Simulation and recognition of common fabric defects Maro Tunk, Ale Linka Abstract: This

contribution deals with a procedure of recognition of defects occurred in woven fabric. Fabric as a
directional texture is characterised with high-energy frequency components, which are distributed along
the straight lines in the Fourier domain image. A set of seven features based on the first-most significant
frequency can be extracted from these images. The correlation between the features corresponding to
window with no defective structure and features obtained from sliding window is computed. If the value
is smaller then the set value the window is considered as the window contains defect. 1. Introduction
Woven fabric is normally composed of two sets of mutually perpendicular and interlaced yarns. The
weave pattern or basic unit of the weave is periodically repeated throughout the whole fabric area with
the exception of the edges. The Fourier theorem says that any periodic function can be described as a
sum of sines and cosines of different frequencies and amplitudes. Considering the periodic nature of
woven fabric it is possible to monitor and describe the relationship between the regular structure of
woven fabric in the spatial domain and its Fourier spectrum in the frequency domain. Presence of defect
over the periodical structure of woven fabric causes changes in its Fourier spectrum. In this contribution
we especially focus on recognition of common defects associated with change of weaving density or
defects that appear as a thick place distributed along the width or high of an image. In this paper we will
first describe algorithm for simulation of common fabric defects in plain weave, then we will test
algorithm for recognition of simulated defects and finally we will show a few examples of recognition on
real samples. 2. Simulation of a plain weave Convolution of an elementary unit and a pattern of
repetition in the spatial domain were used for a plain weave simulation. Let h(x,y), g(x,y) and b(m,n) be
the input image, output image and convolution mask, respectively, and convolution is denoted by . At
each point (x,y), the response of the mask at that point is the sum of products of the filter coefficients
and the corresponding neighbourhood pixels in the area spanned by the mask [1], [2], [3]: ( , ) ( , ) ( , ) ( ,
) ( , ). 0 0 = = = = x m y n g x y b x y h x y b m n h x m y n (1) Figure 1(a) displays image of yarn
interlacing point. The yarns are represented by white, space among them by black. On the basis of input
parameters can be generated warp and weft interlacing point, where pwa, pwe represent warp and
weft spacing, and dwa, dwe define warp and weft diameter in pixels. Figures 1(b),(c) display warp and
weft interlacing point, resp., with regard to parameter sp. (a) (b) (c) Fig. 1 (a) Yarn interlacing point, (b)
weft interlacing point, (c) warp interlacing point. Woven fabric is composed of two sets of mutually
perpendicular and interlaced yarns. The pattern or basic unit of the weave is periodically repeated
throughout the whole fabric area with the exception of the edges. The simulated output image of a
periodic structure in a plain weave g(x,y) can be simulated as a convolution of an elementary unit
(pattern repeat) b(m,n) by a input image of pattern of repetition h(x,y). The result of convolution
theorem can be seen in Fig. 2(c), which represents grey level image of plain weave in a spatial domain,
the size of image is 200 x 200 pixels. Warp and weft yarn diameter was set to 12 pixels, warp yarn
spacing to 16 pixels, weft yarn spacing to 20 pixels and parameter sp to 1 pixel. = (a) (b) (c) Fig. 2 (a)
Convolution mask, elementary unit, (b) pattern of repetition, (c) simulated image of a plain weave with
parameters in pixels, n = 200, pwa = 16, pwe=20, dwa = dwe= 12 a sp=1. 3. Simulation of common
woven fabric defects According to [4] the woven fabric defects can be organized into three basic
categories. The weft direction defects, the warp direction defects and defects with no directional
dependence. Some of them in the weft direction are: irregular weft density, double pick, broken pick,
weft yarn defect, and float; defects in the warp direction are: broken end, double end and warp yarn
defect. Defects with no directional dependence involve defects: stain, hole and foreign body. Defected
images were modelled by using algebraic operations on simulated images of plain weave structure, in
some cases with removing some rows or columns. Position, size and shape of defects were randomly
generated from uniform distribution. The algorithm and graphical user interface in MATLAB software
language was created for realization. A few examples of simulated common fabric defects in a plain
weave can be seen in Figure 3 (b) (l), Fig. 3 (a) display structure without defect. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)
(h) (i) (j) (k) (l) Fig. 3 Simulated defects in a plain weave. (a) Structure without defect, (b) hole, (c) stain,
(d) float, (e),(f) weft and warp yarn defect, (g),(h) double pick, double end, (i) irregular weft density
(insufficient), (j) irregular weft density (excessive), (k) broken pick, (l) broken end. 4. Algorithm for defect
recognition The Fourier spectrum is useful to describe periodic patterns in grey level images.
