HIGH-SPEED IMAGE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

DIFFRACTION-PATTERN ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES CAN DRASTICALLY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION TO BE PROCESSED BY AN AUTOMATIC IMAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM. THIS DATA REDUCTION PERMITS PROCESSING RATES THAT ARE FREQUENTLY MILLIONS OF TIMES FASTER THAN POSSIBLE WITH IMAGE DIGITZING SYSTEMS. IT ALSO PERMITS SIMPLIFIED, ELAPSED TIME STUDIES OF THE SAME AREA BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF BITS REQUIRED TO CHARACTERIZE A SAMPLE. THE DIFFRACTION PATTERN IS FORMED BY A SIMPLE LASER-LENS COMBINATION AND IS A MEASURE OF THE FREQUENCY CONTENT OF AN IMAGE. IT PROVIDES DIRECT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHARPNESS OF EDGES OR SIZE OF OBJECTS IN THE IMAGE. AUTOMATIC DECISIONS CAN BE MADE AT THE RATE OF 100 TO 10000 PER SECOND. CURRENT APPLICATIONS INCLUDE IMAGE-QUALITY ASSESSMENT, TRANSFER-FUNCTION ANALYSIS, AND TERRAIN CLASSIFICATION.