A morphological gradient approach to color edge detection.

A new color edge detector based on vector differences is proposed. The basic technique gives as its output the maximum distance between the vectors within a mask. When applied to scalar-valued images, the method reduces to the classic morphological gradient. The technique is relatively computationally efficient and can also be readily applied to other vector-valued images. To improve the performance in the presence of noise, a novel pairwise outlier rejection scheme is employed. A quantitative evaluation using Pratt's figure of merit shows the new technique to outperform other recently proposed color edge detectors. In addition, application to real images demonstrates the approach to be highly effective despite its low complexity.     

Inner products and orthogonality in color recording filter design

We formalize ideas of orthogonality and inner products implicit in the development of a number of figures of merit (FOM) of color recording filters. We show that, in negligible measurement noise, the data dependence of each FOM based on linear color correction is equivalent to a choice of inner product (and hence of orthogonality). Further, we show that optimal sensors with respect to noise sensitivity are simply defined as orthogonal with respect to this inner product. We also develop the idea of a generalized Q-factor by generalizing the Euclidean inner product to include all inner products. Simulations demonstrate the utility of our analytical results.     

彩色形态滤波器分析

形态滤波属于非线性信号变换处理,它利用信号的局部特征对信号进行修正。最近的研究表明形态滤波器能有效地滤除二值图像及灰度图像中的噪声,本文引入了建立在ＲＧＢ彩色空间上的彩色形态变换,针数字形态学理论从灰度空间扩展到彩色空间,对基本彩色形态滤波器（即彩色形态闭、开）及以它们为基础所构造出一些复杂的彩色形态滤波器进行了研究,并对它们选用不同结构元素的情况进行了分析,实验表明彩色形态滤波器能直接有效地消除     

A new fuzzy color correlated impulse noise reduction method.

A new impulse noise reduction method for color images is presented. Color images that are corrupted with impulse noise are generally filtered by applying a grayscale algorithm on each color component separately or using a vector-based approach where each pixel is considered as a single vector. The first approach causes artefacts especially on edge and texture pixels. Vector-based methods were successfully introduced to overcome this problem. Nevertheless, they tend to cluster the noise and to receive a lower noise reduction performance. In this paper, we discuss an alternative technique which gives a good noise reduction performance while much less artefacts are introduced. The main difference between the proposed method and other classical noise reduction methods is that the color information is taken into account to develop (1) a better impulse noise detection method and (2) a noise reduction method that filters only the corrupted pixels while preserving the color and the edge sharpness. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides a significant improvement on other existing filters.     

Nonlinear order statistic filters for image filtering and edge detection

A novel class of nonlinear filters for image processing is proposed. This class is a combination of nonlinear mean and order statistic filters. Median, homomorphic, α-trimmed mean, nonlinear mean, order statistic, and linear filters can be considered as special cases of this class. The properties of these filters in the presence of different kinds of noise are investigated. It is shown that these filters can be used for the reduction of additive white noise, signal-dependent noise, and impulse noise. It is also shown that they preserve edges better than linear filters. Such filters can successfully be used as edge detectors, by appropriate adjustment of some of their parameters. Edge information can be used as an input to these filters to perform in an adaptive manner, changing their behaviour near the edges of an image. It is finally shown that many of the filters proposed have a reasonable (and in certain cases small) computational complexity.     

Ultra-low power LNA design technique for UWB applications

In this paper, a design technique to improve low noise amplifier (LNA) performance is proposed. This technique is based on a new operating parameter (OP) of MOSFETs for radio frequency (RF) applications. This technique is used to optimize low noise amplifier (LNA) parameters for Ultra-Wideband (UWB) applications. The presented methodology predicts the optimum biasing point to maximize LNA performance. Simulation results show that the proposed methodology can increase the figure of merit (FoM) by 70% compared to traditional methodologies, without having a significant effect on either noise figure (NF) or linearity characteristics.     

A figure of merit for the high-frequency noise behavior of bipolartransistors

In this paper a new figure of merit for high frequency noise behavior for use in the evaluation and development of bipolar silicon process technology is introduced. Basic low noise design rules for optimum transistor biasing and emitter scaling are proposed     

A new method for inpainting of depth maps from time-of-flight sensors based on a modified closing by reconstruction algorithm

Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors are popular devices that extract 3D information from a scene but result to be susceptible to noise and loss of data creating holes and gaps in the boundaries of the objects. The most common approaches to tackling this problem are supported by color images with good results, however, not all ToF devices produce color information. Mathematical morphology provides operators that can manage the problem of noise in single depth frames. In this paper, a new method for the filtering of single depth maps, when no color image is available, is presented, based on a modification to the morphological closing by reconstruction algorithm. The proposed method eliminates noise, emphasizing a high contour preservation, and it is compared, both qualitative and quantitatively, with other state-of-the-art filters. The proposed method represents an improvement to the closing by reconstruction algorithm that can be applied for filter depth maps of ToF devices.     

