IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING. VOL. 41, NO. 3.
MARCH 1993
[2] J . A. Cadzow, “Recursive digital filter synthesis via gradient based
algorithms,” IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Processing, vol.
ASSP-24, pp. 349-355, Oct. 1976.
[3] J. S . Lim, Two-Dimensional Signal and Image Procehsing. Engle-
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.
[4] W. C. Davidon, “Variable metric method for minimization,” AEC
Res. and Devel. Rep. ANL-5990, 1959.
[SI R. Fletcher and M. J. D. Powell, “A rapidly convergent descent
method for minimization,” CompuferJ., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 163-168,
July 1963.
[6] G. A. Shaw and R. M. Mersereau, “Design. stability, and perfor-
mance of two-dimensional recursive digital filters,” Tech. Rep. E2 1-
BOS-I.Georgia Inst. Technol. School Elec. Eng., Dec. 1979.
171 P . Gill, W. Murray, and M. Wright, Prucricul Optimization. Lon-
don: Academic, 1981.
181 R. Fletcher, Practical Methods of Optimization, vol. 1, Uncon-
strained Optimization. New York: Wiley, 1980.
[9] J . Dennis and J . More, “Quasi-Newton methods, motivation, and
theory,” SIAM Rev., vol. 19, pp. 46-89, 1977.
[IO] M. Powell, “How bad are the BFGS and DFP methods when the
objective function is quadratic?,” Rep. DAMTP 1984/NA3, Cam-
bridge, 1984.
[ I I ] D. E . Dudgeon and R. M. Mersereau, Multidimensional Digital Sig-
nul Processing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prenticc-Hall, 1984.
Hexagonal Fast Fourier Transform with Rectangular
output
James C. Ehrhardt
Abstract-Hexagonal sampling is the most efficient sampling pattern
for a two-dimensional circularly band-limited function. This corre-
spondence reports a separable fast discrete Fourier transform (DFT)
algorithm for hexagonally sampled data that directly computes output
points on a rectangular lattice. No interpolation is required. The al-
gorithm is of comparable computational complexity to standard two-
dimensional fast Fourier transforms.
I. INTRODUCTION
Experimental systems in many areas of science collect data that
are sampled on a regular lattice of points in a two-dimensional
space. Frequently, discrete Fourier transforms (DFT’s) are per-
formed on these data for applications such as image reconstruction,
filtering, or compression. When the data sampling lattice is rectan-
gular, fast algorithms for the DFT are well established. These in-
clude row-column, vector-radix, and other algorithms [ 1 ] - [ 3 ] .
If the spectrum of the data has a nonrectangular region o f sup-
port, rectangular sampling may be inefficient. Other lattices with a
lower density of sampling points may allow complete reconstruc-
tion of the continuous input function. In particular, if the data are
circularly band-limited, a hexagonal sampling lattice is the most
efficient [4]. In this case, the minimum sampling density for a hex-
agonal lattice is 13.4% less than for a rectangular lattice.
The efficiency gain of hexagonal sampling can be exploited in a
variety of ways. Recent applications include three-dimensional
Manuscript received June 25, 1991; revised May 15, 1992.
The author was with the Department of Radiology, Kanazawa Medical
