Everyone
takes pictures and video with their devices. Parents record their kids’
soccer games, companies record employee training, police surveillance
cameras at busy intersections run 24/7, and drones monitor pipelines in
the desert.
With vast amounts of video growing vaster at a rate faster than the
day before, and the hottest devices like drones decreasing in price and
size until everyone has one (OK, not in their pocket quite yet) it’s
time to start talking about mining this mass of valuable video data for
useful purposes.
Julian Mann, the cofounder of Skybox Imaging — a company in the
business of commercial satellite imagery and the developer advocate for
Google Earth outreach — says that the new “Skybox for Good” program will
provide “a constantly updated model of change of the entire planet”
with the potential to “save lives, protect the environment, promote
education, and positively impact humanity.”
Why? Google wants to understand what’s happening on this earth in
real time. In August, it entered into an agreement to acquire Skybox,
the company that launched two of the world’s smallest high-resolution
imaging satellite. They orbit the earth and collect high-res images and
video every day. The company plans to launch as many as 24 of these
satellites, allowing Google to get near real-time data about the entire
Earth.
Google will turn those pixels into data using sophisticated image
processing and computer vision software, running on the immense Google
cloud. A Skybox satellite might photograph or video a particular city
several times per day, not for the static or moving imagery, but for the
data gathered in each frame of each image. The significant value of the
data comes from comparing it across time or location, looking for
change. For example, when is that store’s parking lot full? What is the
progress of the highway construction to build a new overpass? Which
roads are open for faster delivery service during the day? Which movie
theaters attract the most customers week-to-week? How have weather
patterns changed over the past 24 hours, or from the same time last
year?
Mining video data through “man + machine” artificial intelligence is
new technology in search of unsolved problems. Could this be the next
chapter in the ever-evolving technology revolution?
For the past 50 years, satellite imagery has only been available to
the U.S. intelligence community and those countries with technology to
launch their own. Digital Globe was one of the first companies to make
satellite imagery available commercially, and now Skybox and a few
others have joined them. Drones are even newer, having been used by the
U.S. military since the ‘90s for surveillance over battlefields or, in
this age of counter-terrorism, playing the role of aerial detectives
finding bad guys in the middle of nowhere. Before drones, the same tasks
required thousands of troops on the ground, putting many young men and
women in harm’s way. Today, hundreds of trained “eyes” safely located
here in the U.S. watch hours of video from a single drone to assess
current situations in countries far away.
Google is interested in satellites in space taking constant video of
earth, and Facebook and Amazon are interested in drones for a myriad of
reasons, from imaging to package delivery to wireless Internet delivery
in rural areas and more.
Watching videos can be tedious and fatiguing for humans. Computers
don’t get tired of watching thousands of hours of a robot scanning an
underwater pipeline. They can detect a crack on frame 111,432 and alert
a human expert to have a closer look. A human might see the crack after
watching all those frames in real-time. Might.
Two years ago, the police needed hundreds of detectives and hours to
cull through massive amounts of surveillance video taken around the
scene of the bombing at the Boston Marathon to assemble the clues that
ultimately identified and located the bombers. What if they had software
to help them catch the bad guys sooner?
Even more importantly, imagine all the new opportunities created by this growing mass of video data. The ideas are infinite, and we know that in our innovative world, a commercial industry or two will establish itself in light speed.
From Hollywood to the White House, cybersecurity is top of mind. On Feb. 13, the White House hosted a cybersecurity summit at Stanford University. Hundreds of miles to the south of Stanford, Hollywood executives continue to ratchet up cybersecurity in the aftermath of the Sony Pictures email hack.
At the cybersecurity summit, President Obama said attacks like the one on Sony’s computer system hurt American companies and cost American jobs. Thus, he said, this poses “a threat to America’s economic security.”
That threat is all the more dangerous because of a shortage of cybersecurity specialists. According to The Wall Street Journal, talent wars have broken out in the cybersecurity space. “Companies are seeking engineers who can secure applications and computer networks and, in the event intruders wreak havoc, plug the holes and remediate attacks,” the Journal said.
Two major sessions at the 2015 NAB Show will tackle the cybersecurity threat: Cybersecurity expert John McAfee will speak April 15 at the NAB Show Technology Luncheon, and he will also be part of a panel later that day called “Protecting Our Assets: Cybersecurity and the Media.”
“Many companies today are grappling with serious concerns about security and privacy,” NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny said.
As cybersecurity efforts ramp up in Hollywood and elsewhere, who will help media companies protect their assets?
TechCrunch recently reported that 11 major movies in production are using so-called blackphones “to keep sensitive details under wraps and protect the privacy of actors who are working on the films.” But that certainly isn’t enough of a shield.
Some companies in Hollywood have turned to outsourced talent to help thwart cyber invasions. However, that’s more of a short-term response than a long-term solution. Ultimately, they’ll need to rely on in-house talent to further guard against cyber attackers.