Multidirectional vector edge enhancers based on nonlinear operation

Multidirectional vector edge enhancers based on nonlinear operation for color image processing are proposed. In the filters, a few subfilters are used in conjunction with the vector median and decision operations, each subfilter performing noise attenuation. The root signal and edge enhancing properties of the multidirectional vector enhancers are discussed. Experimental examples indicate that the vector edge enhancers can preserve certain details while enhancing blurred edges of color images.     

Multichannel image processing by using the Rank M-type L-filter

In this paper, we introduce the Vector Rank M-type L (VRML)-filter to remove impulsive noise from color images and video sequences. The proposed filter uses the Median M-type (MM) and Ansari-Bradley-Siegel-Tukey M-type (AM) estimators into L-filter to provide robustness to proposed filtering scheme. We also introduce the use of impulsive noise detectors to improve the properties of noise suppression and detail preservation in the proposed filtering scheme in the case of low and high densities of impulsive noise. Simulation results indicate that the proposed filter consistently outperforms other color image filters by balancing the trade-off between noise suppression, detail preservation, and color retention.     

Jitter in ring oscillators

Jitter in ring oscillators is theoretically described, and predictions are experimentally verified. A design procedure is developed in the context of time domain measures of oscillator jitter in a phase-locked loop (PLL). A major contribution is the identification of a design figure of merit κ, which is independent of the number of stages in the ring. This figure of merit is used to relate fundamental circuit-level noise sources (such as thermal and shot noise) to system-level jitter performance. The procedure is applied to a ring oscillator composed of bipolar differential pair delay stages. The theoretical predictions are tested on 155 and 622 MHz clock-recovery PLL's which have been fabricated in a dielectrically isolated, complementary bipolar process. The measured closed-loop jitter is within 10% of the design procedure prediction     

Figure of merit for low frequency anechoic chambers based onabsorber reflection coefficients

Return loss as a function of frequency and angle of incidence is studied to determine the effectiveness of the absorbing material used in an anechoic chamber. This alone is not enough to determine a figure of merit for an anechoic chamber or to compare the figure of merit for one anechoic chamber to that of another. While the information gained from return loss calculations and measurements as a function of angle of incidence is valuable, an overall measure of anechoic chamber effectiveness is necessary in order to compare different designs. In this paper, a new chamber figure of merit which is based on the decay time of the chamber is introduced. This decay time is, in turn, based on the average power absorbed by the chamber walls. The resulting model is simple and does not require intensive numerical computation. Calculations of the figure of merit for anechoic chambers which contain different types of absorbing materials are shown, and calculated and measured values of decay time for a primary standards calibrations facility are compared     

Design and analysis of vector color error diffusion halftoningsystems

Traditional error diffusion halftoning is a high quality method for producing binary images from digital grayscale images. Error diffusion shapes the quantization noise power into the high frequency regions where the human eye is the least sensitive. Error diffusion may be extended to color images by using error filters with matrix-valued coefficients to take into account the correlation among color planes. For vector color error diffusion, we propose three contributions. First, we analyze vector color error diffusion based on a new matrix gain model for the quantizer, which linearizes vector error diffusion. The model predicts the key characteristics of color error diffusion, esp. image sharpening and noise shaping. The proposed model includes linear gain models for the quantizer by Ardalan and Paulos (1987) and by Kite et al. (1997) as special cases. Second, based on our model, we optimize the noise shaping behavior of color error diffusion by designing error filters that are optimum with respect to any given linear spatially-invariant model of the human visual system. Our approach allows the error filter to have matrix-valued coefficients and diffuse quantization error across color channels in an opponent color representation. Thus, the noise is shaped into frequency regions of reduced human color sensitivity. To obtain the optimal filter, we derive a matrix version of the Yule-Walker equations which we solve by using a gradient descent algorithm. Finally, we show that the vector error filter has a parallel implementation as a polyphase filterbank.     

Wavelet-based noise removal for biomechanical signals: a comparative study

The purpose of this paper is to present wavelet-based noise removal (WBNR) techniques to remove noise from biomechanical acceleration signals obtained from numerical differentiation of displacement data. Manual and semiautomatic methods were used to determine thresholds for both orthogonal and biorthogonal filters. This study also compares the performance of WBNR approaches with four automatic conventional noise removal techniques used in biomechanics. The conclusion of this work is that WBNR techniques are very effective in removing noise from differentiated signals with sharp transients while leaving these transients intact. For biomechanical signals with certain characteristics, WBNR techniques perform better than conventional methods, as indicated by quantitative merit measures.     

