遗传算法是一种基于生物自然选择与遗传机理的随机搜索与优化方法。近年来,由于遗传算法求解复杂优化问题的巨大潜力及其在工业工程领域的成功应用,这种算法受到了国内外学者的广泛关注。本文介绍了遗传算法的基本理论,描述了它的主要特点和基本性质;重点综述了遗传算法在数字图像处理中的主要应用,特别是在图像分割和边缘检测、图像压缩、图像恢复、图像匹配、图像增强以及图像重建等方面的作用;探讨了目前遗传算法在图像处理领域中存在的问题及其在今后的发展方向。

Genetic algorithm(GA) is a random search and optimization method based on natural selection and genetic mechanism of the living beings.In recent years,GA is used successfully in solving the complex optimization and the industrial engineering problems.Therefore,the research on GA has attracted a lot of attention.This paper discusses and surveys the status and advances in GA research.The basic algorithms,theory,implementation techniques of GA are outlined first.Then many applications of GA in image processing field are reviewed,such as image segmentation and edge detection,image compression,image restoration,image matching,image enhancement,and image reconstruction.At last,several key problems in this field are discussed as well as their development in the future.