Information about major structural direction lines in the spatial domain is concentrated in the Fourier
domain image as a direction of high-energy peaks. Detecting corresponding highenergy frequency
components in Fourier domain image and setting them to zero remove one set of yarns in spatial
domain image. Finally, inverse Fourier transforms (FT), back-transformed data to the spatial domain
image. Only one set of yarns information remains in the restored image. The structural lines in the
spatial domain image and its transformations are mutually perpendicular. A change or presence of a
defect in the weft or warp direction in the woven fabric image causes changes of corresponding high-
energy frequency components in Fourier domain image. The discrete 2DFT and its inverse is given [1]:
= = + = 1 0 1 0 2 ( / / ) ( , ) ( , ) M x N y j ux M vy N F u v f x y e , (2) = = + = 1 0 1 0 2 ( / / )
( , ) 1 ( , ) M u N v j ux M vy N F u v e MN f x y , (3) Information about the set of weft yarns appears in
the vertical direction (fy) in the Fourier spectrum and warp set of yarns appears in the horizontal
direction (fx). Two diagrams along the fx and fy direction (|F(fx,0)| and |F(0,fy)|) were extracted from
the Fourier frequency spectrum. A set of seven features based on the first-most significant frequency
can be extracted from these diagrams, for more information see [3], [6]: 5 | (0, ) |, 6 , 7 | (0, ) |. 2 | ( ,0)
|, 3 , 4 | ( ,0) |, 1 | (0,0) |, 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 = = = = = = = = = y yi x xi f f y y yi f f x x xi v F f v f v F f v F f v f
v F f v F (4) where v1 represents average light intensity. Features v3=fx1 and v6=fy1 correspond to the
first most significant harmonic frequency in the fx and fy direction and can be used for weaving density
evaluation [7]. Features v2, v3 and v4 are for detecting changes in the warp set of yarns, whereas v5, v6,
v7 monitor the weft set of yarns. The features v4 and v7 analyse the region between the central peak
and first peak. Figure 4(a) shows example of a simulated structure in a plain weave contains weft yarn
defect, Fig. 4(d) display Fourier frequency spectrum as an intensity image scaled to 256 grey levels. Two
diagrams along the fx and fy direction (|F(fx,0)| and |F(0,fy)|) extracted from the Fourier frequency
spectrum can be seen in Fig. 4(b),(e) (the other components in frequency spectrum were setting to
zero). Figures 4(c),(f) represent restored images after inverse Fourier transform. As can be seen from
restored image in spatial domain in Figure 4(c) central frequency spectrum in fx direction contains
sufficient information about the warp set of yarn, whereas frequency spectrum in fy direction about the
weft set of yarns and about the defect, imperfection too. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) Fig. 4 (a) Simulated
structure with weft yarn defect, (d) Fourier frequency spectrum, (b),(e) F(fx,0)|, |F(0,fy)|, (c),(f) restored
images after IFT. 5. Defect recognition in simulated structures On the base of relations (4) we evaluated
a set of seven features for images of structure without defect. We observed correlation coefficient
between the features of two randomly placed windows of size 50 x 50 pixels. Correlation between them
did not fall under the value 0.996. Then we evaluated correlation coefficient between the features
obtained from window without defect and sliding window moved over the whole image. If the
correlation coefficient was smaller then the set value the window was considered as the window
contains defect. Size of images was set to 501 x 501 pixels; Gaussian noise of mean 0 and variance
0.0025 was added to images. Sliding window of size 50 x 50 pixels was moved by the step of size 25
pixels. Windows with detected defect or imperfection remained in image and were displayed with white
colour. Correlation coefficient was setting to 0.975. Total time of detection with the visualisation was
about 1 minute, about 10 seconds without visualisation (for these parameters detection involve
inspection of 361 windows). Figures 5 (a) (l) display result of applied algorithm to simulated images of
defects from Fig. 3(b) (l). As we can see from figures, process is suitable for simulated images of
contrast defects. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) Fig. 5 Result of the applied algorithm on simulated
samples, where white window indicate defect, imperfection. 6. Examples of defect recognition in real
structures The samples of a real fabrics defects in a plain and twill weave were captured by flat scanner
with resolution 400 dpi in 256 grey levels and stored in an image matrix of size 501 x 501 pixels.
