Trends In High-Definition Imaging For Military Applications

By Paul Dempster, Toshiba's Imaging Systems Division

High-definition (HD) imaging has widely affected many industries over the past several years, from broadcast, biotechnology, microscopy, NDT (nondestructive testing), and inspection, to life sciences, materials research, process control, and more. The benefits provided by HD technology, including expanded field of view (FOV), higher resolution, improved color definition, and full motion video (FMV), offer solutions that may positively impact intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) functions.

Though there are advantages to HD video implementation for applications in military and defense, it is critical that the challenges of HD are understood and met in order to transition from legacy analog and standard definition (SD) video systems to high-definition imaging. The larger HD format and corresponding increase in data will impact infrastructure, transmission, display, and storage requirements when compared to SD systems.