ITDev has a specialist video technology division, Imicast, that develops video solutions.

Imicast shares the facilities, approach and values of ITDev and has experts in a wide range of video technologies and standards.

The Imicast team have experience of developing and supporting encoder and decoder products using HEVC, H.264, MPEG2 and JPEG 2000 codecs. They have an in-depth understanding of video, audio and ancillary transmission standards such as MPEG2 transport stream, SMPTE 2022 video over IP and SDI (SMPTE 259M/292M/372M/424M).

In addition to codecs and standards, Imicast also have experience of video processing and analytics, including face tracking, image stabilisation and feature extraction.

Example Projects

Vital Signs Detection

The Imicast team have recently been involved in the development of exciting new technology to read human vital signs, including heart rate, respiration and blood pressure purely from a video feed. This has included development, characterisation and testing of real-time algorithms to process and analyse video under a variety of conditions and hardware platforms.

As well as being engaged by the client to refine, demonstrate and commercialise the technology, Imicast are also helping to explore additional market opportunities for related products and licensing. As part of this activity, we have produced a video to demonstrate our own proof of concept for the sports broadcast market.

Video Encoders

The Imicast team was involved in the FPGA design, implementation and testing of an H.264 real-time encoder for HD video.

The team has a wealth of experience with the latest encoder designs, providing outstanding video quality at reduced bit rates. Imicast has experience in optimising quality for human perception as well as PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise-Ratio). They have also been involved in the development and evaluation of Rate Distortion Optimisation (RDO) and rate control algorithms for both intra-frame only encoders, as well as group-of-pictures (GOP) type codecs.

Working with high definition video requires knowledge of the latest hardware devices and high frequency techniques in order to sustain the high data bandwidths necessary. 

Video Conferencing System

The Imicast team was involved in developing a de-centralised multi-point video conferencing solution. This project involved working closely with the client, as well as an OEM software supplier in the USA, in order to significantly improve the product quality. Imicast's consultants helped to resolve many bugs with the system and their input led to significant improvements to the user interface.

Audio/Video Synchronisation

The Imicast team was engaged to design and implement a system to synchronise 16 audio streams with a high definition video stream in order to create the highest quality audio-visual experience possible.