**1.4 Applications**

The H.264/AVC (T.Wiegand 2003) standard video format has a very broad application range that covers all forms of digital compressed video from low bit-rate Internet streaming

H.264 Motion Estimation and Applications 79

These variables are vital as they will ultimately impact the performance on which H.264/AVC (profile/level) compression methodology is best for your application. For low lvele applications, the industry uses H.264 Baseline, Constrained Baseline or in some cases, a much lower performance profile with many quality features simply "turned off because they do not have the computer power in the camera (Tiago 2007) to support the higher quality features. Mostly the current profile used in majority is main profile for H.264 encoding, as it provides higher video quality and high performance for the same bandwidth compared to

With the development of video coding technologies, digital video surveillance (Nirmal Kumar 2010) has become a very hot application in the recent few years. Specific

Desired image quality (resolution, frame rate)

External factors (camera motion, scene motion,transmission delays)

 Available bandwidth/storage Available processing power

Fig. 17. Aerial Video Surveillance

the baseline profile.

applications to HDTV broadcast and digital cinema applications with nearly lossless coding. With the use of H.264, bit rate savings of 50% or more are reported. H.264 video standard has a broad range of applications like broadcast television, streaming video, video storage and playback, video conferencing, aerial video surveillance, multi-sensor fusion, mobile video, medical imaging, Satellite image processing, video distribution etc..

The H.264/AVC standard was designed to suite a broad range of video application domains. However, each domain is expected to use only a subset of the available options. For this reason profiles and levels were specified to mark conformance points. Encoders and decoders that conform to the same profile are guaranteed to interoperate correctly. Profiles (G.J Sullivan et.al 2004) define sets of coding tools and algorithms that can be used while levels place constraints on the parameters of the bitstream. The standard defines 17 sets of capabilities, which are referred to as *profiles* as seen, targeting specific classes of applications and some of them are listed below in the Table.



Table 2. H.264 Profiles

Getting the best performance from an H.264/AVC codec generally involves selecting the best coding options or coding mode for each unit of data in the video bitstream. The key considerations in choosing a specific video application (profile/level) depends on the following parameters


applications to HDTV broadcast and digital cinema applications with nearly lossless coding. With the use of H.264, bit rate savings of 50% or more are reported. H.264 video standard has a broad range of applications like broadcast television, streaming video, video storage and playback, video conferencing, aerial video surveillance, multi-sensor fusion, mobile

The H.264/AVC standard was designed to suite a broad range of video application domains. However, each domain is expected to use only a subset of the available options. For this reason profiles and levels were specified to mark conformance points. Encoders and decoders that conform to the same profile are guaranteed to interoperate correctly. Profiles (G.J Sullivan et.al 2004) define sets of coding tools and algorithms that can be used while levels place constraints on the parameters of the bitstream. The standard defines 17 sets of capabilities, which are referred to as *profiles* as seen, targeting specific classes of applications

 **Baseline Profile (BP): T**he simplest profile mainly used for video conferencing and mobile video. **Main Profile (MP): I**ntended to be used for consumer broadcast and storage applications, but

**Extended Profile (XP): I**ntended for streaming video and includes special capabilities to improve

Getting the best performance from an H.264/AVC codec generally involves selecting the best coding options or coding mode for each unit of data in the video bitstream. The key considerations in choosing a specific video application (profile/level) depends on the

**High Profile (HiP) I**ntended for high definition broadcast and disc storage, and is used in HD

video, medical imaging, Satellite image processing, video distribution etc..

and some of them are listed below in the Table.

overtaken by the high profile.

robustness.

DVD and Blu-ray. Table 2. H.264 Profiles

following parameters

External factors (camera motion, scene motion,transmission delays)

These variables are vital as they will ultimately impact the performance on which H.264/AVC (profile/level) compression methodology is best for your application. For low lvele applications, the industry uses H.264 Baseline, Constrained Baseline or in some cases, a much lower performance profile with many quality features simply "turned off because they do not have the computer power in the camera (Tiago 2007) to support the higher quality features. Mostly the current profile used in majority is main profile for H.264 encoding, as it provides higher video quality and high performance for the same bandwidth compared to the baseline profile.

Fig. 17. Aerial Video Surveillance

With the development of video coding technologies, digital video surveillance (Nirmal Kumar 2010) has become a very hot application in the recent few years. Specific

H.264 Motion Estimation and Applications 81

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applications are developed with core functions that extend across civilian and military application areas. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance and reconnaissance programs increasingly need methods for optimally packaging and distributing information. H.264 supports the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of "raw" data from real time video capture and image exploitation using embedded technology for surveillance & reconnaissance application, Enhanced fusion vision for situational awareness application, Automatic vision inspection system for quick inspection of components in a manufacturing industry. Also it supports for high-end resolution for remote sensing images and data from satellite.

Airborne surveillance has been widely used in different range of applications in civilian and military applications, such as search and rescue missions, border security, resource exploration, wildfire and oil spill detection, target tracking, surveillance, etc. The unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) is equipped with special sensors (day / night) to image objects in ground and assigns the actual recognition task (surveillance) to the crew or record image data and analyze them off-line on the ground. Pilot less airborne vehicle with sensor carrying platforms transmit data to a ground control station for analysis and data interpretation.
