Unit 1

Introduction

Digital Image Representation

 The field of digital image processing refers to processing digital images by means of
digital computer.
 Digital image is composed of a finite number of elements, each of which has a particular
location and value. These elements are called picture elements, image elements and
pixels.
 An image is a two-dimensional function that represents a measure of some characteristic
such as brightness or color of a viewed scene. An image is a projection of a 3- D scene
into a 2D projection plane.

 An image may be defined as a two-dimensional function f(x,y), where x and y are spatial
(plane) coordinates, and the amplitude to f at any pair of coordinates (x,y) is called the
intensity of the image at that point. The term gray levels used often to refer to the
intensity of monochrome images.

Image Processing Challenges & Solutions

1. Noise and Distortions
Issue: Noise here stands for imperfections in images. These deformities can appear
because of poor lightning, limited sensors, and the compression of files. Because of these
reasons, the image file does not appear clearly. These errors can impact the
accurate conversion of images.

Solution: Data scientists know how to address this problem. They particularly use noise
reduction techniques and algorithms, such as non-local means, wavelet denoising
method. With these techniques, the image quality is turned better before processing.

2. Variability in Image Quality

Issue: This second main concern is connected with the quality and resolution solutions.
Blur picture and incomplete words can make it hard to apply a uniform scripting across
the entire database. Technically, it can stop further processing for a while.
 Solution: To overcome these issues, data specialists use special pre-processing
techniques. They try hands on image resizing, normalization, and enhance contrast so that
image quality can be optimized for smooth analysis. In many cases, data augmentation is
carried out for additional training of data. For it, existing images are used.

3. Object Detection and Recognition

Issue: Objects are images and videos in a picture. Identifying and recognizing objects in
images is a big struggle. It becomes more complex when the image carries multiple
objects, occlusions, etc.

Solution: The processing starts with detecting objects using a computer vision technique.
With its support, instances of objects are located in the file. For this purpose, object
detection algorithms are filtered to leverage machine or deep learning for analytics. A
few pretrained models, such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) and Faster R-CNN can be
used to quickly detect objects in image files.

4. Data Annotation and Labeling

Issue: Annotation refers to labeling. Here in the case of image data, recognizing images
(if they are diverse and multiple) is difficult for a machine. Without conversion, further
processing cannot take place. And if they are identified incorrectly, their analysis will end
up in unrealistic results or errors.

Solution: Annotation is the process wherein relevant tags are used to label them. This
labeling makes it smooth for computers to understand, recognize, and interpret images,
text, audio, or video. So, data annotation is used to make images recognizable. Once done
correctly, models are trained for further processing and removing errors through experts
outsourcing companies.

5. Computational Resource Intensity

Issue: Having compatible computational resources is not easy. You cannot move further
in processing images unless you have access to substantial computational resources. So,
you need to bear expenses for employing those resources.

Solution: This issue can be resolved by optimizing models and algorithms so that they
can achieve efficiency. You can consult for cloud-based solutions if your image data is
expansive. This solution can ease data transfer and modeling. Also, use GPU acceleration
as a computational resource.

Applications of Digital Image Processing

Since digital image processing has very wide applications and almost all of the technical fields
are impacted by DIP, we will just discuss some of the major applications of DIP.
Digital image processing has a broad spectrum of applications, such as
1. Remote sensing via satellites and other spacecraft
2. Image transmission and storage for business applications
3. Medical processing
4. RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging)
5. SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging)
6. Acoustic Image Processing
7. Robotics and automated inspection of industrial parts

Fundamental Steps in Digital Signal Processing

Image Acquisition: It could be as simple as being given an image that is already in digital form.
Generally, the image acquisition stage involves processing such scaling.

Image Enhancement: It is among the simplest and most appealing areas of digital image
processing. The idea behind this is to bring out details that are obscured or simply to highlight
certain features of interest in image. Image enhancement is a very subjective area of image
processing.

Image Restoration: It deals with improving the appearance of an image. It is an objective

approach, in the sense that restoration techniques tend to be based on mathematical or
probabilistic models of image processing. Enhancement, on the other hand is based on human
subjective preferences regarding what constitutes a “good” enhancement result.

Color Image Processing: It is an area that is been gaining importance because of the use of
digital images over the internet. Color image processing deals with basically color models and
their implementation in image processing applications.

Wavelets and Multiresolution Processing: These are the foundation for representing image in
various degrees of resolution.

Compression: It deals with techniques reducing the storage required to save an image, or the
bandwidth required to transmit it over the network. It has to major approaches
 Lossless Compression
 Lossy Compression

Morphological Processing: It deals with tools for extracting image components that are useful
in the representation and description of shape and boundary of objects. It is majorly used in
automated inspection applications.

Representation and Description: It always follows the output of segmentation step that is, raw
pixel data, constituting either the boundary of an image or points in the region itself. In either
case converting the data to a form suitable for computer processing is necessary.

Recognition: It is the process that assigns label to an object based on its descriptors. It is the last
step of image processing which use artificial intelligence of software.

