The research community is a network funded by FWO which includes the major Flemish university departments which are working in the domain of image processing: KUL, VUB, UA, IMEC, UG, LUC. The main goal of this network is the exchange of information between four domains of research (i.e. image processing, electronic/optical system design, computer architectures and communication) and different application domains (e.g. document processing, compression and analysis of satellite images, medical image processing, HDTV, videophony, ISDN image transmission, industrial visual inspection, robot vision, image generation ...). The combination of expertise in algorithmic design, system implementation and computer aided development environments, triggers a series of new perspectives. Theoretically promising concepts can be turned into working applications: e.g., segmented image compression (SIC), subband coding, image interpolation and image interpretation, multi-dimensional image compression (e.g. satellite and medical images), telemultimedia. Due to their complexity and the absence of dedicated system architectures, these techniques are rarely tested or applied in a user environment. The design of dedicated architectures cannot be independent of the application, and requires collaboration of specialized teams working on (i) development environments, (ii) system design and (iii) image processing. Image compression is highlighted as one of the important research topics within the FWO research community, because (i) a large but fragmented body of knowledge is already present in Belgium, (ii) it is based on a large variety of image processing techniques and (iii) many applications relying on image compression have a high economical, social and cultural importance in our current and future society. Information on the activities of the IPS network can be found on WWW: http://etro.vub.ac.be/IPS_community/info.html

Runtime: 1996 - 2000