Three-dimensional rotated digital filters: Design,stability, and applications

Three-dimensional (3-D) signal processing offers many advantages over two-dimensional (2-D) processing, because it preserves 3-D correlations. In this paper the design and the stability of 3-D rotated filters are considered. These filters are designed by rotating a one-dimensional (1-D) digital filter in 3-D space. The rotated filters are valuable in the design of various 3-D filters which possess prescribed spectral specifications. An efficient algorithm for the design of 3-D lowpass (LP) digital filters, with approximately spherically symmetric magnitude responses, is introduced. To achieve the desirable spectral characteristics, a number of 3-D rotated filters is cascaded. The stability of the spherically symmetric filters designed is considered, and stable realizations are proposed. The relation between the cut-off isopotential sphere of the 3-D filter and the cut-off frequency of the 1-D filter employed in the design, is derived. Finally, configurations that result in highpass (HP) and bandpass (BP) filters are proposed. Examples of LP, HP, and BP filters, designed on the basis of the method proposed, are presented.This research was supported by the Public Benefit Foundation, Alexander S. Onassis.