Stanag 4545

[Blanchefle Strycker]

TheNational Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) is a principal standard format for digital imagery, metadata and imagery-related products for the United States intelligence community, International Standards Organization (ISO), American National Standards Institute (ISO/ANSI) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (STANAG-4545). NITF with rational polynomial coefficient (RPC) metadata is widely distributed by commercial satellite vendors and supported by imagery exploitation tools, and serves as a sensor-agnostic mechanism for data exchange.

Horsham, UK, 26 November 2020: The Ministry of Defence is accelerating its searchable, video-streaming and imagery exploitation capabilities across secure military networks to benefit its missions worldwide

Dstl tasked Envitia with evaluating existing imagery standards and video formats that could be used on such a platform, and developing a new Future Imagery format that utilises such standards. The format also incorporates the latest metadata models, in particular the Motion Imagery Metadata Model developed and published earlier this year by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, as metadata is a key component of imagery exploitation.

Currently, NATO uses file formats defined by the Standardization Agreements STANAG 4545 (imagery) and STANAG 4609 (video) but these are struggling to cope with all of the additional information being provided by the latest military technology, such as new sensors, imagery encodings and metadata. The new format is not trying to replace these formats but put something in place that could support them when they become too overstretched.

The new format, along with new software developed by Envitia, will enable image analysts to search, overlay, exploit and share imagery and data from multiple sensors onto maps. For instance, overlaying heat data on live footage that can be accessed on an interactive map at any time, and allowing exploitation of the imagery by Machine Learning algorithms.

This is all geo-located across fully connected and integrated UK, US and NATO frameworks, using widely available open source tools. It also needs to work where there is little connectivity or where the network itself is under disruption by enemy forces.

Bernadette Kuzma's 1999 update reports on the components of a BIIF file, beginning with the BIIF File Header. The header is "a basic description of this file. Including how many of each subcomponent exist. For each subcomponent a pair of numbers is given indicating how many bytes the subheader for it is and how bytes of data are associated with it." Kuzma continues, "For each of the remaining segments there is a subheader that describes the individual segment and the actual data associated with it:"

"During the Grenada conflict [1983], it became apparent that . . . there was no way to share imagery between systems. Interoperability just wasn't there. There were numerous tools for creating, distributing and viewing imagery; however interoperability had not been considered. . . . Several folks got together and fashioned . . . the National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF). Version 1.0 of the standard was not fielded, but approved as a demonstration capability. In 1984, the NITF Technical Board was formed. This organization consisted of representatives from each service and the Intel community. . . . The Joint Interoperability Test Center was tasked with ensuring that systems conformed to the standard. The first system was certified in 1988.

"The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) was responsible for making NITF 1.1 a military standard. By 1991 all the services were complying with the standard. . . . Work on version 2.0 of the standard started in 1992. . . . [In 1995,] the National Committee for Information Technology Standards agreed it was within their purview to convert NITF from a military standard to an international standard. Work began on the Basic Imagery Interchange Format (BIIF). Simultaneously, work was started on NITF 2.1. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secondary Imagery Format (STANAG 4545, NSIF) was developed at the same time."

Development of ISO/IEC 12087-5 began in 1995 and, in 1998, this international standard was approved. Some additional historical information is included in a 2002 presentation from the Arnold, Missouri, Bandwidth Compression Symposium.

For the Royal Netherlands Air Force, we have built complete data loading applications for various types of aircraft, as well as data download and analysis software that converts raw data into formats and visualizations that are easy to understand. We are experienced in processing standardized recordings such as IRIG106 ch10 and standards like STANAG 4545 and 4609 for storage and dissemination of imagery.

Larus Technologies is led by a team of highly skilled and experienced professionals who bring their wealth of knowledge and expertise to guide and inspire the employees within the company. As trusted advisors to their Defence Contractor customers, the team at Larus Technologies is dedicated to providing unparalleled guidance and support. Their deep understanding of the industry and its complex challenges enables them to provide strategic insights and solutions that are tailored to the unique needs of their clients.

Larus Technologies is a group of professionals who are well-versed in scientific knowledge, making them well-equipped to handle even the most complex of challenges. Larus sets the standard for quality and expertise in their industry with an experience of over two decades, having collaborated with industry giants, delivering cutting-edge AI and ML solutions for the defence, security, and commercial

enterprise sectors. In addition, our extensive experience in public safety awareness has positioned us as a valuable asset to Military Contractors and System Integrators, allowing us to impact the world significantly.

We are proud of our recognized track record of leading the way in information fusion for the defence and security sectors. Our system aligns with the Joint Director of Laboratories (JDL) information fusion model used by the US Department of Defense, which enables us to provide more accurate and predictive information faster.

George Di Nardo is the President of Larus Technologies Corporation. He is responsible for the overall management of Larus and works with the Leadership Team to establish and drive the vision and strategic direction for the company. George has also been responsible for leading the software engineering and product development projects since founding the company in 1995.

George has over 25 years of experience in software engineering and development focused primarily in the space, defense and security markets. He combines the ability to develop comprehensive scientific and engineering solutions with a solid understanding of the software development life cycle.

He has been involved in the development of several real-time and embedded software and engineering applications for various clients including the DRDC-Ottawa, Canadian Space Agency, Communications Research Centre and Terra Aerospace Corporation. George was also the chief architect for the AESA software, currently under license from Inmarsat PLC.

George was the senior project engineer at DRDC-Ottawa, leading a software team in developing and maintaining the DRDC SIMLAB simulation software, the CROWE exploitation software system and providing supporting to the NATO CAESAR and MAJIIC projects.

A respected industry authority, George continues to provide expertise and leadership in the defense and military sector through his participation as a member of the NATO MAJIIC Technical Working Group and is a Canadian member of the Custodial Support Team (CST) for STANAG 4545, 4559 and 4607. George is a leading expert in the use and implementation of STANAG 4607, the Ground Moving Target Indicator Format.

Dr. Rami Abielmona is the Vice President of Research & Engineering at Larus Technologies Corporation. He is responsible for all research and development of software, hardware and products, as well as the management and direction of the research team.

Rami received his B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer and electrical engineering, from the School of Information Technology and Engineering at the University of Ottawa, where he currently serves as an Adjunct Professor. He was a CMC Success Story in 2005 for his Ph.D. research. He received the NSERC Industrial Research and Development Fellowship (IR&DF) in 2007 and the IEEE MGA Achievement Award in 2008. He was also named as the Part-Time Professor of the Year at both the Faculty of Engineering and the entire University of Ottawa in 2012.

He also became a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario in 2008, as well as a Senior Member of the IEEE in 2011.

Rami has served on numerous Organizing and Program Committees for international conferences including most recently as General Chair of the Fifth IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Security and Defence Applications (CISDA) in 2012. He has also served as a Technical Program Committee member for conferences such as I2MTC 2012, CIMSA 2012, MeMeA 2012, ROSE 2011, IJCNN 2011 and evoRISK 2012. He is also a co-founder of the Canadian Tracking and Fusion Group (CTFG).

Rami is a 2011 Ottawa Business Journal Forty Under 40 Award recipient. He is currently the Chair of the IEEE Ottawa Section, the Web Manager of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, the Chair of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Security, Surveillance and Defense Applications Task Force and the Chair of the local IEEE Computer Society chapter.

Mr. James Kraft is the Vice President, Corporate Operations at Larus Technologies Corporation. He oversees product teams, the IT Support team, and the project management office. Before joining Larus Technologies, Mr. Kraft was an operational officer in the Royal Canadian Navy (1983-2003) and a business consultant (2003-2023).

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