A modern IT company is much more than a team of developers, QAs, managers, and business analysts. It’s a real lab for all types of experiments.
Softengi R&D lab is the place to conduct all sorts of experiments with top-notch technologies and unexpectedly effective solutions. Led by the experienced solution architect, Softengi’s Research & Development department creates unique products and solutions and expands the scope of expertise at the same time.
What is our R&D team currently working on? There are 3 active projects we would like to tell you more about.
Mobile/Web Application “Uber for Medical Services”
“Uber for medical services” is the best manifestation of the concept of an on-demand economy for the healthcare sphere. You’ve definitely heard about this concept: an on-demand economy presupposes that sharing goods and services is much more comfortable and cost-effective than buying them and owning them.
Mass “uberization” is what businessmen call it, and this principle can be applied even to the system of healthcare services. How to make an app like Uber? Our team decided to explore this concept and created the prototype of Uber for medical services – a database of medical specialists who can consult patients on demand via a user-friendly mobile app. Isn’t it smart and comfortable? We all need professional consulting from time to time, and the degree of its quality depends on access to the level of education and experience of medical specialists.
Using these mobile applications, patients can have the best opinion of qualified medical providers in any comfortable way: via video, audio, or chat. It looks as simple and nice as the original Uber app: a user can find the required specialist, a psychologist, a pediatrician, or a general practitioner within just several clicks and contact him immediately. Сomfort provided thanks to technologies.
The prototype of the mobile app was created on the basis of web RTC, React Native, and React Nod.js.
How to make an app like Uber? Ask our R&D department. They know how to build, test, and launch an intuitive mobile/web application for the most demanding users. Who knows, maybe soon, people will stop asking for diagnoses on Google because Uber for medical services will finally give people what they actually need – access to the professional opinion of medical experts.
Live Video Streaming App for Sports Events Streaming – MVP Cast
Another project we’ve been working on tirelessly for the last half a year is a video streaming platform for sports events. All those involved into professional sport know how difficult it is to create classy videos of the best sports moments or just to shoot video clips for further analysis.
Video shooting of sports events required expensive professional equipment earlier, and there was a need to process the video by overlaying ads, scores, and statistics on the special servers. Today everything is different. Powerful smartphones and access to 5G made it possible to create a live video streaming app that could satisfy even the most demanding sportsmen.
This video streaming solution called MVP Cast doesn’t only allow streaming online video and overlay all necessary info online. It also can be shared between several parties without losing the quality of streaming. This application can work exceptionally well for parents who can share videos and comment on them jointly.
Technologies used for this system include React Native, Wowza Streaming & Spring Boot.
Special Features of MVP Cast Live Video Streaming App
Softengi team has managed to solve one of the most irritating problems in live video stream development – stream loss because of poor Internet connection. Failover system improvement so that users don’t lose the video. The Internet connection was a critical solution to the problem of poor Internet connection. It includes bufferization and offline preservation.
Another bright feature of this live video streaming app is the remote control of the video. One device becomes a master device, and the other serves as a camera. So several independent users can enjoy the streaming.
To store the data, we used one of the most popular and effective cloud-storing services – Amazon. It is one of the safest cloud services for development, which clients choose. As for the protocol for video transfer, we used RTMP and HLS.
Yet there are even more ways to improve this video:
- We are planning to use AR/VR to overlay 3D information over the video to make it even more engaging and fun looking for clients, and kids in particular;
- There is a possibility to use radars that allow measuring the speed of players and play moments – balls speed) for coaches. We are working on improving the reading of the players’ movements with the further implementation of AI.
Drones Powered with Computer Vision
First of all, a few words about the UAV, which we are improving with the help of Computer Vision technology. Observer-S or Def C is an unmanned aerial vehicle of the aircraft type (monoplane) with a puller propeller that belongs to a class of tactical UAVs. It was created for the military and logistics sectors, which is why it has a powerful drive – a brushless synchronous motor. The power of the motor and of the onboard equipment is secured by high-capacity lithium-polymer batteries (16 A/h). The flying range of this UAV is up to 200 km, and its flight time is up to 300 minutes.
What are we working on with this UAV? The Softengi team is implementing computer vision technology to make this UAV even more efficient. Upgraded with the software for target detection, tracking, & recognition, drones will be more useful for multiple purposes, such as cargo escorting. This is just one of the applications of drones powered by computer vision. They can be applied in agriculture for monitoring diseases or for inspecting plants.
This software for target detection, tracking & recognition system for Def C has one indisputable advantage: it is created for onboard computer plates that are installed on the drones, which allow processing the video even without the signal from the base. So the operator will be able to choose the object for tracking on the dashboard once and follow it non-stop afterward.
The prototype was created with C++ and Python based on the Open CV library.
Our Research & Development department is working to improve our existing apps and power them with top-notch technologies making them faster, more effective, and more competitive in the market. R&D outsourcing can be a cost-effective solution for many companies that want to expand the scope of their expertise.
