Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!rutgers!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!hoss!typhoon!willdye From: willdye@typhoon.unl.edu Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Pigeon obliteration Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 19:48:38 GMT References: <1991Mar29.112612.40949@eagle.wesleyan.edu> Sender: news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln Lines: 39 nhaus@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes: > The Navy has a system, called Phalanx, which is capable of locating a target >out of blue sky (not too hard via radar) and pointing its gatling gun in the >appropriate direction to turn it to swiss cheese. There are a couple of >interesting points about this one: > 1. It won't go after birds. Actually, it DOES, it just isn't supposed to. Tuning the radar to avoid false signals (like flocks of birds), yet still see legitimate targets is still a problem. That's why there were so many false Patriot firings during Desert Sheild/Storm, yet very few million- dollar misfirings in calm peacetime. When things are calm, the operators keep the signal-to-noise threshold high, to keep from shooting at errant meteorites and such. In wartime (and pre-war), they lower the threshold. This lets few legit targets get by, but unfortunately means you waste a few shots on false signals. By the way, I don't know if these systems used AI techniques or not, but I'd like to point out: 1. What was called AI yesterday is often called engineering today. Remember when it was said that a good chess-playing computer would be 'intelligent'? 2. Techniques called 'AI' today will still be useful for target identification. Fighting signal-to-noise ratios involves having the computer 'know' what is wanted (signal) and what is not wanted (noise) by 'understanding' the overall scene. I agree that today's targeting systems are not AI, but my guess is that learning to track targets using AI techniques will still be worthwhile, since an AI-based architecture may be more extensible than a (relatively) simple "hit the biggest hot spot" system, which is what we have today. willdye disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about. UNL knows it. I know it. By now even YOU know it.