“As technology becomes more integrated in our daily lives and a supporting pillar of the global economy, the cybersecurity skills shortage is becoming more critical and broadly recognized by governments and industry,” according to a recent forecast from Sophos, which makes cybersecurity technology.
Making matters worse, Sophos said, the gap in cybersecurity talent might not subside until 2030.
“Businesses should consider their recruitment strategy for these professionals,” Sophos said, “and the industry as a whole needs to make it clear to graduates that there are career prospects in this exciting space.”
A study released in 2014 by think tank RAND Corporation indicated that some large organizations are coping with the shortage of cybersecurity talent through internal promotions and stepped-up education. The shortage is particularly acute for high-level jobs with annual salaries of $200,000 to $250,000 or more, the study found.
Paying those top-dollar salaries could prove very valuable. A 2014 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, pegged global losses from cybercrime at $375 billion to $575 billion a year. Those losses will continue to rise “as more business functions move online,” the report said, “and as more companies and consumers around the world connect to the Internet.”
To stem losses of data and money, former US Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, said law enforcement agencies must be given the appropriate resources to combat cybercrime. Furthermore, Dodd said, content creators, payment processors, ad networks, Internet service providers and other “responsible participants in the Internet ecosystem” must work more closely “to forge initiatives to stop the unlawful spread of illegally obtained content.”
Meanwhile, the threat of cybercrime looms large for every industry, including media.
“Businesses of all sizes are vulnerable to this kind of theft, which can leave their proprietary, competitive secrets and even their digital products exposed and available online for anyone to loot,” Dodd said.
Slowly but surely, media buyers are turning the channel on TV advertising.
In the TV industry, an emerging concept known as programmatic buying is automating ad purchases and, more importantly, allowing sharper audience targeting. Programmatic buying promises to be a much-buzzed-about topic at the 2015 NAB Show.
In September, agency executives participating in a panel during Advertising Week predicted programmatic buying would account for as much as 5 percent of TV ad buying in 2015, up from 1 percent in 2014.
“While the technology for deploying a true programmatic TV buy is still in the future, there are other technologies that are making TV buys more automated,” according to Capital Media, a media-planning and media-buying agency.
Programmatic buying lets brands and agencies target TV ad audiences beyond age and gender, according to software company TubeMogul. Relying on data from Nielsen and others, the company’s technology enables targeting by age and gender as well as factors such as income, ethnicity, education, home ownership and pet ownership.
“TV is the next frontier for data-driven marketing,” said Joshua Koran, senior vice president of product management at Turn, whose software allows programmatic buying of TV ads.
One hurdle on that frontier, according to Ad Week, is reliance on traditional TV ratings and age-oriented demographics to guarantee impressions against particular audiences. Furthermore, some players in the industry worry that programmatic buying will turn ad inventory into a full-fledged commodity.
Despite those concerns, the programmatic-buying trail is being blazed.
For instance, TubeMogul in December introduced a software product that enables automated, data-driven buying of TV ads. Among the brands that have signed up for the product, called TubeMogul PTV, are 3M and Allstate.
TubeMogul says the software aggregates TV ad inventories from cable TV providers, satellite TV providers, national TV networks and local TV stations.
“Historically, the planning and buying of TV ads has been a time-consuming, manual process that offered little room for optimization,” TubeMogul says.
Through analysis of real-time data supplied through software like TubeMogul’s, brands and agencies can tweak TV ad spending on the fly, the company says.
Brett Wilson, co-founder and CEO of TubeMogul, said: “By automating TV buys, marketers can focus on strategy and better results for their clients.”
A couple of high-profile instances of programmatic-buying strategies have surfaced recently in television.
Through programmatic buying, digital marketing agency DigitasLBi purchased local TV spots in eight US markets for the 2015 telecast of the Oscars — a first for an agency. DigitasLBi didn’t identify the client. The agency made the buy using software from TubeMogul and another company, WideOrbit.
“We wanted to really get in the marketplace with programmatic television,” Scott Marsden, senior vice president of media at DigitasLBi, told Broadcasting & Cable. “Obviously, we know that there is going to be more and more availability of inventory there, and we want to develop the expertise as quickly as possible.”
Eric Mathewson, founder and CEO of WideOrbit, said: “Programmatic will be how the majority of television advertising is sold in the future.”
Earlier this year, food conglomerate Mondelez International turned to software from TubeMogul and WideOrbit to programmatically buy TV spots for the Super Bowl. Ads promoting two Mondelez products — Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers — aired in Erie, Pennsylvania. This campaign marked the first time that programmatic buying of broadcast TV ads has taken place during the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl “is clearly the No. 1 broadcast event delivering great value to advertisers. Mondelez International’s pioneering effort demonstrates how leading brands can efficiently deliver incremental advertising dollars to local broadcasters through programmatic technology,” Mathewson said.
In stadiums and arenas across the country, players take the court or field and dazzle the crowds with their physical feats. However, another player is grabbing a bigger and bigger share of the spotlight at these venues: technology.