University, Ishikawa 920-02, Japan. He is now with the Department of
Radiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.
IEEE Log Number 9206019.
1053-587X/93$03.00 0 1993 IEEE
1469
geophysical seismic surveys [ 5 ] ,holography [ 6 ] ,and magnetic res-
onance (MR) imaging [7].For example, in MR imaging, the mag-
netic field gradients and timing of data acquisition are manipulated
to generate sampling of data in a hexagonal pattern. This can be
used to produce improved image resolution or reduced data acqui-
sition time. Other advantages for specific applications of hexagonal
sampling may include lower computer storage requirements and
lower data acquisition rates. Standard fast Fourier transform (FFT)
algorithms, however, are not applicable to nonrectangularly sam-
pled data. A hexagonal FFT algorithm has been derived by Mer-
sereau [8], but this algorithm calculates the transform values at
output points also distributed on a hexagonal lattice. Although hex-
agonal output may have certain advantages, most standard image
display hardware and software require rectangular pixels. Thus,
use o f Mersereau’s algorithm in imaging would require an addi-
tional interpolation step. This interpolation would require extra
processing time and might introduce artifacts. The purpose of this
correspondence is to present fast algorithms for the discrete Fourier
transform when the data space is sampled hexagonally and trans-
form space is sampled rectangularly.
11. HEXAGONAL
SAMPLING
Although rectangular sampling patterns are chosen often because
they are familiar, other patterns may have more desirable charac-
teristics. A sampling pattern may be specified by a sampling matrix
V . This matrix defines how the discrete d a t a f ( n ) at an integer se-
quence of points n = (n,,n2)‘, may be expressed in terms of the
continuous data functionfc(x), i.e.,
The sampling matrix V may be readily constructed for any situ-
ation. Its columns are simply the basis vectors of the sampling pat-
tern [ 9 ] . Rectangular and hexagonal sampling patterns and corre-
sponding sampling matrices are shown in Fig. 1. For rectangular
sampling, V is a diagonal matrix. For sampling in a hexagonal pat-
tern,
When d , = 2 d 2 / ( 3 ) ” * , the pattern is regular hexagonal sampling.
When a sampled data set is Fourier transformed, aliasing will be
introduced into the spectrum. The locations of these aliases will be
given by a lattice whose basis vectors are given in radian frequen-
cies by the columns of 27r(V‘)-’. For example, as illustrated in
Fig. 1, two-dimensional rectangular sampling produces rectangular
aliasing, while hexagonal sampling produces aliasing in a hexag-
onal pattern.
For hexagonal sampling
(3)
Thus, the aliased images will appear on a hexagonal lattice whose
basis vectors are ( 2 7 r / d l , ~ d , and
) (0,2 7 r / d 2 ) . Note that this lattice
is oriented differently from the sampling lattice. There will be no
overlapping of aliases if the spectrum of the data is circularly band
limited to within a radius of r / d 2 or the hexagon circumscribed
about that circle.
1470 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING. VOL 41, NO. 3. MARCH 1993

