Acacia Research licenses Barco Silex's JPEG 2000 IP cores for use in search and rescue system

Louvain‐la‐Neuve, Belgium ‐‐ June 27, 2016 ‐‐ Barco Silex, the leading provider of IP cores for video compression, announces that Acacia Research has licensed its acclaimed JPEG 2000 IP cores. Acacia research is an Australian R&D house specialized in advanced surveillance systems for the defense sector. The JPEG 2000 cores will be integrated in a search and rescue system to help deliver high-quality video to mission computers and ground stations.

“We are delighted that Acacia Research has selected our solution for its demanding application,” says Thierry Watteyne, CEO of Barco Silex. “JPEG 2000 is the codec for heavy-duty video compression with superior quality, and we’ve created an IP solution that allows easy integration into challenging hardware environments, a solution that is future-proof, can be dimensioned to the application and has one of the lowest hardware footprints available. This is testified by the successful integration by market leaders in the audio-visual as well as storage, security, surveillance and defense industries, to which we now add Acacia Research.”

Acacia Research will integrate the JPEG 2000 compression in a remote interface unit (RIU). This unit will form the eyes of a new compact system for search and rescue missions, which is an adaption of Acacia’s ORAC Mission Data Management System. The RIU will capture earth observation data with four channels of 1080p HD-SDI video. The JPEG 2000 video compression will be used for high-quality streaming to the mission computer for storage, immediate review and optionally for delivery over satellite link to a ground station. ORAC was also trialed on an Australian Collins Class submarine, which will likely also host the first JPEG 2000 RIUs. “We would like to thank the Barco Silex team for their collaborative approach and extra support in achieving a very successful outcome under a tight project schedule”, added Ted Huber, Director at Acacia Research Ltd.

About Barco Silex

Barco Silex is the leading provider of high-end image compression technology for hardware including JPEG2000. Next to its professional AV boards, Barco Silex also licenses a wide range of video compression technology for integration in professional products, in the form of IP blocs for ASIC or FPGA. This technology has been adopted by leading companies in the broadcast, professional AV and defense market. In addition to AV technology, Barco Silex also specializes in security and cryptography. Combined with video transport, this ensures secure video transmission and content protection solutions. Barco Silex is a subsidiary of Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR), the global leader in networked visualization products for the entertainment, enterprise and healthcare markets.

About Acacia Research

Acacia Research is an Australian R&D company specialized in advanced surveillance systems and high-fidelity simulations. Acacia’s engineers and scientists are specialized in areas such as sensor data fusion, tracking, environmental modeling, and system architecture and integration.