Modern-day venues, both new construction and redesigns, are being tricked out with impressive Wi-Fi, video systems and more. These venues represent how technology is transforming public spaces, including retail and mixed-used facilities, into increasingly connected places.
“We live in a world transformed by digital technology, and as a society, we’ve developed heightened expectations about how technology should support us—at work, at home and even at stadiums,” said Chuck Berger, president and CEO of Extreme Networks, which last year was named the NFL’s official Wi-Fi technology provider.
Sports venues are among the many public places that are advancing the Wi-Fi and video trend, and NFL stadiums are at the forefront. Why? For one reason, a Cisco study found that 57 percent of sports fans would rather watch games at home than at stadiums.
“It’s pretty expensive to take your family out to an event these days, and the competition is a nice warm couch, your own bathroom and a big TV,” Chris White, general manager for Cisco’s sports and entertainment group, told TechRepublic.
To help attract those warm-couch fans, the NFL has called on each of its 31 stadiums to be equipped with Wi-Fi by 2016.
“We want to make sure that our fans, when they come into their stadiums, don’t have to shut down,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in 2012.
Two NFL stadiums already have scored touchdowns when it comes to Wi-Fi and video: AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
The main attraction at AT&T Stadium—nicknamed Jerry’s World, after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—is the massive video board from Mitsubishi Electric’s Diamond Vision Systems.
The center-hung video board contains 30 million light bulbs and 25,000 square feet of video displays. It would take 4,920 52-inch flat-panel televisions to equal the size of the board, which weighs 1.2 million pounds.
Esther Lee, senior vice president at AT&T, said the high-tech bells and whistles at the Cowboys’ palace, which opened in 2009, are “unmatched.”
“We set out … to create not only the most technologically advanced stadium, but also the most engaging fan experience that exists in the world,” Lee said.
During Cowboys games, an in-house production crew employs eight high-definition cameras to provide video content. Producers actually work in a control room inside the stadium. On 3,000 video screens throughout the stadium, fans can catch on-the-field action when they’re away from their seats and the gigantic video board.
Wi-Fi at AT&T Stadium also stands out. The stadium’s Wi-Fi connectivity equals 17 cell sites, enough to power the Dallas suburb of McKinney. The Wi-Fi system features 1,500 access points, along with more than 1,300 distributed antennae, and the system helps link fans to the stadium’s interactive app.
Halfway across the country, the San Francisco 49ers also are playing in a high-tech home. Levi’s Stadium, in the heart of Northern California’s Silicon Valley, includes:
1,200 Wi-Fi access points.
40 gigabytes per second of Internet capacity.
A special stadium-oriented mobile app.
More than 60 tech pros roaming the stadium on game days to answer fans’ questions about Wi-Fi and the mobile app.
Internet-enabled TV.
High-definition video boards measuring over 13,000 square feet.
In explaining the high-tech touches at Levi’s Stadium, Al Guido, chief operating officer of the 49ers, said, “We can no longer tell the fan, ‘Come to the game and be unplugged for six hours.’”
One big difference visitors will notice between AT&T Stadium and Levi’s Stadium is the lack of a humongous video board at the 49ers’ home. Levi’s Stadium, which opened in 2014, emphasizes software over hardware, according to NinersNation.com.
“If you just want to sit and watch the game, you can just keep your phone in your pocket,” NinersNation.com says. “If you want to watch through specific cameras, follow instant replay and check out pertinent details about given players, you’ll be able to do that as well.”
Whether consumers prefer to unplug or tune in while at the game – or at one of countless other connected public spaces and venues – it’s clear that they want options and that high-tech capabilities have become a prerequisite for any modern facility.
If you’ve been wondering when your refrigerator will start talking to your smartphone, or when your tablet will begin chatting with your toaster, a recent study claims they all will become one big, happy, connected family by around 2025. The Pew Research Center recently released a very detailed overview of the thoughts of some 1,600 experts regarding when the so-called Internet of Things and wearable tech will begin having a major impact on the global community. Their conclusion: about a decade from now.
For the less tech savvy, the notion behind the IoT is that all the devices in consumers’ lives will not only be connected to the Internet, but also to one another. Pew actually defines the Internet of Things in the report as “a global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases and massive data centers in a world-spanning information fabric.”
And while the IoT will encompass thousands of devices and show up in a variety of forms, video figures to play a prominent role in its future, and many in the retail sector appear to have already figured this out.
“One area I’m seeing as a key to how retail will take advantage of all this is how the IoT can be integrated with a tech like digital signage,” began New York-based retail consultant Richard Lewin. “Imagine a customer picking up a product and instantly being informed about its best uses. Instead of hunting down a sales representative to learn more about that particular product, all of the information the customer needs can display on a digital signage screen just by picking the item up.”
