Title :
A special-purpose computer for automatic target recognition
Author :
Napolitano, L.M., Jr. ; Andaleon, D.D. ; Berry, K.R. ; Bryson, P.R. ; Klapp, S.R. ; Leeper, J.E. ; Redinbo, G.R.
Author_Institution :
Sandia Nat. Lab., Livermore, CA, USA
Abstract :
A description is given of Starloc (Sandia target Location computer) a special-purpose computer designed for automatic target recognition. It is motivated by the lock-and-tumbler (LAT) filter algorithm, a generalized matched filter that can detect targets regardless of variations in their appearance. Starloc´s fault-tolerant structure of pipelined, parallel floating-point processors and memories efficiently performs two-dimensional correlation, the major computational kernel of the algorithm. The LAT filter algorithm correlates the input image with a set of ten to twenty filter kernels, each containing all of the information about the target and its variations, using a phase multiplexing scheme. Starloc implements the LAT algorithm correlations in the Fourier domain by transforming the image to the Fourier domain, performing pixel-by-pixel multiplication with a filter kernel represented in the domain, and then inverse-transforming the product. The last processing step is updating the target value for each pixel. Hot-standby processors and incorporating a comprehensive set of error checkers provide fault tolerance. A reduced-scale prototype has been constructed, and an advanced design using digital signal processors for increased speed is described
Keywords :
computerised picture processing; fault tolerant computing; pipeline processing; special purpose computers; Fourier domain; Sandia target Location computer; Starloc; automatic target recognition; computational kernel; digital signal processors; error checkers; fault-tolerant structure; generalized matched filter; input image; lock and tumbler filter algorithm; parallel floating-point processors; phase multiplexing; pipelined processors; special-purpose computer; two-dimensional correlation; Concurrent computing; Fault tolerance; Information filtering; Information filters; Kernel; Matched filters; Pixel; Prototypes; Signal processing algorithms; Target recognition;
Conference_Titel :
Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1989. ICASSP-89., 1989 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Glasgow
DOI :
10.1109/ICASSP.1989.266741