Intelligent imaging

Our diverse team, ranging from physics and medical imaging to AI, collaborates with partners to drive technological advancements that address key societal and economic challenges. While we primarily undertake projects in the defence and security sectors, we also work in healthcare and industry, particularly in dual-use applications.

Our work is structured into two clusters: Imaging4Autonomous Systems and Imaging4Decision Support. The former focuses on autonomy and inspection, while the latter is dedicated to decision support tools.

Imaging4Autonomous systems

This cluster specializes in developing tailored vision systems to meet the specific needs of our clients. Whether enabling vision at 120 km/h on a highway or 12 meters underwater, we design the optimal sensor suite for the task. Testing these systems is particularly exciting, as it involves deploying prototypes on vehicles and collecting real-world data. However, raw data is just the beginning. Through advanced image processing and computer vision techniques, we extract relevant insights from vast amounts of image data, transforming it into actionable intelligence.

Our expertise also includes integrating sensors into robotic platforms for remote or automated operation. Examples include an autonomous “follow-me” vehicle for transporting heavy loads for soldiers, or a four-legged “robot dog” capable of autonomously inspecting prison grounds. We also use these sensors to reconstruct 3D environments, enabling both robots and humans to understand, reason about, and interact with their surroundings. These 3D reconstructions and sensor suites are widely used across various applications.

Imaging4Decision Support

This cluster focuses on image and video analysis to support human decision-making in defence, security, and other domains. In the Defence sector, we support various branches of the armed forces by extracting relevant information from imagery. Leveraging our AI expertise, we apply state-of-the-art technologies to a wide range of Defence projects.

• For the Royal Navy, we recently developed an application that automatically identifies military ships on the horizon. In airborne and space contexts, we work on automatic image processing to detect and track (military) vehicles. These solutions enhance situational awareness while reducing the cognitive load on operators and analysts.
• We are also involved in interpreting image data for autonomous systems, such as drones. In these projects, we deliver both hands-on proof-of-concepts and conceptual research to support the armed forces.
• Additionally, we process camera footage for surveillance and security applications. Security operators monitor large volumes of video streams, and to assist them in detecting threats promptly, we develop technologies for behaviour analysis, anomaly detection, and person re-identification. We also prioritize anonymization and privacy-enhancing techniques to ensure sensitive data and models can be shared securely.
• This cluster also develops document authentication technologies for border guards and immigration services, helping experts assess official documents. By creating intelligent image processing techniques, we streamline this complex and time-consuming task, making it more efficient and effective.

Collaboration Beyond Intelligent Imaging

Our department is a recognized leader in image processing, collaborating with a wide range of partners. Within TNO, we work closely with other areas of expertise such as Data Science, Human-Machine Teaming, and Intelligent Autonomous Systems. Our collaborations extend well beyond TNO.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence is our largest client, with projects across all its branches (Air Force, including space, Navy, Army, and Marechaussee). In the security domain, we collaborate with nearly all national organizations and several international institutions. These include the National Police, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI), FRONTEX and European border guards, Europol and other European law enforcement agencies, as well as NATO, EDA, and DARPA.

We also partner with numerous Dutch and international universities, public institutions (such as the Department of Waterways and Public Works and NLR), and commercial entities, including manufacturers of optical equipment, industrial robotics partners, and major international defence companies.

Together with universities, we conduct research on topics such as vision-language/foundation AI models, drone technology, zero-shot/few-shot/frugal learning, and multi-domain/multi-modal data fusion. We maintain a strong scientific presence through publications and active participation in (inter)national conferences.