At its core, digital signage allows a customer to enjoy a consistent and seamless engagement regardless of the device or channel in use. When in-store digital signage connects to the Web, social media and mobile devices within an IoT set up, it becomes an important omni-channel conduit, and an engaging access point to a wealth of information—for consumers and retailers alike.
“The consumer is able to enjoy an online-type of shopping experience while reaping the benefits of being in store, where the merchandise is available to touch, try and buy,” Lewin added. “If you’re a retailer, that’s Holy Grail kind of stuff.”
Tech giants like Microsoft, Intel and Cisco are already big players in this space and are beginning to roll out solutions aimed at further integrating digital signage into the hard-charging IoT future.
Intel’s latest effort here is dubbed “situation-aware” signage and uses the company’s Audience Impression Metric Suite, a powerful analytics technology that senses viewer responsiveness and determines gender and age group, then adapts messages accordingly. Intel AIM Suite can also measure the duration of a person’s gaze, further enhancing your ability to track consumer behavior, adapt messages, and measure return on investment. Use Intel AIM Suite to better understand your shoppers in ways that will help you optimize your engagement and sales.
Add Apple and Google to the growing list of behemoths with major IoT plans as well and it’s easy to see why research firms like IB Intelligence are claiming the category already has some 1.9 billion devices in place and that number will grow to over 9 billion by 2018, eclipsing the total number of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, wearable devices and PCs combined.
The security industry is yet another space that will be largely reshaped as the IoT takes hold and provides further evidence of how video will become a driving force within this emerging market. IP sensors lay at the heart of the IoT as they sense and communicate the data needed to allow other devices to automatically make evaluations and take the necessary actions. Sensors in network cameras and video will become among the most important sensors within the IoT because its data is so valuable to many other sensors and devices.
While experts involved in the Pew study may disagree about the potential ramifications of the IoT, they all agreed that the wave is certainly coming – and soon.
A coterie of hackers calling themselves the “Lizard Squad” ruined Christmas for thousands when they knocked out Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network online services on Dec. 25, 2015. Gamers, of course, could still play whatever they owned, but found themselves unable to connect to the galaxy of online content promised by these networks, a crucial selling point of the devices.
Experts claim that a typical distributed denial of service attack costs a business $40,000 per offline hour, but Microsoft and Sony most likely lost much more because their services offer so much content.
The fact that Xbox Live and PSN were so important to users illustrates how the video game industry has grown far beyond just games. Packed with channels, original programming and social media capabilities, today’s gaming consoles have become another full-fledged content outlet. Channels range from services like Hulu and Netflix to apps from Maxim and the NFL.
And just like with tablets, smartphones, TVs and the web, the quality of the content is a deciding factor in what succeeds.
Some of this quality comes across in the visuals. The graphics of today’s video games have closed in on Hollywood production values, as well as Hollywood production costs.
Activision’s first-person shooter Destiny, released last September, cost $500 million to make. James Cameron, in comparison, could make about two Avatar films with that sort of money. The game natively renders graphics at an eye-popping 1080p high-definition resolution at a speed of 30 frames per second. Today’s best-selling games have some of the best image quality and clarity available of all media available to the average consumer.
And nowadays, gamers don’t just game, they watch other gamers game. It’s a billion-dollar business—last August, Amazon shelled out $1.1 billion for Twitch, a service that turns video games into a spectator sport. At the time of the acquisition, Twitch had some 55 million monthly unique visitors from across the globe.
“Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon,” proclaimed Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, in a statement regarding his purchase, “and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month.”
The rise of live-streaming, driven in large part by gaming, will be a topic of conversation at NAB Show, April 22 – 27 in Las Vegas.
And while users from around the world gather online to live-stream “eSports” competitions, thousands of people gather in stadiums—real-life stadiums—to watch them live. With prizes that can top $10 Million and corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola, it’s clear that video games are not only a principal driver in the entertainment industry, but they’re also the newest major pro sport, with a global and connected fan base.
The gaming industry is now expanding in ways that a Super Nintendo could never have conceived of. The web has turned gaming into a social network, and not only in the form of massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft. PSN users can friend each other and instant message, while Twitch specializes in live streams of players blasting away terrorists or casting spells.
Because of its versatility, the video game industry is the most electrifying content field today. Users can either interact or passively watch, and they can engage with each other at all times. Global revenue for the industry is already $20 billion more than the music business—so video games are also one of the most lucrative content outlets.
However, the industry and the technology is young and growing at an astounding pace, so it is still a relatively open field for content creators to compete for the most eyeballs and dollars.
The NAB Show is one of the world’s premier electronic media events and a must for content creators of all stripes. And as video game production, consumption and connectivity continue to evolve, this increasingly diverse and influential industry will have a larger spotlight than ever before.
They’re weapons in the war on terrorism. They’re tools for patrolling the US-Mexico border. They’re trackers of drug smugglers.
