A novel feature selection methodology for automated inspection systems.

This paper proposes a new feature selection methodology. The methodology is based on the stepwise variable selection procedure, but, instead of using the traditional discriminant metrics such as Wilks' Lambda, it uses an estimation of the misclassification error as the figure of merit to evaluate the introduction of new features. The expected misclassification error rate (MER) is obtained by using the densities of a constructed function of random variables, which is the stochastic representation of the conditional distribution of the quadratic discriminant function estimate.