W H I T E

PA P E R
Gang Hua
Imaging Architect
Texas Instruments

Jacob Jose
Business Development Manager
Video Security Business
Texas Instruments

Introduction

Breakthroughs in low-light
performance illuminate IP
video camera applications
Shedding some light on the problem

Video cameras are turning up everywhere these

Video security cameras connected to the network (IP cameras) are being deployed in a wide range

days because they let us see something a place,

of applications. Beyond the common surveillance cameras implemented in security and law enforcement

a person, an event without being conspicuous.

settings, cameras are now pervasive in computers, tablets and smartphones. Increasingly more vehicles are

Camera technology is like the human eye in that

also being equipped with video monitoring systems, or car black boxes, to assist with complex maneuvers

it can only see objects or scenes by taking in and

in close quarters and enhance the safety of the vehicle. Underlying all of these applications and others is

processing the light that is present. Just as we

struggle to see clearly when the lights in a room
are turned off, many video cameras must cope
with low-light environments. Having a camera on
the scene does not always provide the kind of
insight we want unless the camera is able to

the fact that IP cameras must frequently provide a video stream despite poor lighting, if additional lighting is
provided at all. The problem can become particularly important in security applications.

Video streams provided by IP surveillance cameras monitoring dark alleys or dimly lit hallways can

often be fuzzy, pixilated, indistinct and lacking in contrast. Poor quality of the video stream will often result
in unrecognizable faces or missing an occurrence altogether, jeopardizing the usefulness of the video
surveillance system. Providing better lighting conditions is usually not feasible as the lights themselves are
expensive, require maintenance and would negate the conspicuous nature of surveillance systems.

overcome low-light conditions and monitor the

scene clearly.

camera, but doing that would blur moving objects, creating indistinct images. One could also increase the

New advancements in video camera technology,

aperture size of the lens, but beyond about f/1.4, the cost and size of the optics become prohibitive.

specifically low-light noise filtering technology,

Further, it would reduce the depth of field. A third strategy would be to increase the gain of the signal

have enhanced not only the individual still images

from the image sensor: however, this simultaneously amplifies any noise in the scene. Having an effective

or frames which make up a video stream but

method to remove this noise provides an optimal solution to get clear and distinct images in low light. The

also increase the fidelity of the individual pixels

technology used is commonly called noise filtering. Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) noise filters com-

that make up each frame. Operating on three

bined with the latest technology high sensitivity sensors can enable cameras to produce clear video at light

dimensions, improved filtering techniques are able

to remove visual anomalies in low-light video
feeds and thereby clarify and sharpen the images.
Cameras based on powerful real-time processors
and equipped with sophisticated compression
algorithms can often see better in low-light
conditions than the human eye. According to the
2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report, 52.8 percent of
violent crimes and 81.7 percent of property crimes
remained unsolved1. Cameras equipped with
good low-light technology would help reduce
that number.

2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report: Crime in the United States

In such low light environments, exposure time of the sensor may be increased to let more light into the

levels of less than 0.1Lux. However, even with low cost, lower sensitivity sensors, the low light performance
is significantly improved with TI noise filtering technology.

Texas Instruments

The images below, one without and the other with low-light noise filtering demonstrate how this
technique can improve the effectiveness of applications like video surveillance systems.

Figure 1: Video image without low-light performance enhancements

Figure 2: Video image with low-light performance enhancements

Noise in low-light
video signals

What makes it hard for an IP camera to see clearly in low-light conditions is noise; or that extraneous signaling
data which the camera mistakenly includes with the image because of the low-light conditions. These artifacts
or anomalies in the signal processing by the camera cause the video stream to degrade in quality, become
blurred and lose definition. The problem is further amplified when gain is applied to increase brightness of the
scene and the video encoder becomes overwhelmed by the level of noise present. Improving the quality of a
video IP camera operating in a poorly lit environment thus involves removing as much of this noise as possible.
By improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the video data stream, the camera is able to reveal a more distinct
image. With less noise, the signaling derived from the actual objects in the scene is stronger and the video image
is cleaner, reducing compressed bit rate and increasing compressed video sharpness. There are several distinct
sources of noise and each one must be dealt with on some level or another.
Shot noise
Shot noise comes about naturally from fluctuations in the rate at which light photons strike the sensor in a video
camera. The number of photons hitting on a sensor pixel varies randomly around a mean rate proportional to the
illumination level of the pixel.
Fixed pattern noise
Fixed-pattern noise is caused by slight variations in the pixels that make up the sensors in an IP camera. Each
pixel can react differently when it is struck by photons of light. These differences may be caused by variations
in the pixels and color filters, or differences in the circuitry connected to the pixels.
Readout noise
The analog information captured by a light sensor in a video camera must be converted into digital data to be
processed by the camera. This takes place through analog-to-digital converters (ADC). Readout noise results
from the imperfections of the conversion process.

