Incoherent pattern detection using a liquid-crystal active lens

Incoherent pattern detection by a simple imaging system using a liquid-crystal active lens is proposed. The imaging system works as a spatial filtering system with a rewritable phase-only filter. We found that, in the incoherent matched filtering system, a conventional phase-only filter has a higher optical efficiency but a lower pattern discrimination than a complex filter. To improve the pattern discrimination ability, we optimized the phase-only filter by using simulated annealing and a genetic algorithm. We designed phase-only filters that have discrimination ability comparable with that in a complex filter. The performance of optimized phase-only filters is experimentally demonstrated.     

Optical Intensity Filters for Pattern Recognition

Abstract

All the shape information of an object is preserved in its quarter-spectrum (QS). Some new uses of optical filters for pattern recognition based on QS are introduced. These filters are intensity functions so that amplitude modulating spatial light modulators or photographic film can be used. Some of the new filters yield better correlation performances than the phase-only filter and the amplitude-encoded phase-only filter. Computer simulations and optical experiments show the results.     

Multireference binary phase-only filter optimized by regions of support

A new formulation of a multiplex filter for filtering-based optical processors, based on the VanderLugt architecture, is presented. The multireference binary phase-only filter (MBPOF), optimized by regions of support (ROS), constitutes a formal rewriting of some multiplex or composite filters including optimization functions, such as the distribution function and the selection function. The first function optimizes the multiplexing of references into the multireference filter. The second function defines the ROS of an object's Fourier spectrum and can be independently used to optimize the conventional binary phase-only filter. Both functions result from a segmentation of the Fourier plane. The MBPOF with ROS can be optically implemented in a filtering-based optical processor owing to a binary-phase spatial light modulator. Simulation and optical results are given for different examples of the BPOF and the MBPOF, both with ROS optimizing different criteria of performance, such as peak-to-correlation energy, discrimination capability, and distortion sensitivity.     

Image preprocessing for rotation-invariant pattern recognition in the presence of signal-dependent noise

I propose a new method that ensures efficient rotation-invariant pattern recognition in the presence of signal-dependent noise by combining the application of rotation-invariant correlation filters with preprocessing of the noisy input images. The preprocessing uses local suboptimal estimators derived from estimation theory and implies an a priori knowledge of a model describing the noise source. The image noise sources considered are speckle and film-grain noise. Pour different metrics are used to analyze the correlation performance of the circular-harmonic filter, the phase-only circular-harmonic filter, and the binary phase-only circular-harmonic filter, with and without a preprocessing. Computer simulations show that signal-dependent noise can seriously degrade the performance of the phase-only circular-harmonic filter and the binary phase-only circular-harmonic filter. The most severe indication of correlation-performance degradation is the occurrence of false alarms in 15% to 20% of noise realizations of the correlation. Preprocessing increases the correlation-peak signal-to-noise ratio significantly and reduces the false-alarm probability by one to two orders of magnitude.     

Implementation of arbitrary real-valued correlation filters for the shadow-casting incoherent correlator

We describe an incoherent correlator, based on the shadow-casting principle, that is able to implement any real-valued linear correlation filter. The correlation filter and the input image are displayed on commercial liquid-crystal television (LCTV) panels. Although it cannot handle high-resolution images, the incoherent correlator is lensless, compact, low cost, and uses a white-light source. A bipolar technique is devised to represent any linear filter, computed from a single reference image or composite, in the correlator. We demonstrate experimentally the efficiency of the design in the case of optimal trade-off (OT) filters and optimal trade-off synthetic discriminant function (OT-SDF) filters.     

Projection-invariant pattern recognition with a phase-only logarithmic-harmonic-derived filter

A phase-only filter based on logarithmic harmonics for projection-invariant pattern recognition is presented. This logarithmic-harmonic-derived filter is directly calculated in the Fourier plane. With respect to normal logarithmic-harmonic filters it provides a smaller variation of the correlation intensity with the projection factor of the target. Computer and optical experiments are presented.     

Gray-level computer-generated hologram filters for multiple-object correlation

Synthesis of gray-level computer-generated holograms allows for an increase of the information storage capability that is usually achieved with conventional binary filters. This is mainly because more degrees of freedom are available. We propose to profit from this feature by synthesizing complex filters formed by many superimposed holograms, each with a different carrier frequency. We apply these gray-level filters to perform multichannel correlation and in this way enhance the capability of optical correlators to process the information in parallel and simultaneously. First, we analyze the behavior of some performance criteria on the impulse response and on the correlation as a function of the number of holograms that are multiplexed. Then we show the results of two experiments: In the first a composed phase-only filter is used in a multiple-object recognition process. In the second a composed synthetic discriminant function filter is used to implement an object classification by means of a binary code.     

