A VLSI Neural Network for Color Constancy

A system for color correction has been designed, built, and tested suc(cid:173) cessfully; the essential components are three custom chips built using sub(cid:173) threshold analog CMOS VLSI. The system, based on Land's Retinex the(cid:173) ory of color constancy, produces colors similar in many respects to those produced by the visual system. Resistive grids implemented in analog VLSI perform the smoothing operation central to the algorithm at video rates. With the electronic system, the strengths and weaknesses of the algorithm are explored. Humans have the remarkable ability to perceive object colors as roughly constant even if the color of the illumination is varied widely.