Guide lines for the selection of acoustooptic materials

Guide lines are presented for the selection of promising new acoustooptic materials for device applications. Previously, the selection of materials was based primarily on availability and intuition. Now it is possible to estimate an approximate acousto-optic figure of merit for a material knowing only its chemical composition and density. One of the first applications of these guide lines led to a detailed evaluation of lead molybdate, PbMoO4, a material known to have certain desirable physical properties. The results verified that PbMoO4has a high figure of merit, considerably greater than LiNbO3though somewhat less than α-HIO3. In addition to a high figure of merit, a material must also have a low acoustic loss if it is to be useful for device applications. The relationship between the acoustooptic figure of merit and acoustic loss is explored. Although only limited loss data are presently available, it is concluded that a high figure of merit and low loss are compatible material properties for applications below approximately 0.5 GHz. However, as future applications call for higher frequency operation, it appears that a tradeoff between low acoustic loss and high figure of merit will be required.     

Noise performance of negative-resistance compensated microwavebandpass filters. Theory and experiments

This paper examines both theoretically and experimentally the dependency of in-band noise performance upon circuit and device parameters of microwave filters employing negative-resistance compensation. By neglecting the influence of the induced gate noise source, a general expression for evaluating the noise figure of a second-order active filter is derived as a function of design parameters such as the transistor's noise figure, inductor's quality factor, and filter's bandwidth. In addition, factors affecting the optimization of the overall noise figure of these filters are discussed. For verification, the measured performance of two 900-MHz experimental MESFET filters are included     

An optimal nonlinear extension of linear filters based on distributed arithmetic.

Distributed arithmetic (DA)-based implementation of linear filters relies on the linear nature of this operation and has been suggested as a multiplication free solution. In this work, we introduce a nonlinear extension of linear filters optimizing under mean-square error criterion the memory function [(MF) multivariate Boolean function with not only binary output] which is in the core of DA based implementation. Such an extension will improve the filtering of noise which may contain non-Gaussian components without increasing the complexity of implementation. Experiments on real images have shown the superiority of the proposed filters over the optimal linear filters. Different versions of these filters are also considered for an impulsive noise removal, faster processing, and filtering using large input data windows.     

Generalized multichannel image-filtering structures

Recent works in multispectral image processing advocate the employment of vector approaches for this class of signals. Vector processing operators that involve the minimization of a suitable error criterion have been proposed and shown appropriate for this task. In this framework, two main classes of vector processing filters have been reported in the literature. Astola et al. (1990) introduce the well-known class of vector median filters (VMF), which are derived as maximum likelihood (ML) estimates from exponential distributions. Trahanias et al. (see ibid., vol.2, no.4, p.528-34, 1993 and vol.5, no.6, p.868-80, 1996) study the processing of color image data using directional information, considering the class of vector directional filters (VDF). We introduce a new filter structure, the directional-distance filters (DDF), which combine both VDF and VMF in a novel way. We show that DDF are robust signal estimators under various noise distributions, they have the property of chromaticity preservation and, finally, compare favorably to other multichannel image processing filters.     

矢量对偶形态学算子

对偶性是形态学算子的重要性质之一,且具有重要应用.现有的矢量形态学算子均难以满足对偶性,从而限制了矢量数学形态学理论的发展及应用.为了解决该问题,研究了现有矢量形态学算子的性质,发现彩色空间和矢量排序算法是导致矢量形态学算子难以满足对偶性的两个关键因素.通过选用对称彩色空间,利用矢量对称距离实现了具有对偶特性的矢量形态学算子.为了验证矢量对偶形态学算子的性能,给出了满足对偶特性的矢量形态学滤波及梯度算子,并将其应用到彩色图像滤波及边缘检测中.实验结果表明,矢量对偶形态学算子较传统的矢量形态学算子具有更好的对称性,对噪声条件下的图像进行滤波及边缘检测,均获得了更好的处理效果.     

基于颜色分量单独噪声检测的混合中值滤波器

为了进一步提高开关型矢量中值滤波器滤除脉冲噪声尤其是细微噪声的能力,提出了一种基于颜色分量单独噪声检测的开关型标量和矢量混合中值滤波器(SVHMF)。与其它经典矢量滤波器相比,SVHMF最大的不同在于它是根据对像素点各个颜色单独进行噪声检测的结果,采用与之相适应的标量和矢量混和滤波方法。新滤波器可以最大限度地保护彩色图像图像像素中未被噪声干扰的颜色分量数据,从而可以进一步提高滤波效果。实验数据表明:SVHMF的滤波效果明显优于其它各类在彩色图像降噪中得到广泛应用的矢量中值滤波器。