Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!jhunix!ins_atge
From: ins_atge@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Thomas G Edwards)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.neural-nets
Subject: Re: Networks for pattern recognition problems?
Summary: IR CCD's are worse
Message-ID: <5899@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU>
Date: 23 Jul 90 01:37:56 GMT
References: <8462@ur-cc.UUCP> <5874@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <2809@mrsvr.UUCP> <5309@milton.u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: ins_atge@jhunix.UUCP (Thomas G Edwards)
Organization: The Johns Hopkins University - HCF
Lines: 34

In article <5309@milton.u.washington.edu> forbis@milton.u.washington.edu (Gary Forbis) writes:
>In article <2809@mrsvr.UUCP> scott@isles.UUCP (Scott Otterson  x5117	) writes:
>Carver Mead gave a lecture at the UW this spring.  He was touting a switch
>to analog devices for computing.  He showed pictures of images generated by
>a retina simulator.  Over time it corrected for flaws in manufacturing and
>defects on the lens.  One interesting side effect was the device produced
>after images.

Carver Mead discusses a silicon retina model in his book,
which I believe is entitled "Anlog VLSI and Neural Models."
Something similar has also appeared in the journal _Neural Networks_
(Pergammon Press).

At the Naval Research Lab, there is work using a Connection Machine
to do a software retina model for infrared focal plane arrays.
They have truly nasty problems with photo-element matching, and
almost every element has a slightly different calibration.
The raw images from these things are messy to the point of being
almost useless.  With a few iterations of a neural model
which adjusts the calibration parameters of each element to average
local neighborhoods, the image clears up quite nicely.
Afterimages and things similar to "Mach Bands" do tend to show up
also, as in the human eye.

We have already learned alot about how to use retinal neural processing
to aid our image processing.  I feel as we move up the visual pathway,
we will find more interesting processing which will be of use.  
I am currently involved in research dealing with target tracking by
neural means which involve using neural elements to develop maximum
likelyhood paths to implement "inertia" constraints (similar to
another recent article in _Neural Networks_ which dealt with 
visual motion processing.

-Thomas Edwards