Encoding amplitude information onto phase-only filters

We report a new, to our knowledge, technique for encoding amplitude information onto a phase-only filter with a single liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. In our approach we spatially modulate the phase that is encoded onto the filter and, consequently, spatially modify the diffraction efficiency of the filter. Light that is not diffracted into the first order is sent into the zero order, effectively allowing for amplitude modulation of either the first-order or the zero-order diffracted light. This technique has several applications in both optical pattern recognition and image processing, including amplitude modulation and inverse filters. Experimental results are included for the new technique.     

Composite versus multichannel binary phase-only filtering

Multichannel filtering and its inherent capacity for the implementation of data-fusion algorithms for high-level image processing, as well as composite filtering and its capacity for distortion-invariant pattern-recognition tasks, are discussed and compared. Both approaches are assessed by use of binary phase-only filters to simplify implementation issues. We discuss similarities and differences of these two solutions and demonstrate that they can be merged efficiently, giving rise to a new category of filters that we call composite-multichannel filters. We illustrate this comparison and the new filter design for the case of rotation-invariant fingerprint recognition. In particular, we show that the gain in terms of encoding capacity in the case of the composite-multichannel approach can be used efficiently to introduce multichannel-filter reconfigurability.     

Complex encoding of rotation-invariant filters onto a single phase-only spatial light modulator

The accuracy and flexibility of the technique proposed by Davis et al. [Appl. Opt. 35, 2488 (1996)] for the encoding of the amplitude and the phase of a filter onto a single liquid-crystal spatial light modulator operating in a phase-only regime has been exploited to implement several filter designs in a convergent optical correlator. We have selected some filters, that given their mathematical structure showing some degree of rotational invariance, or having a parameter to regulate their behavior, require amore precise encoding. We present correlation results of outstanding quality for various rotationally invariant filter designs that have never been previously implemented with a real-time optical correlator.     

Optical wavelet matched filter

A shift-invariant optical continuous wavelet transform is used for pattern recognition. We propose an Voptical wavelet matched filter that performs optical wavelet transforms for edge enhancement and the correlation between two wavelet transforms in a single step. This new bandpass matched filter shows improved discrimination capability with respect to the conventional matched filter and improved signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the phase-only matched filter. The wavelet matched filter provides flexibility of an adaptive choice of the scale factors of the wavelets that permit the selection of size and orientation of the smoothing function used in edge enhancement and the optimization of the performance of the filter. Optical experimental results are shown.     

Rotationally invariant pattern recognition by use of linear and nonlinear cascaded filters

We discuss the merits of using single-layer (linear and nonlinear) and multiple-layer (nonlinear) filters for rotationally invariant and noise-tolerant pattern recognition. The capability of each approach is considered with reference to a two-class, rotation-invariant, character recognition problem. The minimum average correlation energy (MACE) filter is a linear filter that is generally accepted to be optimal for detecting signals that are free from noise. Here it is found that an optimized MACE filter cannot differentiate between the characters E and F in a rotation-invariant manner. We have found, however, that this task is possible when a single optimized linear filter is used to achieve the required response when a nonlinear threshold function is included after the filter. We show that this structure can be cascaded to form a multiple-layer, cascaded filter and that the capability of such a system is enhanced by its increased noise tolerance in the character recognition problem. Finally, we show the capability of a two-layer cascade as a means to detect different species of bacteria in images obtained from a phase-contrast microscope.     

Theory and optical implementation of the geometrical approach of multiple circular harmonic filters

The circular harmonic filter contains only one component of the image. Its discrimination capability has been questionable. The geometrical approach of multiple circular harmonic filters uses relative locations of the correlation peaks as the rotation-, shift-, and intensity-invariant features for pattern recognition. Each feature depends on the entire image. This approach has a good discrimination capability. Optical real-time implementation of the on-axis continuous phase-only circular harmonic filters by the use of a commercial liquid-crystal television is shown. A harmonic analysis shows that the phase-mostly filter can tolerate coupled amplitude modulation at the acceptable expense of the output signal-to-noise ratio. An optical experiment of the geometrical approach of multiple circular harmonic filters for a multiple-image input is described. The cross-correlation peaks between the individual filters and the clutter are eliminated, because they are not in good locations.     