Breakthroughs in low-light performance illuminate IP video camera applications

November 2012

Texas Instruments 3

Removing noise

There are two basic methods for removing or filtering out noise from low-light video feeds. The first method,
spatial filtering, operates along the two dimensions, height and width, that make up an image on a display screen.
The second method, temporal filtering, adds the third dimension of time which is also present in a
video stream. A noise filter that combines both spatial (2D) and temporal filtering is commonly referred to as
3D Noise Filter.
Spatial filtering
A video stream is made up of individual still images or frames that are displayed momentarily one after the other.
A real-time video feed typically displays 30 frames per second, but other display rates can be implemented if the
verisimilitude of actual motion is not required. Spatial filtering is an algorithmic analysis that examines each frame
independently of the others and compares each pixel along the X and Y axis of the image to identify noise and
remove it.
Temporal filtering
A temporal filtering algorithm adds the dimension of the time to the analysis. Rather than examining the entire
frame as spatial filtering does, temporal filtering analyzes each pixel over the dimension of time. That is, each pixel
is compared from one frame to the next to determine if noise is present. If a pixel moves in a certain way it likely is
noise and is removed. Temporal filtering is more complex than spatial filtering because video streams often contain
motion, such as an object moving or a person walking across the view of the camera. Temporal filtering must be
able to distinguish between real motion that the camera is meant to observe and which should be retained in the
video data stream, and any of several sorts of aberrant motion in the pixels which would indicate that this is noise
and should be removed. Several methods have been developed to accomplish this. They are the motion adaptive
and the motion compensated methods.
The motion adaptive method attempts to identify those regions of the video stream where the motion of an
object is taking place. The signaling in these regions is retained, including any noise that may be present in those
regions. Moving pixels in the remainder of the image are analyzed and if they are determined to be noise, they are
removed.
Motion compensated analysis is significantly more complex than the motion adaptive method. A motion
compensated analysis will establish a frame of reference to allow temporal filtering on pixels that are moving
because of motion of an object. If motion analysis is correct, motion compensated methods can remove more noise
on moving objects than motion adaptive methods. However, motion analysis becomes error-prone at the high noise
level under very low-light conditions, and therefore may fail to remove noise and produce annoying artifacts.
Technology suppliers like TI who are able to provide a blend of both the motion adaptive and the motion
compensated methods will be best able to meet the range of requirements that IP camera manufacturers and
security system integrators will have.

The benefits
of low-light
performance

IP cameras that can capture high-quality video in low-light environments can be quite effective in a number of
applications, but especially in security surveillance systems that often operate in poorly lit environments and
employ compression that further degrades the information contained in a video.
All IP cameras use some form of video compression, often using an H.264 high profile (HP) codec to achieve
best in class compression efficiency. Video compression results in loss of information. In order to maintain an
acceptable quality for the compressed video, like being able to recognize the license plate or the face of the driver
of a car passing through a poorly lit alley, the bit rate of the compressed video has to be kept as high as possible.
However, size of storage and the required backup time limits the affordable video compression bit rate.

