Smart sensor technology for air vehicles

This paper describes an approach that will enable high speed processing of images to locate and track objects within the scene. Using a preprocessing chip directly attached to the detector array, the nearest neighbors of each element in the array can be analyzed in order to locate edges within the frame. These edges can be used to define objects. Because information about the object is all that is handed off to the main processor, both the data throughput and processing requirements are greatly reduced. This paper will discuss the basic program, modeling, preliminary chip design as well as the future plans for a 512 X 512 pixel preprocessor device that can operate at framing rates in excess of 1000 frames per second.