This paper analyzes the modern status of studies in the area of automa
tic image processing using artificial neural networks (NNs). A descrip
tion is given of the achievements of the authors in constructing a hie
rarchical system for analyzing images, each of the levels of which is
implemented by an NN with an architecture corresponding to the problem
s to be solved on it. (C) 1997 The Optical Society of America.