Efficient Compact Bio-inspired Sensory Information Processing

"We propose to evaluate the space-time characteristics of biological feature detectors found in the mammalian retina and use these mechanisms as the basis for generating algorithmic feature detectors implemented in image processing devices. Bothconventional digital hardware and cellular nonlinear networks, a massively parallel analog array processor with architecture much like the vertebrate retina, will be considered for implementation.The mammalian retina forms about a dozen different images representing feature sets derived from input stimuli and embodied in a set of stacked strata that span the depth of the inner plexiform layer. These representations are carried intact to highervisual centers by different populations of optic nerve fibers and comprise the complete set of abstracted images that we use to perceive the world, and as such represent a rich feature space for vision. These features are then integrated through higherbrain function to generate more comprehensive recognition capabilities.We intend to develop image processing systems that will generate the same set of images that are formed by the natural retina on combine them to achieve robust detection, discrimination, and recognition functions. We hope to learn why nature developedthis representation and will use it to create feature detection and filtering systems with enhanced capabilities and compact implementation. The proposed research and development effort aims to enhance current capabilities in sensory information processing applications such as targeting, visual tracking, or night vision. At the same time, results from this effort are expected to enhance ourunderstanding of biological vision and also to provide modeling and experimental tools for further studies.Applications of Navy interest addressed by the proposed effort include image restoration and enhancement, real-time image analysis, target detection and tracking, automatic target recognition, and image compression. New or enhanced military products thatmay result from this effort include vision systems