Directional Information Processing Using Optical Rotating Kernel Operations

광회전 커널 오퍼레이션을 이용하는 방향성 정보 처리

A nonlinear method for directional information processing is introduced, along with an application of directional feature enhancement. In this method, an input is convolved with a 2-D ong, norrow kernel, which is rotated through 360 degree, continuously or discretely in a large number of steps. An output is given by some function of the convolution results. Linear features that are aligned with the kernel are enhanced, otherwise, removed or suppressed. The method presented is insensitive to variation in the dimension of linear features to be processed and preserves a good enhancement capability even for an image characterized by low contrast and spatially varying brightness in noisy backgroung. Effects of the kernel legnth and width on the performance are discussed. A possible hybrid optical-electronic implementation is also discussed.