Sampling Pattern Sampling Matrix Aliasing Pattern

02
0 . 0 . A

0 . 0 .
LtJ
d,
000
:*I ......
. . . . .

....
Sampling Pattern Sampling Matrix
~
0 o0* o. * 0
o * .o \ ~ o ; .

Fig. 2. A 3 X 4 hexagonally sampled data set periodically extended in a

rectangular array. Note that the hexagonal pattern of 12 dots is repeated
horizontally and vertically.

(b)
Fig. 1. Sampling patterns for (a) rectangular and (b) hexagonal sampling
showing their basis vectors, sampling matrices, and aliasing patterns for a
continuous data function whose spectrum is circular. When the data are
sampled with the patterns shown, the discrete transform produces spectrum
aliases in rectangular or hexagonal patterns.
dots. Eight small dots indicate the remaining hexagonal data set.
In Fig. 2 these data are then replicated in a rectangular pattem.
Note that the group of four large dots is replicated horizontally and
vertically. The basis vectors of the replication pattem are used to
form the periodicity matrix as given in the figure. Assuming the
periodicity matrix shown in Fig. 2 and the hexagonal sampling ma-
trix in (2) the transform sampling matrix S may be shown to be

111. DISCRETE
FOURIER
TRANSFORM
A discrete Fourier transform assumes that a finite data sequence
is periodically replicated throughout space. Then the output values
This diagonal matrix represents rectangular sampling of the Fourier
of the discrete transform represent samples of the transform of the
transform with sampling intervals in the horizontal and vertical di-
continuous input function. The location and pattern of the output
rections given by 2 r / ( 3 d I ) and 7r/2d2, respectively. To summa-
samples are determined by the replication pattem. For example, to
rize this example, if the hexagonally sampled data set of Fig. 2 is
obtain transform values on a rectangular array, we must assume
transformed with the DFT of (4) and the periodicity matrix given
that the data are replicated in a rectangular pattem. We will discuss
in the figure, then the result will be values of the transform at points
these concepts in more detail while we derive the DFT formulas
on a rectangular lattice. No interpolation is required to obtain the
below.
rectangular output. It is calculated directly.
If a finite-extent sequence, f ( n ) , over a region of support n, =
0 . . * NI - 1 and n2 = 0 . . . N 2 - 1 , is periodically extended
so that f ( n ) = f(n +
N r ) , where N is the periodicity matrix as IV. ALGORITHM
discussed below and r is any integer vector, then a discrete Fourier In general, for rectangular output from hexagonal sampling with
transform (DFT) pair may be defined [ 9 ] , [lo] as a sampling matrix given by ( 2 ) , the periodicity matrix may be cho-
sen to be

N = :[ :12].

It is straightforward to show that F ( k ) is also periodic with F ( k ) = The output from this transform is sampled at frequency intervals
F(k + Nrr). of 27r/(Nldl) in the horizontal direction and 27r/(N2d2)in the ver-
The periodicity matrix N is an integer matrix whose columns tical direction. Expanding (4) using ( 6 ) , the DFT o f f ( n ) is
consist of the basis vectors of the replication pattem. The choice
of N will determine how F ( k ) samples the continuous Fourier
transform o f i . ( x ) . To be specific, the matrix S = 27r(NTVT)-I is
the sampling matrix that determines how the continuous transform
offr(x) is sampled. For example, if N is chosen to represent a
rectangular replication of the sequence f, then S will be diagonal
and the Fourier transform will be calculated on a rectangular grid
of points.
These ideas are illustrated in Fig. 2 , which shows a data set of
3 X 4 independent data points sampled on a hexagonal pattern.
Four of these points near the origin are represented by the large
 I

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING, VOL. 41, NO. 3, MARCH 1993 1471

