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To many, pattern recognition training must start with the measuring system. Composition comprises a triplet of
childhood study of bedroom wallpaper and the analogy is technical problems, placement, occlusion/superposition and
not lost as we witness increasingly abstract designs in later interaction. Placement is the searching for the object/event
years. Even if our knowledge of the underlying pattern- against a noisy background and is loosely allied to
generation process is limited or absent, the strong visual segmentation - the attempt to recognize homogeneous
impact and the innate need to find order within seeming regions within the field. Occlusion/superposition is the
disorder provides a powerful incentive towards analysing the covering of one object/event by another or by part of itself,
structure using the most powerful tools we have, the human e.g. mutual interference of seismic reflections. Interaction
eye-brain system. Having found regularity, we may be relates to the mutual modification of neighbouring
tempted to bestow values approaching philatelic proportions events/objects.
on any defects or irregularities. A successful application of pattern analysis methods may
Thus my interest was aroused on noting 'pattern lead to a classification of objects/events/processes but
recognition' in the book's title, although later to be certainly to improved representation for human consump-
somewhat dimmed as 1 argue below. But first, I think it tion, in that all redundancies are stripped away. Figure 1.1.
important to outline my interpretation of pattern analysis as may be taken as a projection onto two-dimensional paper
it may influence geological and related studies, and to assist of a four-dimensional pattern space in which the position of
I start with the' abstract design', Figure 1.1, which might be each point isfixedaccording to the four features that have
an x—y plot of anybody's data. By way of a guide, I might been measured on each specimen/individual at some
take an admirable introduction: A Profile of Pattern place/time. The projection is chosen so as to maximize the
Analysis, prepared by the British Pattern Recognition representation of the diversity of the sample, but despite this
Association for the Science and Engineering Research we are presented with the initial problem that in our haste
Council (Report number RL-83-086, September 1983). to make the data readily available to our eye-brain
Pattern analysis is defined as a field that includes pattern complexes, we have to restrict the dimensionality of
the analysis and thereby introduce artificial occlusions/
recognition, image processing, computer vision, waveform
superpositions.
analysis and speech understanding. Its unified study is
If we take the position of each point in four-dimensional
spurred by increasing automation in data-generating activity
pattern space as defining an individual pattern, then we may
which in our field might include X-ray fluorescence and
be justified in supposing that similar patterns will tend to
diffraction analyses, satellite and airborne remote sensing,
cluster together, yet retain some variability due to natural
geophysical exploration, natural seismicity, hydrogeological dispersion. Of course, this pre-supposes that we have given
and geothermal evaluations and so on. Pattern analysis careful consideration to the metric by which we locate points
methods aim to extract information about objects/ entities/ in pattern space in the first place, since we are not limited
processes/events from patterns arising from their images/ to conventional ruler-like scales of measurement. Clustering
imprints/histories. The information might include classifica- ilgorithms are numerous: one has been used in the
tion and enumeration of objects/entities, relative and Tour-dimensional space of the example to generate Figure 1.2
absolute location and orientation of objects (in whatever from the data represented in Figure 1.1. Depending now on
frame of reference: geographical, petrogenetic, etc.) and intuition, supported statistically, we may distinguish four or
measurement of objects. If time-dependent data are five groupings in pattern space - a tolerable segmentation
included, then pattern-analysis methods may yield descrip- has been achieved. In some applications the analysis might
tions of object spaces (e.g. sedimentation basins), identi- end here, wanting further information on the structure/
fication of processes, prediction of future paths and context/syntax of the sampled population. However, our
tendencies. The temporal/spatial/spectral dimensionality of sample is of reflectances in four spectral bands obtained by
problems should not be considered restricted in pattern satellite over the Solway Firth, southwest Scotland, so we
analysis studies, so problems should range from, for may add information from a geographical reference frame
example, a one-dimensional trace of a property atfixedtime, by presenting a map-like image, as in Figure 1.3. In this
through to a multicomponent chemical/colour study of simple example, the reference frame is known, but it could
water masses over extended time. be an objective of pattern analysis methods to learn
There exist, of course, technical problems. By analogy something of the structure of an unknown frame. Thus the
with attempted radio reception, random variation (noise) in sample data of Figures 1.1-1.3 were taken at regular (fixed)
the sampled measurement (signal) is ubiquitous. Likewise, intervals over the ground. Figure 1.4, on the other hand, is
deformations introduced by non-linearities in the recording/