Knowledge Base: Knowledge about a problem domain is coded into an image processing
system in the form of a knowledge base. This knowledge may be as simple as detailing regions
of an image where the information of the interest in known to be located thus, limiting search
that has to be conducted in seeking the information. The knowledge base also can be quite
complex such interrelated list of all major possible defects in a materials inspection problem or
an image database containing high resolution satellite images of a region in connection with
change detection application.
Image Sampling and Quantization

The output of most sensors is a continuous voltage waveform whose amplitude and spatial
behavior are related to the physical phenomenon being sensed. To create a digital image, we
need to convert the continuous sensed data into digital form. This involves two processes:
sampling and quantization. The basic idea behind sampling and quantization is illustrated in
below figure. Figure (a) shows a continuous image, f(x, y), that we want to convert to digital
form. An image may be continuous with respect to the x- and y-coordinates, and also in
amplitude. To convert it to digital form, we have to sample the function in both coordinates and
in amplitude. Digitizing the coordinate values is called sampling. Digitizing the amplitude values
is called quantization. The one-dimensional function shown in Fig (b) is a plot of amplitude
(gray level) values of the continuous image along the line segment AB in Fig. (a) The random
variations are due to image noise. To sample this function, we take equally spaced samples along
line AB, as shown in Fig.(c).The location of each sample is given by a vertical tick mark in the
bottom part of the figure. The samples are shown as small white squares superimposed on the
function. The set of these discrete locations gives the sampled function. However, the values of
the samples still span (vertically) a continuous range of gray-level values. In order to form a
digital function, the gray-level values also must be converted (quantized) into discrete quantities.
The right side of Fig.(c) shows the gray-level scale divided into eight discrete levels, ranging
from black to white. The vertical tick marks indicate the specific value assigned to each of the
eight gray levels. The continuous gray levels are quantized simply by assigning one of the eight
discrete gray levels to each sample. The assignment is made depending on the vertical proximity
of a sample to a vertical tick mark. The digital samples resulting from both sampling and
quantization are shown in Fig.(d). Starting at the top of the image and carrying out this procedure
line by line produces a two dimensional digital image.
Elements of Visual perception

The field of digital image processing is built on the foundation of mathematical and
probabilistic formulation, but human intuition and analysis play the main role to make the
selection between various techniques, and the choice or selection is basically made on
subjective, visual judgments.

In human visual perception, the eyes act as the sensor or camera, neurons act as the connecting
cable and the brain acts as the processor.

The basic elements of visual perceptions are:

1. Structure of Eye
2. Image Formation in the Eye
3. Brightness Adaptation and Discrimination

Structure of Eye:

The human eye is a slightly asymmetrical sphere with an average diameter of the length of
20mm to 25mm. It has a volume of about 6.5cc. The eye is just like a camera. The external
object is seen as the camera takes the picture of any object. Light enters the eye through a small
hole called the pupil, a black looking aperture having the quality of contraction of eye when
exposed to bright light and is focused on the retina which is like a camera film.
The lens, iris, and cornea are nourished by clear fluid, known as anterior chamber. The fluid
flows from ciliary body to the pupil and is absorbed through the channels in the angle of the
anterior chamber. The delicate balance of aqueous production and absorption controls pressure
within the eye.
Cones in eye number between 6 to 7 million which are highly sensitive to colors. Human
visualizes the colored image in daylight due to these cones. The cone vision is also called as
photopic or bright-light vision.
Rods in the eye are much larger between 75 to 150 million and are distributed over the retinal
surface. Rods are not involved in the color vision and are sensitive to low levels of illumination.

Image Formation in the Eye:

When the lens of the eye focus an image of the outside world onto a light-sensitive membrane in
the back of the eye, called retina the image is formed. The lens of the eye focuses light on the
photoreceptive cells of the retina which detects the photons of light and responds by producing
neural impulses.

The distance between the lens and the retina is about 17mm and the focal length is approximately
14mm to 17mm.

Brightness Adaptation and Discrimination:

Digital images are displayed as a discrete set of intensities. The eyes ability to discriminate black
and white at different intensity levels is an important consideration in presenting image
processing result.

The range of light intensity levels to which the human visual system can adapt is of the order of
1010 from the scotopic threshold to the glare limit. In a photopic vision, the range is about 10 6.
Relationship between Pixels:
We consider several important relationships between pixels in a digital image.

Neighbors of a Pixel:
A pixel P at coordinates (x,y) has four horizontal and vertical neighbors whose coordinates are
given by: (x+1,y), (x-1, y), (x, y+1), (x,y-1)

This set of pixels, called the 4-neighbors or P, is denoted by N4(p). Each pixel is one unit
distance from (x,y) and some of the neighbors of P lie outside the digital image if (x,y) is on the
border of the image. The four diagonal neighbors of P have coordinates and are denoted by
ND(P). (x+1, y+1), (x+1, y-1), (x-1, y+1), (x-1, y-1).

These points, together with the 4-neighbors, are called the 8-neighbors of P, denoted by N8(P).

As before, some of the points in ND(P) and N8(P) fall outside the image if (x,y) is on the border
of the image.
Adjacency and Connectivity:
Let V be the set of gray level values used to define adjacency, in a binary image, V={1}. In a
gray-scale image, the idea is the same, but V typically contains more elements, for example, V=
{180, 181, 182, …,200}.
If the possible intensity values 0 – 255, V set can be any subset of these 256 values. if we are
reference to adjacency of pixel with value.

Three types of Adjacency:

4- Adjacency – two pixel P and Q with value from V are 4 –adjacency if A is in the set N4(P)
8- Adjacency – two pixel P and Q with value from V are 8 –adjacency if A is in the set N8(P)
M-adjacency –two pixel P and Q with value from V are m – adjacency if
(i) Q is in N4(P) or
(ii) Q is in ND(Q) and the
(iii) Set N4(P) ∩ N4(Q) has no pixel whose values are from V.
Mixed adjacency is a modification of 8-adjacency. It is introduced to eliminate the ambiguities
that often arise when 8-adjacency issued.
For example: