abstract = "The objective force will be relying heavily on their
sensors to be a combat multiplier to help improve the
force's effectiveness and survivability, particularly
for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target
acquisition missions. Currently, fielded passive sensor
systems are generally ineffective against camouflage,
concealment, and deception. Their performance is also
sensitive to environmental conditions. To meet future
needs, several new sensor systems are being developed
and evaluated. Two of these new sensors are passive
systems that collect additional, measurable
characteristics of light: hyperspectral (HS) systems
and spectro-polarimetric (SP) systems. To fully take
advantage of the information that these systems collect
requires new algorithms and techniques. This report
discusses why new techniques are necessary and details
the development of a computer-assisted design system
for the discovery of classification algorithms via a
small number of sample target and background
signatures. The technique is called genetic programming
(GP). GP is an adaptive learning technique that
automatically generates a computer program (in this
work, a mathematical equation) to solve the problem it
is given.
This report documents work conducted primarily between
September 1999 and August 2000, while the author was on
a rotation at the University of Michigan under the
Federated Laboratories Consortium program. The report
demonstrates that GP could be a useful technique for
processing HS and SP data. The experiments reported
here show that by using even the simplest of operators
(addition, subtraction, multiplication and division)
the GP process can develop interesting and potentially
useful solution equations. The results shown here are
encouraging. However, many questions remain to be
answered.",