Harris brings FAME to military video analysis
The FMV asset management engine (FAME) system (above) allows analysts and operators to retrieve archived video that may be relevant to current situations. Here, the system has displayed a known target from the previous day, for comparison with a white truck that is currently driving down a highway.
The FMV asset management engine (FAME) system (above) allows analysts and operators to retrieve archived video that may be relevant to current situations. Here, the system has displayed a known target from the previous day, for comparison with a white truck that is currently driving down a highway.

By the middle of the last decade, the U.S. military was recording full-motion video (FMV) from airborne platforms–especially UAVs–at an unprecedented rate. An estimated 20 million hours had been generated. Massive amounts of footage had been reviewed in real time by operators and analysts in ground stations and had prompted immediate action. Some of the footage surely had archive value, and if it could be properly stored and recalled, it might provide valuable context to subsequent video coverage. Unfortunately, the ability to unlock that value was stymied. The footage was being collected in multiple formats; it was hardly searchable, and then only by basic time and location.