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Rome Laboratory has designed and implemented a neural network based automatic target recognition (ATR) system under contract F30602-89-C-0079 with Booz, Allen & Hamilton (BAH), Inc., of Arlington, Virginia. The system utilizes a combination of neural network paradigms and conventional image processing techniques in a parallel environment on the IE- 2000 SUN 4 workstation at Rome Laboratory. The IE-2000 workstation was designed to assist the Air Force and Department of Defense to derive the needs for image exploitation and image exploitation support for the late 1990s - year 2000 time frame. The IE-2000 consists of a developmental testbed and an applications testbed, both with the goal of solving real world problems on real-world facilities for image exploitation. To fully exploit the parallel nature of neural networks, 18 Inmos T800 transputers were utilized, in an attempt to provide a near- linear speed-up for each subsystem component implemented on them. The initial design contained three well-known neural network paradigms, each modified by BAH to some extent: the Selective Attention Neocognitron (SAN), the Binary Contour System/Feature Contour System (BCS/FCS), and Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 (ART-2), and one neural network designed by BAH called the Image Variance Exploitation Network (IVEN). Through rapid prototyping, the initial system evolved into a completely different final design, called the Neural Network Image Exploitation System (NNIES), where the final system consists of two basic components: the Double Variance (DV) layer and the Multiple Object Detection And Location System (MODALS). A rapid prototyping neural network CAD Tool, designed by Booz, Allen & Hamilton, was used to rapidly build and emulate the neural network paradigms. Evaluation of the completed ATR system included probability of detections and probability of false alarms among other measures.
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