July 1, 2009, Updated September 24, 2012

Researchers at an Israeli university have developed a new video “perfection tool” to help investigators enhance raw video images and identify suspects. The tool, which was developed by Prof. Leonid Yaroslavsky and colleagues at Tel Aviv University, was commission by a defense-related company to improve what the naked eye cannot see. It can be used with live video or with recordings, in color or black-and-white. The new invention enhances the resolution of raw video images from security cameras, military binoculars, and standard personal-use video cameras, improving the quality at which the images were originally recorded or transmitted. This can mean the difference between “seeing” trees blowing in the wind and finding a terrorist hiding in those trees. The technology will increase the odds of identifying suspects in court, says Yaroslavsky, but also has civilian applications. Instead of sending large video files over the internet, smaller and lower-resolution files could be sent, to be enhanced at their destination points, saving bandwidth and time. With the right commercial partner, the device can be integrated into existing technology within a matter of months, says Yaroslavsky, who published his findings recently in Optical Letters and the Journal of Real Time Image Processing.

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