Signals and Systems

Assignment
On
(IMAGE PROCESSING)

Submitted by:-

Shikha Priya
What is Image Processing???
Image processing is a physical process used to convert an image signal
into a physical image. The image signal can be either digital or analog. The actual
output itself can be an actual physical image or the characteristics of an image. In
electrical engineering and computer science, image processing is any form of signal
processing for which the input is an image, such as a photograph or video frame; the
output of image processing may be either an image or, a set of characteristics or
parameters related to the image. Most image-processing techniques involve treating the
image as a two-dimensional signal and applying standard signal-processing techniques
to it.

Image processing techniques were first developed in 1960 through the

collaboration of a wide range of scientists and academics. The main focus of their work
was to develop medical imaging, character recognition and create high quality images
at the microscopic level. During this period, equipment and processing cost were
prohibitively high. The financial constraints had a serious impact on the depth and
breadth of technology development that could be done. By the 1970s, computing
equipment costs had dropped substantially making digital image processing more
realistic. Film and software companies invested significant funds into the development
and enhancement of image processing, creating a new industry.

Image processing usually refers to digital image processing, but optical

and analog image processing also are possible. This article is about general techniques
that apply to all of them. The acquisition of images (producing the input image in the first
place) is referred to as imaging.

The most common type of image processing is photography. In this

process, an image is captured using a camera to create a digital or analog image. In
order to produce a physical picture, the image is processed using the appropriate
technology based on the input source type.

In digital photography, the image is stored as a computer file. This file is

translated using photographic software to generate an actual image. The colors,
shading, and nuances are all captured at the time the photograph is taken the software
translates this information into an image.

When creating images using analog photography, the image is burned into
a film using a chemical reaction triggered by controlled exposure to light. The image is
processed in a darkroom, using special chemicals to create the actual image. This
process is decreasing in popularity due to the advent of digital photography, which
requires less effort and special training to product images.

In addition to photography, there are a wide range of other image

processing operations. The field of digital imaging has created a whole range of new
applications and tools that were previously impossible. Face recognition software,
medical image processing and remote sensing are all possible due to the development
of digital image processing. Specialized computer programs are used to enhance and
correct images. These programs apply algorithms to the actual data and are able to
reduce signal distortion, clarify fuzzy images and add light to an underexposed image.

There are three major benefits to digital image processing. The consistent
high quality of the image, the low cost of processing and the ability to manipulate all
aspects of the process are all great benefits. As long as computer processing speed
continues to increase while the cost of storage memory continues to drop, the field of
image processing will grow.

What are the different types of Digital

Processing???
Digital processing is used in a variety of applications. The different types
of digital processing include image processing, audio processing, video processing,
signal processing, and data processing. In the most basic terms, digital processing
refers to any manipulation of electronic data to produce a specific effect.

Image processing is perhaps the best known example of digital

processing. Used in the web graphics and photography industries, this form of digital
processing allows the user to manipulate the data in the image to add watermarks,
adjust the coloration, apply dithering, or perform other tasks to alter or enhance the
image. Image processing is closely tied to video processing, which carries the process
further, enabling the user to edit and manipulate full video files. By incorporating
multiplexing during video processing, the user can add metadata, such as subtitles or
closed captioning, that can be retrieved on demand and hidden when not in use.

Multiplexing is also used for signal processing. Digital television and

telephone services rely on the use of multiplexing. In television, multiple channels on a
single line can be provided using this technique. The telephone service industry also
relies heavily on digital processing to be able to serve multiple customers on a small
number of lines.

Audio processing is another form of digital processing that allows the user
to clean-up or mix sound files. Using various processing techniques, the sound engineer
can add tracks to a file, remove background noise, or otherwise enhance the audio files.
It is even possible to add a digital watermark to sound files for purposes of copyright
protection. In some cases, sound engineers also add noise to an audio track in a
process called dithering, which serves to enhance the overall quality of the sound file by
smoothing some of the harsh changes in the audio as sounds move up and down on
the frequency waveform. This same technique is also used in image and video
processing to smooth the finished digital images.

Digital processing is also used to manipulate or study data. In some

cases, this data processing is used for public safety, as in the case studies of
earthquake or hurricane activity. Digital data processing provides a much faster and
accurate means of data processing, enabling increased warning times for impending
disasters. It is also used in laboratory research of medicines and computer sciences to
quickly work through the complex computations that once required hours of intensive
research and manual processing.

Applications of Image Processing???

Different types of image processing applications include those used in the
fields of medicine, digital art, meteorology, law enforcement and more. Doctors use
radiology equipment built with image processing technology for the detection of health
problems such as cancerous tumors and blockages in blood vessels. Graphic designers
and animation artists use image processing to create illustrations and computer game
characters. Meteorologists are able to detect and predict weather patterns through
remote sensing technology that uses digital signal processing. Police detectives use
digital photo processing technology that is designed to detect specific faces, which
helps them in apprehending criminals.

