Spatial light modulator for texture classification

This paper describes a hybrid computer-optical processor devoted to the analysis of texture. Textures are displayed on a spatial light modulator and their power spectra are calculated optically by a Fourier optical technique. A video camera and a computer with a frame digitizer process the power spectra. We define a multidimensional feature space and associate each texture with a point in this feature space. After a training set, the system can distinguish several textures. This hybrid computer is a step toward real time texture classification because of the nearly instantaneous optical Fourier transformation.