Breakthroughs in low-light performance illuminate IP video camera applications

November 2012

Texas Instruments

A noisy video takes more bits to compress at a desired video quality since noise provides lots of unwanted
detail for the codec to compress, thus requiring a larger storage and in turn increasing the cost of installation.
If the storage cannot be increased, then the backup time should be reduced to maintain acceptable quality for
compressed video. Similarly, when the video has to be transmitted across a network and the bandwidth is limited,
a less noisy video can be transmitted at higher quality within the constraints of the available bandwidth. This is
especially important in residential installations where multiple Wi-Fi hotspots compete for the little available
spectrum. Conversely, at lower bit rates there is a significant loss in compressed video detail as the codec is
overwhelmed by the noise.
Compression technologies like H.264 rely on the consistencies between multiple frames of video to compress
the information contained. Noise brings a high level of inconsistency across multiple frames, requiring more bits to
compress the information in the compressed video. Good low-light technology removes the inconsistent noise that
allows the usage of lower bitrates to achieve acceptable video quality. The operator of a security system with an
IP camera with the low-light technology can then afford to spend less on the cost of storage or alternately use the
same storage capacity to record a higher quality of video or increase the backup time.
Further, the operator of a security system with an IP camera monitoring a poorly lit exterior door might consider
installing additional external lighting to better illuminate the area and thereby improve the quality of the video feed.
Since it can compensate for the lighting conditions, a camera with low-light performance eliminates the need for
additional lighting. Instead of installing new lights with the required electrical wiring, the security camera could be
replaced with an IP camera capable of superior low-light performance. Moreover, the incremental cost of electricity
to operate the additional external lighting would be avoided entirely.
Many sophisticated surveillance systems today also incorporate automatic security analytics procedures, which
process the video feeds further in order to supplement the human monitors who are operating the system. These
analytics are more effective when they process cleaner, higher definition video feeds. Better security analytics
might reduce the manpower needed to operate surveillance systems.

TIs low-light performance solutions

Figure 3: Highly noisy video image without low-light

performance enhancements

Figure 4: Video image after applying TIs low-light noise filter

detail emerges out of the noise

TI has a proven track record of providing industry-leading technology for video security processing applications,
such as IP-based video surveillance cameras. TIs superior 3D noise filtering technology allows sensors to be
used at higher gain levels, producing detailed video at lower light levels than needed by competition. DaVinci
video processor platforms are the industrys highest performance video engine that enables video and graphics
accelerators to process three 1080p60 fps streams simultaneously to enable new applications and intuitive user
interfaces. DaVinci users benefit from a scalable product line on a single platform with same core IPs, unique
combinations of high performance and low power and multiple derivatives for specific applications. TIs reference
designs enable quick product development in as little as 6 months.

Breakthroughs in low-light performance illuminate IP video camera applications

November 2012

Texas Instruments 5

In addition to the many supporting devices, TIs best-in-class video processors have long been at the
heart of many IP cameras. The recent introduction of the DaVinci DM385 video processor extends these achievements by integrating even more powerful low-light performance, including 3D noise filtering, wide
dynamic range processing as well as H.264 SVC-T high profile compression technology, which gives
best-in-class in terms of compression efficiency. This is combined with flexibility that allows each stream to
be set at the optimal codec profile, with the main stream being set at High Profile for maximum encode efficiency
and secondary streams being set at Base Profile for maximum decode compatibility. The DM385 is able to
compress up to four megapixels of real-time and secondary D1 real-time video stream with either the H.264
or the SVC-T high-profile codecs. A variety of features such as 4Kx2K or higher resolution video, simultaneous
multi-profile (base/main/high) compression, face detection, video stabilization, lens distortion correction,
multi-exposure and dual sensor support give camera manufacturers the ability to easily differentiate their products
in the marketplace. Moreover, a DM385 IP-based camera reference design allows manufacturers to quickly
deliver new low-light cameras to the marketplace while taking advantage of the most popular sensors.

12V DC
TPS23753A
TPS5432
TPS63036

Microphone

PHY

NAND
FLASH

AIC

GMAC

GPMC

McASP

I2C
Sensor

LVD8324
(optional)

ISS

EMIFO

Speaker Out

DDR3
SDRAM

DM385

CS/2

Sensor Board

DSS

GPIO/INT
UART

USB

SDIO

USB

SD
Card

UART/Alarm
RS485 XCVR

Video
Amp

Composite
Video Out

Auto Iris
Control

Figure 5: DaVincis DM385 video processor block diagram

For more information on the DM385 and other TI DaVinci solutions for IP cameras and other security applications,
go to www.ti.com/ipcamera.

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