X-ray technology has been around for decades in the healthcare field, and
it has been improved through computer processing techniques that allow doctors to
view clear and detailed images of internal body systems. Angiography is a specific
application of image signal processing that renders highly contrasted images of a
patient's blood vessels and any potentially dangerous clots or plaques within them.
Image processing applications can also be found in computerized axial tomography
(CAT) scans, which have improved the rates of early cancer detection and have thus
increased patients' chances of recovery.
 Digital photo processing is one of the foundations of computerized graphic
arts. Evolutions of dynamic, interactive websites have created a demand for more
sophisticated illustrations and animations in order for these types of sites to stand out
from the rest. Image processing applications are used in both realistic and non-realistic
digital painting and drawing techniques. Artists and animators also use digital filtering to
alter and enhance their creations, including rendering them in three dimensions (3D).
Computer game design incorporates advanced animation methods to bring characters
to life, and these games have become much more realistic than in the past because of
improvements in graphics processing.

Image processing applications also have uses in areas of environmental

science, particularly in monitoring and reporting weather patterns. Advancements in
image processing have led to further developments in remote sensing, which uses
satellites to record light spectrum and pressure changes that would not otherwise be
visible to the human eye. This kind of signal processing can be used to create infrared
images of storage systems as well as to track their movements over specific time
periods.

The mug shots that have been traditionally used in law enforcement have
been taken to a new level thanks to image processing. Face recognition technology is
able to capture images of suspects through video surveillance and automatically match
them to their mug shot images in an existing criminal database. Numbers of captured
offenders have increased thanks to this image processing application.

What is Medical Image Processing???

Medical imaging is the technique and process used to create images of
the human body (or parts and function thereof) for clinical purposes (medical
procedures seeking to reveal, diagnose or examine disease) or medical science
(including the study of normal anatomy and physiology). Although imaging of removed
organs and tissues can be performed for medical reasons, such procedures are not
usually referred to as medical imaging, but rather are a part of pathology.

As a discipline and in its widest sense, it is part of biological imaging and

incorporates radiology (in the wider sense), nuclear medicine, investigative radiological
sciences, endoscopy, (medical) thermography, medical photography and microscopy
(e.g. for human pathological investigations).

Measurement and recording techniques which are not primarily designed

to produce images, such as electroencephalography (EEG), magneto-encephalo-
graphy (MEG), Electro-cardiography (EKG) and others, but which produce data
susceptible to be represented as maps (i.e. containing positional information), can be
seen as forms of medical imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

A brain MRI representation

A magnetic resonance imaging instrument (MRI scanner), or "nuclear

magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging" scanner as it was originally known, uses powerful
magnets to polarize and excite hydrogen nuclei (single proton) in water molecules in
human tissue, producing a detectable signal which is spatially encoded, resulting in
images of the body. The MRI machine emits an RF (radio frequency) pulse that
specifically binds only to hydrogen. The system sends the pulse to the area of the body
to be examined. The pulse makes the protons in that area absorb the energy needed to
make them spin in a different direction. This is the “resonance” part of MRI. The RF
pulse makes them (only the one or two extra unmatched protons per million) spin at a
specific frequency, in a specific direction. The particular frequency of resonance is
called the Larmour frequency and is calculated based on the particular tissue being
imaged and the strength of the main magnetic field. MRI uses three electromagnetic
fields: a very strong (on the order of units of teslas) static magnetic field to polarize the
hydrogen nuclei, called the static field; a weaker time-varying (on the order of 1 kHz)
field(s) for spatial encoding, called the gradient field(s); and a weak radio-frequency
(RF) field for manipulation of the hydrogen nuclei to produce measurable signals,
collected through an RF antenna.
 Like CT, MRI traditionally creates a two dimensional image of a thin "slice"
of the body and is therefore considered a tomographic imaging technique. Modern MRI
instruments are capable of producing images in the form of 3D blocks, which may be
considered a generalization of the single-slice, tomographic, concept. Unlike CT, MRI
does not involve the use of ionizing radiation and is therefore not associated with the
same health hazards. For example, because MRI has only been in use since the early
1980s, there are no known long-term effects of exposure to strong static fields (this is
the subject of some debate; see 'Safety' in MRI) and therefore there is no limit to the
number of scans to which an individual can be subjected, in contrast with X-ray and CT.
However, there are well-identified health risks associated with tissue heating from
exposure to the RF field and the presence of implanted devices in the body, such as
pace makers. These risks are strictly controlled as part of the design of the instrument
and the scanning protocols used.

Because CT and MRI are sensitive to different tissue properties, the

appearance of the images obtained with the two techniques differ markedly. In CT, X-
rays must be blocked by some form of dense tissue to create an image, so the image
quality when looking at soft tissues will be poor. In MRI, while any nucleus with a net
nuclear spin can be used, the proton of the hydrogen atom remains the most widely
used, especially in the clinical setting, because it is so ubiquitous and returns a large
signal. This nucleus, present in water molecules, allows the excellent soft-tissue
contrast achievable with MRI.

Breast Thermography
Digital infrared imaging thermography is based on the principle that
metabolic activity and vascular circulation in both pre-cancerous tissue and the area
surrounding a developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in normal breast
tissue. Cancerous tumors require an ever-increasing supply of nutrients and therefore
increase circulation to their cells by holding open existing blood vessels, opening
dormant vessels, and creating new ones (neoangiogenesis). This process frequently
results in an increase in regional surface temperatures of the breast. Digital infrared
imaging uses extremely sensitive medical infrared cameras and sophisticated
computers to detect, analyze, and produce high-resolution diagnostic images of these
temperature variations. Because of DII's sensitivity, these temperature variations may
be among the earliest signs of breast cancer and/or a pre-cancerous state of the
breast.