Program Manager: Gill Pratt, Ph.D.
Biological vision systems have the exquisite ability to recognize, categorize, and learn new objects in fractions of a second. While animals and humans accomplish this seemingly effortlessly and constantly, computational vision systems have, to date, been unable to replicate this feat of biology. Until recently, the reason that this translation between biology and computation has not occurred is the lack of quantitative data elucidating the mechanisms for visual scene processing in the brain. The visual neuroscience literature is rich with description, but lacks testable, model-based understanding of the precise transformations that occur throughout the visual pathways.
The Neovision2 program will develop an unattended, standalone system that can recognize relevant military objects in a wide range of ambient and environmental conditions through the fusion of neuroscience and engineering. Integration of recent developments in the understanding of the mammalian visual pathway with advances in microelectronics will lead to the production of new revolutionary capabilities from the ground to the sky that will provide a new level of situational awareness for the warfighter. |
