VISTA: visual interpretation system for technical applications -architecture and use

The present state of the construction of a vision system for the fast interpretation of complicated industrial scenes is reported. The system is being built at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Process in Karlsruhe, West Germany. The scenes for which the system is intended are also presented. They form the basis for specifying the requirements for the system called VISTA. Its principal architecture as a bus-oriented multiprocessor system is discussed. Some special hardware modules of VISTA are described in more detail, and its basic software concept is introduced. As an application, detection and classification of defects that appear in automatic visual inspection of hard wood are reviewed. Using special modules for the iconic and the symbolic stage, VISTA is capable of real-time processing and evaluation of endless images, image sequences, images of various formats, and multisensorial data