The Relax Image Relaxation System: Description and Evaluation

Abstract

The primary purpose of the Image Understanding (IU) Testbed is to provide a means for transferring technology from the DARPA-sponsored IU research program to DMA and other organizations in the defense community. The approach taken to achieve this purpose has two components:

• The establishment of a uniform environment that will be as compatible as possible with the environments of research centers at universities participating in the IU program. Thus, organizations obtaining copies of the Testbed can receive a flow of new results derived from ongoing research.
• The acquisition, integration, testing, and evaluation of selected scene analysis techniques that represent mature examples of generic areas of research activity. These contributions from participants in the IU program will allow organizations with Testbed copies to immediately begin investigating potential applications of IU technology to problems in automated cartography and other areas of scene analysis. The IU Testbed project was carried out under DARPA Contract No. MDA903-79-C-0588. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the United States government. This report describes the RELAX relaxation package contributed by the University of Maryland and presents an evaluation of its characteristics and features.