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17 Jun 2002
NASA claims to have developed software that makes a shaky and noisy video image shot at night appear as if it were shot under optimim daylight conditions.
It says that VISAR, for video image stabilization and registration, removes accidential tilt, jitter (shaking) or zoom effects as well as "snow" from video images. The software, developed to clarify video pictures of the Sun, is being applied to closed circuit camera pictures of crimes and will soon be available for licensing.
VISAR exploits the pixels or picture elements that make up video and computer images. It identifies the position, orientation and magnification of an object in one image and then repeats the process in consecutive images.
The NASA algorithm then corrects the changing position of the object so that consecutive frames present it accurately. Most video enhancement techniques just sharpen the edges of an image without taking into account how the picture became blurred.
David Hathaway and Paul Meyer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center developed the technique by trial and error when they were asked by the FBI to improve video of the bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. They say that the software could be built into home video cameras. JB
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