Fast and numerically stable methods for the computation of Zernike moments

Zernike moments (ZMs) are used in many image processing applications due to their superior performance over other moments. However, they suffer from high computation cost and numerical instability at high order of moments. In the past many recursive methods have been developed to improve their speed performance and considerable success has been achieved. The analysis of numerical stability has also gained momentum as it affects the accuracy of moments and their invariance property. There are three recursive methods which are normally used in ZMs calculation—Prata’s, Kintner’s and q-recursive methods. The earlier studies have found the q-recursive method outperforming the two other methods. In this paper, we modify Prata’s method and present a recursive relation which is proved to be faster than the q-recursive method. Numerical instability is observed at high orders of moments with the q-recursive method suffering from the underflow problem while the modified Prata’s method suffering from finite precision error. The modified Kintner’s method is the least susceptible to these errors. Keeping in view the better numerical stability, we further make the modified Kintner’s method marginally faster than the q-recursive method. We recommend the modified Prata’s method for low orders (≤90) and Kintner’s fast method for high orders (>90) of ZMs.