Related Programs ARCH SHARP TIS-SPE Related Information JPEG 2000 Brochure (PDF 192 KB) Download Adobe® Acrobat Reader® to view PDF files

Data Compression

Data compression is the IS&R Division’s main strength. With over 20 years of experience, SDL has made substantial progress in image quality versus compression ratios and has developed and fielded systems with compression ratios ranging from 2:1 to 250:1. Algorithms and compression systems developed and studied at SDL are being applied by NASA, the US Air Force, Navy, Army, and the Missile Defense Association. Among the algorithms SDL has developed are those for JPEG and JPEG 2000, within the NITF standard.

SDL has developed a completely hardware-based JPEG 2000 image compression solution. JPEG 2000 provides a significant improvement in still image quality at higher compression ratios with superior image formation capabilities. SDL’s system accepts 8- and 12-bit images as input and outputs a JPEG 2000 compliant bit stream.

The Advanced Reconnaissance Compression Hardware (ARCH) suite showcases several of SDL’s data compression capabilities. ARCH is the first of a new generation of near real-time image compression technologies for the transmission of tactical reconnaissance images from an aircraft, such as an F/A-18, to a rack-mounted command and control system, typically located on an aircraft carrier.

SDL has developed hardware used in airborne reconnaissance pods for image compression, solid state recorder interfacing, and CDL transmitter interfacing. SDL has also developed hardware used in land-based and shipboard rack-mounted CADS for image decompression. SDL has also developed software decompression solutions for its non-real-time systems.

ARCH is capable of compressing and decompressing images at a rate of 20 Megapixels per second. That is equivalent to 30 2K by 2K images per second. ARCH is currently deployed in the US Navy’s SHARP and TIS programs.