Application of the PIPE Image Processing Machine to Scanning Microscopy

PIPE i s a pipelid image processing device that was designed for real-time robot vision appl i cat i ons. I t accepts images from a video camera 60 times per second. and contains hardwarr for digitizing. displaying, and performing optrations on thcse images at video rates. Each stage of the pipeline contai ns arithmetic and logic uni ts, convolvers, image buffers, md look-up tables. The purpose of this p a p is to introduce PIPE md some of i t s applications to the scanning microscapy Thc first i s acre0 analysis. whose purpose is to automatically extract range from two c~merasmounted side by side. The second application i s motion analysis and eacling. This application involves detecting motion, measuring i t s velocity. using i t D obtain three-dimensional information, and tracking it through time. The hnal application is inspection of two-dimensional paaerns. community. Thne kinds of applications arc descri bed.