Intelligent Reasoning Systems (IRS) is developing an integrated active vision system (AVS) based on design principles derived from experimental analysis of mammalian visual systems. The AVS design is based on a asynchronous analog encoding of location and motion data, and a custom VLSI Hybrid Temporal Processing Element (HTPE) developed by and available solely to IRS (patent pending). The HTPE can operate on analog data at frequencies in excess of 100 MHz, allowing rapid oversampling methods to be used for resolution enhancement, motion detection, and multiple-template matching. HTPEs have low device count and power dissipation, and can be fabricated in small layout areas. The AVS is intended for eventual on-board application in robots, intelligent machine tools, and other autonomous sensory-motor systems that require visible, IR, or similar input. The initial step in visual processing is the collection of data from the primary sensor. The goal of this Phase I proposal is to evaluate the feasibility of a silicon retina for the AVS based on the HTPE, and to investigate various methods for achieving sub-pixel resolution and enhanced motion sensitivity with such a retina.
