Optical programmable cellular logic array for image processing

An optical parallel architecture is suggested to implement a basic programmable cellular logic array for image processing. Interconnection of the neighboring cells is achieved by using an optical correlator. The required parallel logic gates are executed with spatial coding and electronic thresholding methods. Another optical correlator is used to spatially code the outputs from the 2-bit decoder array of shadowgrams. The optical method for the directional interconnection is also discussed. An image processing example is simulated and verified experimentally.