Increasingly, military agencies, government agencies and universities in the US are employing drones — small, nimble unmanned aircraft — to put eyes in the sky for an array of purposes. But as sexy as drones are, one expert suggests that we shouldn’t be fixated so much on the aircraft itself but on the capabilities of the aircraft.
“It’s not about the drone. It’s about information. It’s about data. Drones are there to collect information,” said Sean Varah, CEO of MotionDSP, which provides software that dissects data from videos shot with drones.
“It’s the processing of the information they collect that’s actually the interesting [part],” he added. “You put up a drone in the air not because you want to play around with your remote-control drone.”
Rather, someone sends a drone into the air to answer a question or solve a problem. One question could be, “How can we better monitor drought conditions?” To get that answer, a government agency or a university might dispatch a drone to gather data about water supplies in local lakes, rivers and streams — data that could be hard to collect on foot or from a helicopter.
“Drones can get to places that humans can’t,” Varah said, “or they can get there in a much safer way than people can.”
One drone use that’s gaining ground: search-and-rescue operations carried out by public safety agencies. For instance, a drone can aid in the hunt for a missing child in the rough terrain of a national park.
“Search and rescue is a very good example of something that drones can be very good at,” Varah said.
That’s why the Austin Fire Department in Texas teamed up last year with researchers at Texas A&M University. The department and the university are testing the use of drones for emergency response, including search-and-rescue missions.
“In the future, I see this technology as being part of every fire department’s response protocol. Robotics will augment the capabilities of emergency response and provide confirmation that this technology is worth the attention it deserves,” said Richard Davis, assistant chief of the fire department.
Recently, Varah’s company announced it’s collaborating with several drone research sites in the US that are studying how to apply this technology to the public safety, oil and gas, agriculture, health and wildlife sectors. Those sectors are beginning to embrace technology that’s been prevalent in the military for about 10 years, Varah said.
“Only in this past year have they become really commonplace. It’s a really new thing,” he said.
Acknowledging the “very valid” privacy concerns raised by drone critics, Varah said, “I’ve seen all the good things you can do with aircraft that have cameras. … You can really help people, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
As this technology evolves and more users adopt it, he added, “These drones are going to provide a much richer source of information for us.”
Years of video are recorded and uploaded to the cloud each day to sites like YouTube, Vine, and Facebook from devices like mobile phones, personal drones, or home surveillance cameras. With the new capabilities of computer vision technology, we have the ability to mine this visual data to get valuable insights about what’s happening in the world. However, video content has largely been ignored in the conversation about big data.
Video as a data source has the power to give us information about how people interact with the world around them unlike any other data source. Video provides real-time data about behavior happening in the present, not just the past — whether it’s traffic patterns for the commute in and out of San Francisco or what time most kids get home from school in Palo Alto, California.
Video data stored in the cloud is exploding. Nest, Google’s internet of things investment, just bought Dropcam, a home security camera company. Silicon Valley companies are building fleets of satellites that will orbit the earth and be able to take thousands of high resolution photos or record video for up to 90 seconds of any spot, and revisit that spot several times per day. Inexpensive consumer drones like the DJI Phantom are selling in the thousands per week. Much of that data captured by these technologies is being uploaded to public sites such as YouTube where anyone can access them.
How can we extract value from all this video, in the way that we do from other “big data” sources?
To move forward, we have to get past our current fixation on the devices — drones being the largest example — and focus on the software that will extract the useful data they collect, and the answers that can come from that data. To find these answers we need to have a way to mine video content for data.
Until now, extracting intelligence from video content has mostly “manual,” through human observation — literally, a human watching the video and writing down what is happening. Think about a documentary filmmaker “logging” their footage, marking down interesting occurrences in the video, what they are, and when they occur. This was the process for police and FBI who mined hours of surveillance video collected after the Boston Marathon Bombings to find moments where the bombers passed the cameras.
To make video data into useful big data, we need to leap beyond this. We need true video analytics, powered by computer vision. Current search technology looks at the metadata stored with videos — like tags you include when you upload a YouTube video (“science”, “kids,” “cat dancing” or other keywords). Or, some sites use still image techniques (like classification) to find objects, cars, or company logos in videos. True video analytics involves using computer vision algorithms to analyze video pixels automatically, and over time — not only identifying objects in the scene, but also tracking their movements and behavior. With true video analytics you can track patterns of movement of hundreds of objects in the scene, as well as their size, shape, speed, and direction of movement.
To see the influence that data gathered from video would have, let’s take a mundane government question like, “Is it worth it to invest in new infrastructure to address traffic issues in the Bay Area?” Here in Burlingame, local citizens wanted a new crosswalk built across a busy intersection. The town had to employ a full-time person to stand and manually count every adult and child that crossed that intersection over a week — in order to measure how many citizens would benefit from that investment. This could have been accomplished with a single surveillance camera and video analytics, measuring people (adults, kids), and vehicles, turning the data into something that is actionable (and provides good ROI).
