service for two to three towers simultaneously.

Apart from staffing, costs savings can be made by not having to replace existing towers that have reached their economical life length.

Technique

Remotely Operated Tower concept

The technical solution is to operate an airport tower remotely via the digital network.

Compressed data from cameras at the airport presents a 360-degree real time view of the airport at the Remote Tower Centre (RTC).

The controller working position is fitted with the same controls as in a normal tower.

Enhanced safety and punctuality

Remote Tower Centre with LYYN enhanced view

During low visibility, the controller in a regular tower may not be able to see the traffic at all. This can have an impact on safety and may cause delays. Visibility enhancement technology, provided by LYYN in the ART project, helps the controller see what is going on in the aerodrome area during low visibility conditions.

Overlay of labels, MET info and a virtual computer generated background view will further improve the information available for the controller. By increasing the controller’s situational awareness, safety is improved.

Recording of the camera generated view allows play back of traffic situations, useful during incident investigations, and this further enhances the concept’s safety benefits.

Remote Tower Centre with LYYN enhanced overlay

Low visibility procedures, often causing delays, will be less and less necessary and punctuality will be improved.

The customer has requested to be unnamed for strategic reasons. However, they were so impressed by the result that they were willing to share the clips.

The clips come from a live test of a LYYN T38™ connected to an IR camera. The first three clips contains buildings, hill and trees, with cars moving at the bottom.

The test was so successful that Avitone decided to join the LYYN dealer network for the Taiwanese Security and SubSea markets.

This first clip comes from a live test of the LYYN T38™ recorded from a surveillance camera overlooking Taipei Harbor.

The following clips come from their tests in low-light conditions. Click on the video, it is only black in the beginning until they turn on the LYYN T38.:

[See post to watch Flash video]

Published courtesy of Avitone Co, Ltd,
©2007 Avitone Co, Ltd, all rights reserved.

For more information please visit the Sidus Solutions web site.

“LYYN’s technology will enable us to monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic whatever the weather and lighting conditions,” says Michael Nilsson, IKEA/MEGA Shopping Centre Manager in Ekaterinburg. “We’ve tested the technology for some time – the results were good and we are happy to have found a LYYN product that is compatible with the original system.”

”The response of the market to our unique real-time image enhancement technique continues to be positive, and today we have more than 500 hundred satisfied users throughout the world. We’re very pleased that a IKEA/MEGA site in Russia is deploying the Hawk System.” says Bengt Sahlberg, LYYN’s CEO.

About IKEA/MEGA Ekaterinburg

IKEA/MEGA is a shopping centre owned and operated by IKEA and located in Ekaterinburg, Russia. 15 million visitors per year visit the centre (130 000 m2).

LYYN Hawk System is the
19” rack-mounted, real-time LYYN
solution for analog CCTV systems

Each video frame is optimized for contrast and color spectrum to make it as “natural” as possible to the human eye. Even the smallest fragments of color and object shape can be extracted from the camera sensor. And all this is done in real-time.

The result is an image that constantly self-adjusts to the environment, and you can focus on mission objectives.

One viewer – many cameras
By installing the LYYN Hawk System together with a video switch it is possible to add LYYN to the whole system. The operator can choose and switch any camera through the unit, providing lyynification™ wherever it is needed.

Cost efficient
Instead of installing more enhanced cameras you only need one LYYN Hawk System per simultaneous viewing channel. A simple system upgrade bringing a powerful result to the whole system.

Video standards
PAL 625-line 25 fps or NTSC 525-line 30 fps, autosensing of format. Standard composite or S-video (separate luminance and chrominance), with BNC connectors.

Video synchronization
LYYN Hawk System has three video synchronization modes. The video output can be synchronized to the video input, an external synchronization signal on a separate micro connector can be used or an Time Based Corrected signal can be obtained by controlling the delay.

Simple integration
LYYN Hawk System is controlled remotely. It can be easily integrated into operator consoles through three different control interfaces:

• RS 232
• USB 2.0
• Ethernet (RJ45) either using Telnet or an internal web server

Some sample clips with post-processed video that speak for themselves. In any situation where you need a clear view, you need LYYN.:

“LYYN’s technique will enable us to monitor the traffic on the Öresund Bridge whatever the weather and lighting conditions,” says Johan Nord, System Manager Technical Operations, of the Öresund Bridge. “We’ve tested the technique for some time – the results were very good and we’re delighted that LYYN has developed a product that is compatible with our monitoring systems.”

”The response of the market to our unique real-time image enhancement technique continues to be positive, and today we have 400 satisfied users throughout the world. We’re very pleased that the Öresund Bridge and the Ontario Police have agreed to be our reference clients, as this will facilitate our breakthrough in this new market segment,” says Bengt Sahlberg, LYYN’s CEO.

The Öresund Bridge in morning fog

Clearly visible after lyynification™

About Öresund Bridge

The Öresund Bridge is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge-tunnel across the Öresund strait. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects the two metropolitan areas of the Öresund Region: the Danish capital of Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö.