It is said that a picture says a thousand words. What could take a writer ten pages to describe can be visualized in seconds using an image. The human brain has a nearly infinite capacity to analyze, interpret and assimilate an image into meaningful information for us, which we can relate to. From social engineering to marketing and from law enforcement to the military, image processing is essential in nearly every facet of our lives today.

Image Processing in Marketing:

Images determine our perception of products. Whether they appeal to us or not, whether we like the color combination and if we have seen those products before is extremely relevant data for marketing teams.

Marketers of products and services have, in recent years, realized just how important images are in attracting attention and conveying messages to buyers. A well-presented image has the power to affect potential customers’ emotions, introduce the positive features of a product and as a result, increase a business’ sales.

Marketing companies now understand that listening to the social media feeds of their customers is a powerful way to understand the product’s audience and their opinions and preferences.

However, this audience is increasingly using images to communicate online, which means there is a pressing need to incorporate image analysis into your social listening strategy to tap into the full conversation. Beyond seeing the big picture, image analysis can provide some interesting ways to one-up your next marketing gig.

To better understand the audience, marketers need to understand how artificial intelligence and machine learning can help analyze images shared on social media channels that feature their products or those of their competitors to see how consumers are using products and better market to those audiences.

As an example, if a celebrity shares a photo of himself or herself on Instagram with your product or brand but does not directly mention the brand in the post, you can use AI and image analysis to identify whether the brand’s logo was captured within the image.

Without image analysis and without a brand mention in the photo caption, the marketer would have missed the opportunity to engage this potential influencer as someone who could help promote the brand.

In a nutshell, using Image Processing and AI, marketing teams can:

• Get inspired by customers who use your products
• Track the images of your campaign across multiple channels
• Improve the selection and tracking of social media influencers
• Analyze customer behavior and social media trends
• See how marketing campaigns affect the images of your brand that are shared on social media

Image Processing in Defense:

Image processing is an extremely important field of research for the defense industry. Digital image processing has been widely utilized and deployed for defense and security applications such as minor target detection and tracking, missile and warhead guidance, vehicle navigation, wide area surveillance, remote sensing and automatic/aided target recognition.

The goal for an image processing approach in defense and security applications is to reduce the workload of human analysts in order to cope with the ever-increasing volume of image data that is being collated.

Another challenging goal for image processing researchers is to develop algorithms and approaches that will significantly aid the development of fully automated systems that are capable of decisions and actions based on all sensor inputs.

As optics, imaging sensors, and computing technology advances, image processing has become more increasingly used in various areas. Some areas of digital image processing applications include image enhancement for better human perception, image compression, and transmission and image representation for automatic machine perception.

High-definition electro-optic and IR sensors are funneling ever-more data into the battle space. How can soldiers at the war front get that information quickly enough to act on it in a timely manner is the problem that AI and machine learning are here to solve.

Unmanned aerial, undersea, and ground vehicles that are carrying electro-optics payloads and are quickly growing in number, are fulfilling intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) roles.

They are delivering streams of detailed imagery that often requires considerable processing to be deemed actionable intelligence—valuable data upon which decisions can be made and missions can be planned.

Imagery captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) requires rendering, stabilization, and enhancement prior to efficient viewing and analysis, for example.

Automation and artificial intelligence also play a role in effective image analysis, helping ensure human operators, often inundated with data, don’t overlook details.  AI can be gainfully employed to enhance future capabilities in Intelligent and autonomous unmanned systems.

With AI-enabled data analysis, information processing and intelligence analysis, Wargaming, simulation, and training can be bettered. AI provides a disproportionate advantage to the otherwise technologically disadvantaged enemy as a disruptive technique. 

It is evident that AI can be gainfully utilized to integrate C4ISR capabilities and works towards a deeper fusion of systems and sensors across all domains of warfare.

Computational military reasoning

The primary field of research for AI and ML in conjunction with image processing is the Computational military reasoning. This is a computer solving a human-level military problem and concentrates on tactical artificial intelligence or battlefield decisions.

Tactical AI-enabled installations analyze the images procured from the battlefield and act on that information by creating a set of coherent Course of Action or COA that exploit the weaknesses in the adversary’s position that were found during battlefield analysis. 

Autonomous and Unmanned Intelligent Weapon Systems

AI can be used in the development of Intelligent Weapons, including unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles, as well as defense robotics and cruise missiles that rely heavily on tactical image data. 

These weapon systems can utilize AI to automatically pursue, distinguish, and destroy tactical targets and often composed of image information collection and management systems and knowledgebase systems.

It is clear that Image processing, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning provide a distinct advantage to nearly every walk of life. With AI helping defense establishments gain valuable insights toward national security, image processing becomes an indispensable part of such installations and systems.

In the marketing domain, the world is much more complex.  With the staggering amount of data available on the internet today and the very nature of visual apps that are so popular amongst millennials, it is imperative that image processing is at the heart of the marketing research team to ensure that the right product is pitched to the right customer at the right time.