We could assess things like how many, and what type of vehicles are using a new highway overpass? Were the tax breaks given to the company who asked for it worth it? Is the local sewage facility operating within regulations? Are there sewage outflows after heavy rains? How big are they?
Over the longer term, as video analytics of aerial or space data become more widely accessible, it will change the way we understand the world. It will give everyone access to the data that, until recently, only militaries and intelligence agencies had at their disposal. It will let everyone see for themselves what is really happening around the world and disrupt the current notion of the big data revolution. This is true freedom of information and it is on the horizon.
Pictured Above: The DJI Phanton 2 Vision + is a popular experimental camera platform for non-commercial video production. Photo courtesy DJI.
Multicopters may prove to be the most game-changing newsgathering and production tool since the pneumatic microwave mast.
Mere weeks after a quadcopter crashed on the White House lawn, several drones said to be quadcopters were seen over landmarks in Paris France including the Eiffel Tower and the US embassy. Let’s start by acknowledging that drones are in and on the news and it’s not always good. As uncomfortable as drones can make a lot of people feel, they also promise to be a powerful and game-changing tool useful for many groups of professionals from farmers to video production companies and newsrooms. And, they’re fun to learn about and fly.
Right now, if you want a velvet smooth 6’-150’ live pedestal-up camera shot during a scene you either need a real helicopter with an expensive gyro-stabilized camera mount or a giant jib arm. Once government decides how to govern a rapidly expanding drone population while maintaining public safety, the cost of all the hardware needed to create that same live scene will drop to about half the price of a nice new camera tripod system.
When legal, producers and directors can get fabulous shots with significantly more flexibility and control, at HD, 4K or better resolutions on a camera platform that costs pennies to launch and operate. Compared to an average helicopter jet fuel consumption rate of about 30 GPH, and paying the pilot, who passes along maintenance fees, licensing fees, hangar fees, the cost of the camera, gyro-mount, and travel time, it doesn’t take many helicopter hours to pay for a squadron of always-ready rechargeable drones that shoot and transmit HD or UHD to local receivers. We’ve all seen small cameras fixed atop ENG microwave masts. News drones are an exponential improvement to that concept.
The problem for right now is that it’s not legal to fly a drone in the USA for commercial purposes. A few one-time commercial drone flight permissions have been granted but are quite rare. However, in the USA many indicators imply the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing to ease up on commercial drone-flying requirements and restrictions and lead with some needed rules and guidance specific to small commercial drones. While broadcasters are among many businesses that could benefit from new rulings, permissions and requirements, imagine the congestion problems as affordable private and commercial drones proliferate.
The Syma X5 is nearly standard size quadcopter and an excellent basic flight trainer.
Cue the 400’ tsunami
Not intended as legal advice, but at this moment the key general flight rule to follow is to never fly in or near controlled airspace, such as an airport. Flying below 400’ in unrestricted airspace feet for fun but not money is not a U.S. federal offense. However, people’s attitudes and local laws vary. Some cities, areas and events ban drone flights outright.
In areas where there are no drone bans, pilots still risk prosecution for reckless endangerment and/or obstruction of police or emergency services (both felonies), and/or invasion of privacy, which could be upgraded to a federal offense.
Are you insured for drone flight liability? Do not assume your auto, home, professional or company insurance will cover any injury or property damage claims or lawsuits should you have a drone accident. In other words, be careful where you fly and what and who you fly over. Learn, experiment, play and have fun, stay mindful, responsible, cool and professional, and don’t use the images commercially.
A drone is loosely defined as any remotely guided unmanned aircraft or vessel. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) typically describes an airborne drone too small for a person to ride in. Many UAVs are fixed wing aircraft built to travel long distances at higher speeds, built primarily for military missions such as remote surveillance or to blow things up.
A more public-friendly subset of UAVs are multicopters, which include tricopters, quadcopters, pentacopters, heaxcopters, and octocopers. Sometimes they’re called a sUAS (Small Unmanned Aircraft System). In this article, all will be generically referred to as quadcopters because right now, that’s what most are. Regardless of the number of rotors and size, quadcopters are all birds of a feather so to speak, because they are specifically designed to be ultra-stable, ultra-mobile aerial platforms that are ultra-easy to fly. Last century, Sci-fi writers and dreamers called this concept a skyhook.
The CX-10 is called the world’s smallest quadcopter and it flies like the big ones.
A car is a car
Fiats compare to Ferraris the way the operational features, controls and flight characteristics of “toy” quadcopters compare with their most expensive and exotic quadcopter counterparts under manual control. If you can start and drive one, you can start and drive the other. They just respond and handle a little differently.
The flight control learning curve is like learning to ride a bicycle. Adding a camera is like learning to ride a Harley after mastering a bicycle. Some high-end quadcopter systems, (we can’t say “professional” quadcopter because that would imply illegal activity) are available with an extra hand controller unit to allow a second operator to control the camera.