Then

Equations (8) define an algorithm for this DFT. We see that this
process consists of three steps. First, N2 NI-point DFT’s are per-
formed. Then these values are multiplied by a phase factor. Fi-
nally, NI N2-point DFT’s are performed. The inverse transform
may be performed similarly by reversing the sign of the exponential
in each equation.
A special case arises when it is necessary to obtain the transform
values on a square array. In this case, equal transform sampling
intervals imply that N2/N, = d 1 / d 2 .But for regular hexagonal
sampling, the right side of this equation is an irrational number
while the left side must be a rational fraction. Thus, a DFT with
perfect regular hexagonal sampling and square output pixels is not
possible. However, if d , and d2 are selected so that their ratio is a
rational fraction close to 2/31’2, a nearly optimal efficiency gain
is obtained. For example, if d l / d Z = 8 / 7 , the sampling efficiency
will be 12.5% greater than rectangular sampling, which is only
slightly less than the optimal gain of 1 3 . 4 % . This ratio also yields
a straightforward FFT algorithm. If N2 = 256, then N I = 224, and
(8a) involves a 224 = 7 X 32 point DFT. A fast algorithm for this
may be found using the method of Singleton [ 1 I] that involves a 7
point transform, a phase factor multiplication, and a 32 point trans- (b)
form. The 7 point transform may be calculated very efficiently us- Fig. 3 . (a) The output of the algorithm when applied to data whose trans-
ing a small N algorithm (121, and thus the 224 point transform form is a circle. (b) After swapping the quadrants according to the indicated
labels, the origin and the complete circle are brought to the center of the
involves about the same number of operations as the 256 point output array.
transform. Derived using the Chinese remainder theorem [13], an
alternative 224 point FFT algorithm may be used that eliminates
the phase factor multiplication at the expense of sorting the input
V . DISCUSSION
and output indices. The hexagonal transform may be computed in
place except for a small additional memory requirement for the 7 The input data to (8) are expected to be in a regular array with
point transform. n, = 0 . . . NI - 1 and n2 = 0 . ’ ‘ N, - 1 corresponding to the
Equations (8a)-(8c) are not the only fast algorithm for this hex- appropriate set of points in parallelopiped region of support, A
agonal transform. The periodicity matrix may be factored accord- sample 4 X 6 region is illustrated in Fig. 4(a). However, the ex-
ing to the method of Mersereau [IO] to yield a slightly different perimental process may produce data that covers a different region
approach [7]. If the periodicity matrix is factored according to the of input space, such as the 4 X 6 rectangular region shown in Fig.
method of Guessoum and Mersereau [14], an algorithm is obtained 4(b) where the points in each row are numbered from n ; = 0 . . .
that replaces the phase factor multiplication step with sorting steps NI - 1 and ni = n 2 . If so, a direct application of @a)-(&) is not
in both the input and output. appropriate. However, the data set from a rectangular region may
The output of this transform is in natural order with the origin at be reordered or rebinned so that the algorithm may be used. This
( 0 , 0 ) . Applications, such as image formation, may require that the may be accomplished by recognizing that the data set is assumed
origin of the output be shifted to the center of the array. Normally, to be periodic. Since the periodicity is rectangular, the data points
for a rectangular transform, this is accomplished by swapping op- in the upper left triangle of Fig. 4(c) may be found by setting them
posite quadrants of the array. An alternative method requiring little equal to the data points in the upper right triangle and relabelling
computational time is to multiply the input data by ( - 1)‘ +’.For the coordinates of the points. This rebinning may be accomplished
the hexagonal transform, the origin is still at (0, 0), but because by shifting each row of the input data such that
the aliases occur in a hexagonal pattern, the quadrant swapping
must be modified. Fig. 3 shows the hexagonal transform of data
n, = (n; + {n;/2}) mod NI (9)
whose spectrum is circular. To obtain a centered transform, the where the curly brackets are meant to indicate the truncation of the
following quadrant shifts must be performed: I to 11, I1 to IV, I11 quantity to an integer. When rebinning is done before the FFT, the
to I, and IV to 111. The alternative method of multiplying the input transform output will be in normal order.
by a phase factor may be less attractive because complex multipli- An alternative method may be used for data covering a rectan-
cations are required. Because there are NI x N2 input points, there gular region. The spatial shift of (9) is equivalent to introducing a
will be NI X N2 points covering a rectangular area of output space. phase shift into the transform. When the effects of this shift are
Other areas are easily obtained by recognizing the hexagonal alias- incorporated into the DFT, transform (8b) is changed to
ing induced by the transform. Points outside the rectangle are set
equal to corresponding aliased points inside. Coverage of a hex-
agonal area may be obtained in this manner. Also, if a square N2 where the input array to (8a) is the data sequence over a rectangular
