Multivariate Interactive Digital Analysis System (MIDAS): A New Fast Multispectral Recognition System

As a consequence of the quantity and rate of acquiring multispectral data, fast and inexpensive processing is required before practical use may be made of this technique. The speed of this machine is such that an ERTS frame could be processed in forty seconds if the proper tapes were available. Such speeds now make the man operating the system the major limiting factor in performance and requires an experimental matching of the machine to the operator. The system is a prototype, multiple-pipeline digital processor mechanizing the multivariate-Gaussian, maximum-likelihood decision algorithm operating at 2 x 10(5) pixels/second. It incorporates displays and film printer equipment under control of a general purpose midi-computer and possesses sufficient flexibility that operational versions of the equipment may be subsequently specified as subsets of the system