Wavelet packet correlation methods in biometrics

We introduce wavelet packet correlation filter classifiers. Correlation filters are traditionally designed in the image domain by minimization of some criterion function of the image training set. Instead, we perform classification in wavelet spaces that have training set representations that provide better solutions to the optimization problem in the filter design. We propose a pruning algorithm to find these wavelet spaces by using a correlation energy cost function, and we describe a match score fusion algorithm for applying the filters trained across the packet tree. The proposed classification algorithm is suitable for any object-recognition task. We present results by implementing a biometric recognition system that uses the NIST 24 fingerprint database, and show that applying correlation filters in the wavelet domain results in considerable improvement of the standard correlation filter algorithm.     

Bow-tie effect: differential operator

We propose to use a differential operator for representing the influence of phase-only filters on the defocused modulation transfer function of the clear pupil aperture. We present a phase-only filter that implements optically Taylor's theorem in phase space. We show numerical simulations of the modulation transfer functions and the images that can be obtained by using the proposed filter.     

Amplitude-modulated circular-harmonic filter for pattern recognition

An amplitude-modulated circular-harmonic filter is proposed for rotation-invariant pattern recognition. We investigate the filter characteristics by varying two design parameters, A(ρ) and B(ρ), and select optimum values to design an amplitude-modulated circular-harmonic filter. When compared with the phase-only circular-harmonic filter, the amplitude-modulated circular-harmonic filter is found to yield a sharper correlation peak, a better noise tolerance, and an improved correlation discrimination.     

Geometric approach for designing optical binary amplitude and binary phase-only filters

An analytic solution for real optimal filters is known, and the special case of optimal binary phase-only filters can be solved by a fast binning algorithm but no analytic solution is known. We establish a geometric solution for the design of optimal binary amplitude filters (OBAF's) and optimal binary phase-only filters (OBPOF's) for any object. The optimal filter is found in terms of maximizing the field strength at the origin in the correlation plane. We found that it is possible to construct a unique convex polygon by using an ordered set of phasors from the filter object's Fourier transform. This process leads eventually to an exact solution for the filter-design problem. We show that the maximum distance across the polygon divides the phasors into two groups: For the OBAF, it determines the group that is passed or blocked; for the OBPOF, it determines which group is passed with a zero or a pi phase shift. The shape of the convex polygon gives qualitative information on the criticalness and the tightness needed in the design process. It provides good insight into the binning-process algorithm and permits us to bound the error in the binning process. Design examples through computer simulation and applications in fingerprint identification are presented.     

Illumination-tolerant face verification of low-bit-rate JPEG2000 wavelet images with advanced correlation filters for handheld devices

Face recognition on mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants and cell phones, is a big challenge owing to the limited computational resources available to run verifications on the devices themselves. One approach is to transmit the captured face images by use of the cell-phone connection and to run the verification on a remote station. However, owing to limitations in communication bandwidth, it may be necessary to transmit a compressed version of the image. We propose using the image compression standard JPEG2000, which is a wavelet-based compression engine used to compress the face images to low bit rates suitable for transmission over low-bandwidth communication channels. At the receiver end, the face images are reconstructed with a JPEG2000 decoder and are fed into the verification engine. We explore how advanced correlation filters, such as the minimum average correlation energy filter [Appl. Opt. 26, 3633 (1987)] and its variants, perform by using face images captured under different illumination conditions and encoded with different bit rates under the JPEG2000 wavelet-encoding standard. We evaluate the performance of these filters by using illumination variations from the Carnegie Mellon University's Pose, Illumination, and Expression (PIE) face database. We also demonstrate the tolerance of these filters to noisy versions of images with illumination variations.     

Fully complex synthetic discriminant functions written onto phase-only modulators

Synthetic discriminant functions (SDF's) are an effective tool for pattern-recognition applications. However, their experimental implementation is difficult because of the difficulty in writing full complex modulation functions onto spatial light modulators (SLM's) with restricted coding domains. Iterative methods are required for the implementation of SDF filters in real SLM's. A great deal of experimental research has been done with phase-only filters because they can be successfully implemented with liquid-crystal SLM's. We have recently introduced a technique for encoding arbitrary amplitude information onto the phase-only filter, thus allowing us to encode an arbitrary complex function onto a phase-only SLM. We apply this technique to the generation of arbitrary complex SDF filters, thus avoiding the necessity of iterative algorithms. We examine the discrimination capabilities of fully complex SDF filters designed with different parameters and constraints. Experimental results obtained with liquid-crystal SLM's are included.     

Convolution-kernel-based optimal trade-off filters for optical pattern recognition

An architecture for the implementation of optical pattern recognition is proposed that makes use of convolution-kernel-based optimal trade-off filters to allow for an increased speed of operation and filter storage capability. The derivation of these new convolution-kernel-based optimal trade-off filters is presented, and their noise robustness and discrimination capabilities are discussed.