Our computer vision development for Seattle builds robust visual intelligence systems that handle real-world conditions — including the Pacific Northwest's challenging weather and lighting.
Phase 1 — Data and Model Strategy (2-4 weeks): defining the CV approach: data assessment (evaluating available training data — quantity, quality, diversity, and annotation status — for Seattle CV: data assessment includes evaluating whether existing imagery captures the full range of Pacific Northwest conditions — different seasons, weather conditions, lighting angles, and camera perspectives — a model trained only on clear-weather imagery will fail in Seattle's frequent rain and fog), model architecture selection (choosing the right CV approach — object detection (YOLO, Faster R-CNN) for identifying and localizing specific objects, semantic segmentation (U-Net, DeepLab) for pixel-level classification (forestry mapping, land use analysis), instance segmentation (Mask R-CNN) for identifying individual objects within classes (counting individual trees in a forest canopy), and classification (ResNet, EfficientNet) for categorizing images or image regions — for Seattle: model architecture must balance accuracy with inference speed — real-time applications (warehouse inspection, autonomous systems) require models that run at 30+ FPS while batch processing applications (satellite imagery analysis) can use larger, more accurate models), and edge vs.
cloud deployment (determining where CV inference runs — edge (on cameras, drones, or local servers) for low-latency requirements and offline operation, cloud (on GPU instances) for batch processing and heavy computation, or hybrid (edge for real-time detection with cloud for detailed analysis) — for Seattle: forestry and drone applications often require edge deployment because cellular connectivity in Pacific Northwest forests is unreliable — the CV system must operate autonomously without cloud connectivity)).
Phase 2 — Model Development (4-8 weeks): building and training the computer vision models: data preparation (collecting, cleaning, and annotating training data — for forestry: annotating satellite and aerial imagery with tree species, health status, and disturbance areas — for warehouse: annotating product images across the client's product catalog — for autonomous systems: annotating driving scenes with objects, lanes, and drivable areas — annotation quality directly determines model accuracy, so we invest heavily in annotation guidelines, quality assurance, and annotator training), model training (training CV models using transfer learning from pre-trained foundations (ImageNet, COCO) fine-tuned on domain-specific data — for Seattle CV: training includes data augmentation that simulates Pacific Northwest conditions — rain overlay, fog simulation, low-light adjustment, and sun glare — ensuring the model is robust to the conditions it will encounter in production), model optimization (optimizing models for deployment — pruning (removing unnecessary model parameters), quantization (reducing precision from FP32 to INT8 for faster inference), and architecture search (finding the smallest model that meets accuracy requirements) — for Seattle: model optimization is critical for edge deployment on drones and cameras where compute resources are limited), and validation (rigorous model validation — holdout test sets that represent real-world conditions, cross-validation to verify model generalization, and failure mode analysis (systematically identifying the conditions under which the model fails) — for Seattle CV: validation includes testing under adverse conditions — rain, fog, low light, snow — to verify that the model maintains acceptable accuracy when conditions deteriorate)).
Phase 3 — Deployment and Operations (2-4 weeks, then ongoing): deploying CV systems and maintaining accuracy over time: deployment (deploying CV models to target infrastructure — edge devices (NVIDIA Jetson for camera-based systems, Intel OpenVINO for drone systems), cloud (SageMaker endpoints for batch processing, Lambda for event-triggered inference), or hybrid architectures — for Seattle: deployment includes installing weather-hardened camera and compute hardware for outdoor applications), integration (connecting CV outputs to business systems — warehouse management systems (inventory counts, pick verification results), GIS platforms (forestry mapping data), alerting systems (wildfire detection alerts), and dashboards (real-time visual analytics) — for Seattle: integration includes defining alert thresholds and escalation procedures for safety-critical applications like wildfire detection), and model monitoring (tracking model performance in production — accuracy drift (detecting when model accuracy degrades due to changing conditions), data drift (detecting when input data distribution changes — seasonal changes in forestry, new products in warehouse), and retraining triggers (automatically flagging when model performance drops below thresholds, triggering retraining with updated data) — for Seattle: model monitoring is critical because Pacific Northwest seasons dramatically change visual conditions — a model validated in summer may degrade in winter without retraining)).