ProVision Communications
The Wireless Video Company
DTI Funds Advanced MIMO Video Development
22 November 2006
Wireless video specialists ProVision Communications have been awarded a major grant by the DTI (the UK’s Department of Trade & Industry) towards the development of technology for the wireless transmission of high quality video. The project will bring together ProVision’s strengths in MIMO wireless and H.264/ MPEG4 video compression to deliver systems providing highly resilient wireless transmission of full broadcast quality video. The new technology is being developed to meet the increasing demand for wireless equipment that can deliver high quality video reliably in real time, for applications ranging from broadcast TV production down to consumer set top boxes.
Modern wireless standards do not interoperate efficiently with today's video compression standards, since they have been developed largely in isolation from each other. Wireless standards have been optimised for asynchronous data transfer, while video standards have been optimised for compression in a way that makes real time video very sensitive to the sorts of errors that inevitably occur in wireless transmission. Buffering the signal to allow for error correction can help correct this, but leads to unacceptable delays in the resulting video. New approaches are therefore required if applications which require ‘real time’ video, such as television production, are to integrate wireless based equipment alongside their traditional wired systems. The team at ProVision Communications has many years of experience in MIMO technology and video compression. The six figure development grant from the DTI will enable ProVision to apply MIMO to the wireless transmission of full broadcast quality video, and to develop the next generation of wireless equipment.
“This grant is a strong endorsement of our reputation as leaders in wireless video technology,” said Professor David Bull, Director of Video Technology at ProVision Communications, “The world is rapidly moving over to wireless solutions for many applications – both professional and consumer - yet delivering high quality video reliably in real time over wireless links is still an extremely challenging problem. Very few companies in the world have the ability to tackle this: ProVision is one of them, and the grant by the DTI recognises this. The technology that we are developing will provide significant benefits across the spectrum of applications, ranging from wireless cameras for broadcasters down to reliable video distribution in the home.”