[comp.doc.techreports] tr-input/tulane.ee

leff@smu.UUCP (Laurence Leff) (05/31/88)

Below is a listing of Spring 1988 technical reports from
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tulane University.

Each paragraph lists:
author(s), title of paper, technical report number 88-xxx,
date, and finally the abstract.  Technical reports are free.
If you would like a copy, you can request them by writing to:

Lauren Oddo
Department of Electrical Engineering
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118-5674

Listing of reports:
===================

Ansari, A. and A. B. Martinez A Bayesian Approach to Optimal
Quantization for Distributed Detection  88-009    05-19-88  The
problem of optimal quantization by a network of distributed
sensors is considered.  It is shown that the quantization rule at
the sensors and the fusion rule at the central processor are
coupled.  To minimize the cost, a multidimensional search for the
parameters is needed.  Suboptimal systems are obtained for either
a fixed sensor performance or a given fusion rule.  Computational
complexity reduction is achieved for a restricted case of
identical quantization rule at each sensor.

Ansari, A. and A. B. Martinez Locally Optimum Quantization for
Distributed Detection    88-008    04-22-88  A distributed
network of sensors is considered where each sensor quantizes its
observation optimally.  It is shown that if the global decision
test statistic is obtained as the sum of the statistics of each
sensor, then the efficacy of the network is maximized by
maximizing the efficacy of each sensor.  The quantizer minimizing
the mean square error between the locally optimum nonlinearity
and the quantizer output can, therefore, be used at each sensor. 
The result is an extension of locally optimum quantization to the
multisensor case.

Barad, Herb    An Object-Oriented Prototype of a Pyramid
Architecture for Computer Vision    88-004   03-02-88  This paper
describes a working software prototype of a pyramid architecture
to investigate its use and effectiveness in computer vision.  The
results demonstrate that the pyramid architecture is an effective
architecture for a wide range of computer vision tasks.  An
object-oriented methodology for modeling the individual
processors and ports is used.  The method of modeling and
constructing the prototype is efficient and flexible.  The
prototype is used as a testbed for simulations of computer vision
tasks.  The segmentation results are presented.  Implications of
these results are discussed as well as the advantages of using
this method of modeling to examine alternative architectures.

Barad, Herb    Rapid Prototyping of Massively Parallel
Architectures  88-010    05-30-88  This paper describes a working
software prototype of a pyramid architecture, known as the SCOOP
pyramid.  The purpose of the prototype is to analyze the
effectiveness of the architecture for computer vision work.  The
SCOOP pyramid was built using Smalltalk.  Each functional element
of the entire architecture (i.e., processors, internal elements
of processors, ports connecting processors, etc.) was modeled
using different classes.  The SCOOP environment is flexible
enough to handle architectures of different topologies and those
created from different types of hardware (e.g. optical).  The
construction of a prototype encourages the fine-tuning of the
architecture design.  The prototype is used as a test bed for
simulations of computer vision tasks and the results of some of
these simulations are presented.  The SCOOP environment is a
paradigm in which one can rapidly prototype architectures of
arbitrary topology, complexity, and composition.  The pyramid
architecture is shown by simulation to be an effective
architecture for a wide range of computer vision tasks from low
level pixel-oriented operations to segmentation to high level
symbolic operations.  A description of the environment and
results of some benchmarks are presented.

Bruce, R. N., R. L. Drake, C. J. Sperry, and H. A. Thompson 
Nondestructive Inspection of Cable Stays by Electronic Means
     88-006 04-20-88 The research reported here concerns a technique for
nondestructive inspection of cable stays for a cable-stayed bridge at
Luling, Louisiana.  The method uses acoustic pulse transmission through
the steel cables.  The results of laboratory tests on stay samples and
on test cables are described.  These results establish the apparent
feasibility of the method.  Field measurements at the bridge are
described.  These measurements indicate that the cables tested are free
of major faults.  Certain difficulties have been encountered in field
tests.  These are described.  Recommendations are made to improve the
practicality and the applicability of the proposed method. 

Lee, M. S., B. S. Bourgeois, S. T. Hsieh, and A. B. Martinez
     A Laser Sensing Scheme for Detection of Underwater Acoustic
Signals   88-005    04-15-88  A technique has been developed to
detect underwater acoustic signals by utilizing the resultant
surface perturbations.  These perturbations result in an
amplitude modulation effect on a laser beam reflected by the
water surface.  A theory is proposed to explain this phenomenon. 
A detection system was developed based on this theory. 
Laboratory investigations were conducted to evaluate the
characteristics of the system.  Preliminary results are included
and indicate that detection is possible based on this technique.

Martinez, Andrew B., Richard T. Joy, Maria K. Kalcic, Greg
Terrie, and Stephen P. Haimbach    Adaptive Estimation of Water
Depth Using Multispectral Remote Sensing     88-007    04-22-88
     An adaptive procedure for the estimation of water depth from
passive multispectral scanner data is presented.  While many
authors have proposed nonadaptive, model-based estimators, most
are computationally intensive and require accurate estimates of
model parameters (directly or through regression) and bottom
classification.  By using an adaptive estimator based on the LMS
algorithm, computational overhead is greatly reduced.  Parameter
estimation is unnecessary due to the inherent robustness of the
algorithm to changes in ocean environment.  This results in
significant improvements in performance.  Examples are given
illustrating these points, and comparisons are made of methods
based on adaptive estimation and on regression.  Trade-offs
between rate or convergence and residual error are discussed.
-- 
Herb Barad	Electrical Engineering Dept., Tulane Univ.
INTERNET:	barad@tulane.edu
USENET:		barad@tulane.uucp