Abstract: | An application of neural networks to the classification of photon-limited images is reported. A three-level feedforward network architecture is employed in which the input units of the network correspond to the pixels of a two-dimensional image. The network is trained in a minicomputer by the use of the backpropagation technique. The statistics of the network components are analyzed, resulting in a method by which the probability of correct classification of a given input image can be calculated. Photon-limited images of printed characters are obtained with a photon-counting camera and are classified. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. |