“Toy” quadcopters are quite practical for live learning. Without an on-board camera they are an easily replaceable real-time training device. “Toy” quadcopters sell for prices so low that nearly anyone can afford to practice and learn by trial and error. A worst-case learning disaster with a 5 ounce “toy” quadcopter might result in USD $50 worth of damage, tops. Don’t belittle the word “toy.” In the eyes of current federal law, all legally operating quadcopters are toys.
Fun Fact: Most small “toy” quadcopters are pre-programmed to do one-button, in-flight flips and rolls that have nothing to do with cameras.
The Hubsan X4 is another inexpensive quadcopter training device. Note: It uses the battery connector for an on-off switch.
Inexpensive quadcopters are available from multiple sources, mostly on the Internet. Prices for complete quadcopter ready-to-fly systems with controller and charger start around USD $20. It won’t come with camera at that price but you can learn how to fly a generic quadcopter platform for the price of dinner. Several larger and more stable camera-less models from various manufacturers are available at Amazon.com and other sources for under USD $60.
Another digit takes you to the higher-end of the camera-less quadcopter world. For about USD $600 you can purchase one of the most popular and sophisticated quadcopters designed for video production and aerial photography in the world, a DJI Phantom 2 (without a camera or gimbal). A gimbal and camera such as a GoPro can be added later although at that point there are more high-end quad and octocopters to investigate.
A camera and gimbal added to a DJI Phantom 2 would fit between the landing gear. In a crash, the landing gear is the only protection for the camera and gimbal.
Quadcopters and accessories often ship directly from Asia and can require a few weeks for delivery. The parts that are most frequently damaged during flight are the blades and blade guards. Order extras when ordering a quadcopter and keep them on hand so training isn’t interrupted by a learning experience. Spare parts are inexpensive but they may take a month or more to get.
Danger, danger
Even the tiniest 4.2 ounce $20 toy quadcopter can be dangerous. Sharp, rapidly-spinning quadcopter blades can bruise or cut skin, or seriously damage an eyeball. Nearly all quadcopters are powered by ultra-lightweight Lithium Polymer (LiPo) power cells. LiPo cells produce the large amount of sustained current needed for the brushless motors without adding much weight. They can get hot. Improperly charging LiPo batteries or a short circuit can cause a fire. Most quadcopters include built-in over-current protection in case a blade jams or collides, but a few have been reported to catch fire when overloaded.
Quadcopters achieve airborne stability with pairs of props pitched in opposite directions. Although a quadcopter may appear to float in the air, it has no fixed wings and it glides like a dumbbell. One can drop from the sky for a number of reasons, usually related to operator confusion, distraction or error. They’ve also been attacked and taken down by eagles and hawks.
A fully loaded quadcopter system can weigh as much as a two liter bottle of pop. The more a quadcopter system costs and weighs, the harder it crashes and the more likely it will be to cause serious expensive damage and injury to what it hits, and to the craft, landing gear, camera and gimbal. Quadcopters come pre-programmed to auto-land or return to home by GPS and land when its battery runs low but they aren’t exactly fail-safe. Clearly, collision avoidance and fail-safe operation is where the technology is headed. Imagine what that will bring.
This personal squadron for fun and training cost less than $150.
Right now, it’s safest to start learning indoors with a smaller and lighter “toy” first so nobody gets hurt. Consider it learning to drive a stick shift in a parking lot. GPS, cameras, gimbals and camera controls and automatic navigation will come with time. For now, let’s start with basic quadcopter principles and piloting.
Quadcopter Phraseology
A few quadcopter-centric acronyms and unique features help explain the technology. FPV is First Person View, meaning the remote operator can observe live video from an on-board video camera. Like everything video, FPV quality improves with budget.
ESC is the acronym for Electronic Speed Controller. An ESC is used to separately control the speed of each motor. The Flight Control System is a network of controls that allow the remote operator to pilot the craft by ESC. It may be a single chip or a system integrating a gyroscope, accelerometer, barometric altimeter and GPS system to track movement and/or hold position. When the integrated package is housed in single unit it’s sometimes called the IMU (Inertial measurement unit).
Some advanced Flight Control Systems include pre-programmed GPS flight points and flight memories. This allows not only repetition, but it can fully automate autonomous operation without the need of remote RF signal control.
Without or without RF control, three basic technologies make quadcopters possible: ESCs, LiPo batteries and multi-axis gyroscopes. Most quadcopter gyroscopes are 6-axis — forward/back, up/down, left/right, pitch, yaw, and roll. Pitch, yaw and roll describe rotation about the three perpendicular axes. More technologies such as active GPS positioning, active optical or sonar altitude control, lightweight broadcast microwave transmitters, lightweight 4K cameras and efficient 360 degree camera gimbals make serious quadcopters seriously useful newsgathering and production tools.
Most quadcopter remote controllers operate in the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth band. Controller distance ends at about 25-50 yards for toys. Better systems can range 1000 yards or so, depending on conditions. Most RF video backhaul distances will be less. Most quadcopter RF control systems are at 4 or 6-channel, meaning you can fly in the same area with a few other quadcopters operating at 2.4 GHz.
