Foveal machine vision systems

A class of machine vision systems is proposed, called foveal vision systems. These systems, modeled after advanced biological vision, feature space-variant (variable-resolution) imager topologies and a closed-loop system architecture. The imager topology is characterized by resolution which is high at the center of the sampling lattice and which decreases with distance from the center. The central axis is controlled by feedback from higher-level algorithms, allowing the allocation of sampling resources to the region(s) of interest and resulting in greater relevant information from the imager yet permitting considerable reduction in data. Preliminary investigations have demonstrated reductions in data structure size and computations of several orders of magnitude relative to conventional implementations. The savings factors increase with field-of-view and resolution