Digital image processing: Concepts, algorithms, and scientific applications

Intended as a practical guide, the book takes the reader from basic concepts to up-to-date research topics in digital image processing. Only little special knowledge in computer sciences is required since many principles and mathematical tools widely used in natural sciences are also applied in digital image processing thus the reader with a general background in natural science gets an easy access to the material presented. The book discusses the following topics: image acquisition and digitization; linear and nonlinear filter operations; edge detection; local orientation and texture; fast algorithms on pyramidal and multigrid data structures; morphological operations to detect the shape of objects; segmentation and classification. Further chapters deal with the reconstruction of three-dimensional objects from projections and the analysis of stereo images and image sequences with differential, correlation, and filter algorithms. Many examples from different areas show how the reader can use digital image processing as an experimental tool for image data acquisition and evaluation in his or her research area.

Since the first edition of "Digital Image Processing" was published in 1991 it has found its way to many desks and classrooms. The book offers an integral view of image processing from physical process of image acquisition to the extraction of the data of interest. This is also revealed in the renewed structure of the seventh edition, dividing the contents in three major parts: Image Acquisition, Image Processing, and Image Analysis. In particular, the Image Acquisition Part is strengthened by a new chapter on Sensors taking into account the technological improvements of recent years. A reference of fundamental mathematics is given in the Appendix.

The book supplements the discussion of the general concepts with examples from applications on PC-based image processing systems and ready-to-use implementations of important algorithms. Each chapter includes exercises that help you to test your understanding, train your skills, and introduce you to real-world image processing tasks. An important part of the exercises is a wealth of interactive computer exercises, which cover all topics of this textbook. These exercises are performed with the image processing software heurisko which is included on the accompanying CD-ROM. In this way you can get own practical experience with almost all topics and algorithms covered by this book.