X N2 output is needed (e.g., to fill an N 2 image array), the addi- region and numbered as in Fig. 4(b). If the data are in this order
tional points may be duplicated from their aliases. originally, this procedure is more efficient because the rebinning
 I
1472 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING, VOL. 41, NO. 3, MARCH 1993
(C)
Fig. 4. (a) A 4 x 6 hexagonally sampled data set over a parallelopiped
region of support. (b) A 4 x 6 hexagonally sampled data set over a
rectangular region of support. (c) Assuming rectangular periodicity of the
data in (b), a region of support as in (a) can be generated by shifting the
data in the upper right triangle to the upper left triangle and renumbering
the coordinates appropriately.
step is eliminated and the phase multiplication (10) is nontrivial for
only half the points.
An analysis of the number of operations in this algorithm is im-
portant in judging whether or not the efficiency gain of hexagonal
sampling in a particular application is worth the apparent added
complexity of the transform algorithm. Each of the one-dimen-
sional transforms in (8a) and (8c) may be performed with standard
algorithms although at least one of them will not be a power-of-
two algorithm. Also, because of the efficiency of hexagonal sam-
pling, there may be fewer data points than for a similar rectangu-
larly-sampled data set. Thus, the transform times for both types of
sampling are similar. Hence, computational time should not be a
significant factor in choosing between the two sampling methodol-
ogies.
VI. SUMMARY
A fast algorithm is derived for computing the two-dimensional
hexagonal DFT when the input data is hexagonally sampled and
the output points are calculated on a rectangular array. The algo-
rithm is separable into one-dimensional transforms and of compa-
rable complexity as generally-accepted algorithms. The rectangu-
lar output is calculated directly; no interpolation is required. When
the input data cover a rectangular region of interest, a modified,
slightly simpler phase shift may be used.
REFERENCES
[ I ] J . S . Lim, Two-Dimensional Signal and Image Processing. Engle-
wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1990, pp. 163-182.
[2] H. F. Silverman, “Programming the WFTA for two-dimensional
data,” IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. 37, pp.
1425-1431, 1989.
[3] 1. Gertner, “A new efficient algorithm to compute the two-dimen-
sional discrete Fourier transform, IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech,
”
Signal Processing, vol. 36, pp. 1036-1050, 1988.
[4] D. P. Peterson and D. Middleton, “Sampling and reconstruction of
wave-numberlimited functions in N-dimensional Euclidean spaces,”
Inform. Contr., vol. 5, pp. 279-323, 1962.
[SI V . Bardan, “Sampling 3-D seismic data,” Int. J . Imaging Syst. Tech-
nol., vol. 1 , pp. 73-77, 1989.
[6] P. K. Murphy and N. C. Gallagher, “Hexagonal sampling techniques
applied to Fourier and Fresnel digital holograms,” J . Opt. Soc. Amer.,
vol. 72, pp. 929-937, 1982.
171 J . C. Ehrhardt, “MR data acquisition and reconstruction using effi-
cient sampling schemes,” IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging, vol. 9, pp.
305-309, 1990.
181 R . M. Mersereau, “The processing of hexagonally sampled two-di-
mensional signals,” Proc. IEEE. vol. 67, pp. 930-949, 1979.
[9] D. E. Dudgeon and R . M. Mersereau, Multidimensional Digital Sig-
nal Processing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984, pp. 5-
96.
[lo] R . M. Mersereau and T. C. Speake, “A unified treatment of Cooley-
Tukey algorithms for the evaluation of the multidimensional DFT,”
IEEE Trans. Acousr., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. ASSP-29, pp.
loll-1017, 1981.
[ 111 R. C. Singleton, “An algorithm for computing the mixed radix fast
Fourier transform,’’ IEEE Trans. Audio Elecrroacoust., vol. AU-17,
pp. 93-103, 1969.
[12] H. J . Nussbaumer and P. Quandelle, “Fast computation of discrete
Fourier transforms using polynomial transforms,” IEEE Trans.
Acousr., Speech, Signal Processing, vol. ASSP-27, pp. 169-181,
1979.
[13] D. F. Elliot and K. R . Rao, Fast Transforms: Algorithms, Analyses,
Applications. New York: Academic, 1982, pp. 128-129.
[I41 A. Guessoum and R . M. Mersereau. “Fast algorithms for the multi-
dimensional discrete Fourier transform,” IEEE Trans. Acoust.,
Speech, Signal Processing, vol. ASSP-34, pp. 937-943, 1986.
Serial-Parallel FFT Array Processor
Jaehee You and S. Simon Wong
Abstract-An array architecture to compute a fast Fourier transform
(FFT) with a flexible number of identical processing elements is pre-
sented. The architecture is based on the symmetry of a constant ge-
ometry FFT. It allows easy tradeoff between the hardware complexity
and the computation time. A methodology to construct a high radix
FFT with simple lower radix hardware has been developed, based on
successive decompositions and premultiplications. It shows that a high
radix, large length FFT can be efficiently implemented with simple
hardware. To verify the architecture, an experimental radix-2 pro-
cessing element chip has been designed and the results are discussed.
Manuscript received October I I , 1990; revised February 2, 1992.
J . You is with the School of Electronics Engineering, Hongik Univer-
sity, Seoul, Korea.
S . S . Wong is with the Center for Integrated Systems, Stanford Univer-
sity, Stanford, CA 94305.
IEEE Log Number 9206003.