Anyone can use the image compression algorithm 'ICER' that NASA made to withstand losses that occur in space-scale communication etc.

NASA is developing an image compression algorithm ' ICER ' optimized for high data loss situations such as 'wireless image transfer from space to earth'. The implementation of such ICER as a C language library is released for free on GitHub.

GitHub - TheRealOrange/icer_compression: Progressive, error tolerant, wavelet-based image compression algorithm

https://github.com/TheRealOrange/icer_compression

NASA sends image data of the local situation to the earth in missions such as Mars exploration. When sending data to different places, data loss occurs even in communication on the earth, but data loss is very large in space-scale communication such as Earth and Mars. . ICER is an image compression algorithm developed to allow image data to be transferred even in situations where data loss is large, such as interplanetary communication. I will give it to you.

What was released this time is ICER implemented as a library for C language by TheRealOrange . The source code of the library is released under the GPLv3 license , and anyone can download, build and run it for free.

An example of actually converting an image with ICER is as follows. First of all, the original image before change looks like this. You can check the raw data on GitHub by clicking the image.

And the image after conversion is below. We were able to increase data loss resistance with almost no change in the appearance of the image.

The conversion result when the data loss resistance is further strengthened is as follows. Although the image quality is visibly degraded, the data loss resistance is very strong.

ICER was actually used in the Mars probe 'Mars Exploration Rover (MER)'. The ICER algorithm commentary paper written by NASA can be read from the following link. However, although the paper could be viewed until April 1, 2023, the certificate on the paper publication page (ipnpr.jpl.nasa.gov) expired on April 2, 2023, and at the time of writing the article If you want to check the article, please wait a while and then re-access.

ICER
(PDF link) https://ipnpr.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report/42-155/155J.pdf