Pre-flight Briefing
As we prepare for our first flight, you might have noticed that the printed instruction translations that came with your quadcopter might be a little vague. In Part 2 of this series, we’ll translate the translations, grab the remote controller, power-up, take off, fly, land, recharge, repeat and shoot some video.
Each year, I buckle-in and get myself set for all the new and wondrous technological innovations that will materialize – and each year, I am not disappointed! There can be no doubt that technology makes the world go ‘round, as it has in all its previous years as well as in the years to come. As the years march on, tech develops along with it, staying one step ahead of the times – at all times! In broadcasting terms, the industry has come a long way since kinescopes and even video tape! And I marvel at the showcase of the ever-changing pace.
While the industry continues to deal with the proliferation of non-linear television, the needs of consumers continue turning toward their newly-forming habit of being able to receive content anywhere – expecting content to be available at all times, on any device and at any location. I’m afraid that this topic – any content everywhere at any time – is going to be with us for quite a while, as the world adjusts to this new form of non-platform-specific content and delivery.
While cable is still dominating, more and more people are straying away from the costly cable option and turning more often to OTT – streaming television watched on home computers equipped with the internet and other devices so capable. Newer OTT options have allowed many consumers to break-away from traditional cable packages… but one thing OTT just can’t offer is access to live television – you know, like evening newscasts and live sporting events (granted, there are some ways to obtain these streaming, but you really have to be a computer aficionado to be able to find them through your browser).
The downside is, of course, that many of these programs are not available immediately – that is, you have to wait for them to become available… and sometimes, that’s a long, long wait. Network producers still hold the reins on when their programs are cast-off to the “internet graveyard,” destined for consumption by the “anywhere/anytime/any platform” crowd. But they won’t wait forever – and consumer demand is driving technology to allow for quicker transitions and availability.
Another area of technology that is fast becoming a contender is satellites and satellite technology. Today, 80 million European households get information and entertainment directly via satellite TV, with an additional 66 million households receiving cable that is fed by satellites; this is due to the fact that satellite transmission is both cost and spectrum efficient for getting data and media to larger audiences. Not only are Internet connections on planes, cruise ships and oil platforms delivered via satellite, satellites offer Internet connectivity to people in rural and remote areas in Europe (and other places around the world) quickly – typically in days. In addition, satellites can provide critical communications for rescue operations and relief efforts during emergency and disaster situations, especially when ground-based communications lines could be cut/severed or unavailable.
Satellite communications have extended human communications into outer space as well as vastly increase connectivity here on earth. As satellite technology improves and prices drop, still further companies and governments as well as co-operative organizations are able to enter a field of technology that was once only open to certain governments and the largest of corporations. Low cost micro-satellites are expanding the availability of satellites even further, allowing even small companies a place among the stars, as well as offering an interesting new avenue for experimentation in science and media, the potential uses of micro-satellite swarms.
The first single-source global signal provider is scheduled to go online; many speculate global operations will begin in a matter of a few months, likely before the end of this year. Companies are building and launching more satellites every year, and more companies are generating their own networks, and/or forming even larger networks by partnering with other corporations. With this occurring more and more, layers of satellite networks are blanketing the earth. How long can it be before truly global channels of streaming communications and internet become available on a truly planet-wide scale? Soon multiple channels will be available from multiple providers 24 hours a day 7 days a week, worldwide.
Media and broadcasting will shift to meet new paradigms. Cabling and fiber optics will only endure in those circumstances in which, for whatever reason, they are more advantageous or cost effective than the multi-layered global net/web/blanket. With backpack satellite uplinks, and backpack satellite dishes now available from a number of different manufacturers, cellular communications are spreading like wildfire, with many people in developed countries having access to multiple different personal phone numbers. More global networks means more access more access means more freedom and more freedom leads to more innovation.
As Abraham Lincoln said in 1861: “The struggle of today is not just for today – it is for a vast future, also.” Many legal and ethical issues revolve around our ever-expanding communications capabilities. No governance is anarchy, and excessive governance stifles industry. Those in government and the media industry need to carefully consider the national and global implications that our evolving technologies allow us. We need to look forward to advance, but we must advance responsibly. Responsible government, industry, and corporations must ensure that public concerns of privacy, access, and affordability all be seriously addressed.
All in all, technology and innovations will continue to seed the future – and we’ll all be there for the harvest. Nobody could foresee the advent (so quickly) of being able to view content on any device, anywhere and at any time; sure, everyone dreamed about it, but remember: a couple decades ago, they saw the people of today all in personal flying cars with robot servants in every home. And while many advances still may seem futuristic even now, they, too, will transcend upon us swiftly and without warning – let’s just hope that our personal broadcast streams (from our personal satellites) give us the lowdown of the tech upon its arrival.
