By Harold Lime, June 7, 2005
Omneon Video Networks announced that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is using an Omneon Spectrum media server system within the ATF Fire Research Lab (FRL) to capture video data during small- and full-scale arson reconstruction. The ATF's eight-channel Omneon system, brought online in January, facilitates multicamera recording of all fire tests and provides fast and flexible playback for immediate burn analysis.
Located within the National Laboratory Center in Beltsville, Md., the FRL conducts testing and analysis in support of fire investigations. The FRL also undertakes research that provides technical fire information for the fire investigation community. The lab, which is the only fire research lab in the world dedicated solely to criminal investigations, features several large burn rooms in which engineers can build structures as large as a two-story house, and then run and monitor a number of different fire scenarios.
One room may be burned 15 times, or multiple rooms burned with just a slight variance in the burn configuration
. During each test, up to 2,000 data inputs are collected per second, and video gathered through various cameras is captured to the Omneon media server. Engineers on the test room floor are able to control both data and video through a proprietary interface.
Video ingest is a major part of the operation, and the Omneon server reduces ingest time dramatically, allowing researchers to record tests live and begin review before the burn has finished. Immediate access to video enables FRL researchers and engineers to apply what they have learned in one scenario to the next.
The Omneon Spectrum media server system accommodates DV and DVCPRO footage and will allow the facility to work with DVCPRO HD material in the future. Engineers use Final Cut Pro HD to edit material for presentation in court or for its growing library of research, typically preparing it on DVD as a final export product.
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