Equalization was used for contrast enhancement. Figures 6 (a) (g) show a few examples of recognition
of defects in real structures. By reason of different structures (weave, density) every structure is
sensitive to different value of correlation coefficient. Examples 6 (a) - (c) represent real defects hole,
stain and foreign body, size of sliding window was setting to 50 x 50 pixels and correlation coefficient to
value 0.7. The size of sliding window 100 x 100 pixels was setting for another examples. The correlation
coefficient was 0.7 for examples (e),(f) and 0.85 for defect irregular weft density (insufficient). (a) (b) (c)
(e) (f) (g) Fig. 6. Result of the applied algorithm on real samples, where white window indicate defect,
imperfection. 7. Conclusion Recognition algorithm based on features extracted from Fourier frequency
spectrum is useful for simulated samples of common woven fabric defects. By using this method we can
detect defects associated with change of weaving density or defects that appear as a thick place
distributed along the width or height of an image and for no directional defects too. Algorithm is also
suitable for real samples, but different parameters of recognition (size of sliding window, correlation
coefficient) were used according to different structures of fabrics. The advantages of automated visual
inspection are objectivity and independence on the human inspectors. This method is relatively fast and
it could be used as online visual inspection of quality. 8. Future work It will be reasonable to devise an
optimised method, which define appropriate parameters for given certain structure (size of window,
value of correlation). It means that the algorithm will detect the parameters on the training data set and
then these parameters will be used for defect detection in real fabric structure. Other approaches (i.e.
statistical, structural) can be tested as well. References [1] Gonzales R. C., Woods R. E.: Digital Image
Processing. 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall, 2002. [2] Escofet, J., Milln, M. S. Rall, M.: Modeling of woven
fabric structures based on Fourier image analysis. Applied Optics, Vol. 40, No. 34, December 2001. [3]
Chan Chi-ho., Pang G. K. H.: Fabric Defect Detection by Fourier Analysis. IEEE Trans. on Industry
Applications, Vol. 36, No. 5, September/October 2000. [4] Catalogue of types of fabric defects in grey
goods. 3rd edition, ITS Publishing, Switzerland, 1996. [5] Tsai, D.-M., Huang, T.-Y.: Automated Surface
Inspection For Directional Textures. Image and Vision Computing, 18, 49 62. 1999. [6] Tunk, M., Linka,
A.: Fourier Analysis of Woven Composite Structures. ICCE 12 Proceeding. Tenerife, 2005. [7] Tunk M.,
Linka A.: Applying spectral analysis to automatic inspection of weaving density. STRUTEX, Liberec, 2004.
Authors address: Doc. RNDr. Ale Linka, CSc. Technical University in Liberec, Department of Textile
Materials; Hlkova 6, Liberec 46117, Czech Republic, e-mail: ales.linka@tul.cz Ing. Maro Tunk,
Technical University in Liberec, Department of Textile Materials; Hlkova 6, Liberec 46117, Czech
Republic, e-mail: maros.tunak@tul.cz Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the project MSMT
CR No. 1M06047