Welcome to the
Image Science & Machine Vision Group

Image Science and Machine Vision (ISMV) is a research and development (R&D) group in the Measurement Science and Systems Engineering (MSSE) Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The group consists of twelve full-time researchers with Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering backgrounds plus university students, faculty, and industry partners. We conduct applied computer vision research and development addressing important issues of industrial and economic competitiveness, biomedical measurement science, and national security.

Electronic imagery is an integral component of information technology systems today. Information to be collected and analyzed from images can include metrology or photogrammetry, the automatic identification of complex structures, analysis of features and material characteristics at biological or atomic scales, and the tracking and recognition of human faces and gestures in motion video. The science of imaging is associated with theory, sensors, instruments, and multi-dimensional signal-processing methods required to capture, construct (or reconstruct), filter, transmit, measure, manage or otherwise interpret information inherent in image data.

Our research encompasses image processing methods that include:

• sensors and optics,
• modeling, synthesis, and processing,
• image-based metrology,
• feature analysis and pattern recognition,
• real-time imaging,
• computer visualization,
• image management and retrieval, and,
• system integration.

Our group was established in 1987 to conduct pure and applied research to develop technologies that provide human-like decision making capabilities for computers and robots. These methods and systems perform image-based metrology, scene analysis and comprehension, and archival image indexing and management. Today we form one of 18 R&D groups in the Engineering Science & Technology Division at ORNL. We support three R&D programs in biomedical imaging, industrial inspection and metrology, and national security. For more details regarding our research areas and technologies, visit our Research, Publications, and Patents/Inventions pages.

Please feel free to use the navigation provided at this site to explore the research and developmentactivities that are currently ongoing here at ORNL.