2010 Second World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing Dec.

15-17,2010 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan

An Adaptive Switching Median Filter with Anisotropic Linking peNN Noise Detection for Salt and Pepper Noise Reduction

Zhan SHI Waseda University Graduate School of Information System and Production Kitakyushyu, Japan shizhan@moegi. waseda.jp

Jinglu HU Waseda University Graduate School of Information System and Production Kitakyushyu, Japan jinglu@waseda.jp

Abstract-This paper proposes a switching scheme for salt and pepper noise reduction by combining a noise detection algorithm based on a simplified pulse coupled neural network

(peNN) with a simple adaptive median filter. The simplified peNN utilizes an adaptive synaptic weight matrix created by
anisotropic linking mechanism to achieve anisotropic linking model, that is the interconnections between neurons with large absolute difference in intensity will be interrupted. Therefore, the neurons corresponding to noise corrupted pixels will receive smaller feedback signal from the neighborhood and generate smaller internal activities compare with the ones corresponding to noise free pixels. The impulse will be detected by setting an appropriate dynamic threshold. After the

peNN

based

noise detection scheme, the pixels contaminated by salt and pepper noise will be restored by a simple adaptive median filter. Experimental results prove that the proposed switching median filter outperform over the conventional methods in both noise reduction and detail preserving. Keywords-impulse noise; switching scheme; adaptive median filter; pulse coupled neural network;

I. INTRODUCTION Digital images are often contaminated by impulse noise during acquisition or transmission. An important character istic of impulse noise is that only a portion of pixels are corrupted and usually with large amplitude. Therefore, the conventional linear filters are not suitable for removing this type of noise because of the serious image blurring produced by the linear filters. In order to solve this problem, non linear filters, especially the median based filters have been introduced, because of their much improved performance in removing impulse noise while preserving the image details [1]. The standard median filter (SMF) is the most popular nonlinear filter, which uses the rank order information of pixel intensities in a filtering window and replaces the central pixel with the median value. Base on the SMF various modifications have been proposed, such as the weighted median filter (WMF) [2] and the center weighted median filter (CWMF) [3]. The conventional median filters have a shortage which is the median operation applied on every pixel without consid ering whether it is corrupted by noise or not. Therefore, the

filtering process will blur the image details and cause quality degradations. Hence, applying a noise detection scheme on median filtering process becomes meaningful to overcome the problem. Sun and Neuvo proposed a switching median filter (SWMF) [4] by cooperating noise detection scheme with median filter, after that lots of impulse detection tech nologies have been presented to apply in switching median filter schemes. The accuracy of noise detection algorithm is the key point whether a switching median filter could achieve good performance. Pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) inspired by the visual cortex of mammals is a kind of artificial neural network suitable for image processing applications [5]. The early researches have proved that PCNN is a powerful tool for image pre-processing especially in image detection because it is sensitive to image details [6][7][8]. Hence, it is possible to introduce PCNN as a noise detection tech nology. During last decades, many papers focus on PCNN image processing have been proposed [9][10][11]. However, the conventional PCNN is usually time consuming and uncontrollable because it is a divergent iterative algorithm with many parameters. Based on the conventional PCNN model, we simplify the network structure and applying an anisotropic linking mechanism to interrupt the interconnec tions between the neurons with large absolute difference in intensity. Therefore, neurons corresponding to noisy pixels will receive smaller feedback signal from the neighborhood and generate smaller internal activities compare with the noise free pixels. The noisy pixels will be detected by setting an appropriate dynamic threshold. After the PCNN based noise detection scheme, the noise corrupted pixels will be restored by a simple adaptive median filter. The adaptive median filter utilizes an adaptive filter window due to the rank order information of pixels to reduce the influence from the other noise corrupted pixels in the filtering window on estimate accuracy. The reset of the paper is organized as follows: Section II gives a review about the switching median filter. Section III presents the PCNN based noise detection algorithm. In Section IV, the adaptive median filter and the proposed salt

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233

and pepper noise reduction method are given. Section V shows the experimental results and Section VI concludes this work. II. REVIEW OF SWITCHING MEDIAN FILTER A. Noise Model Impulse noise is caused by malfunctioning pixels in camera sensors, faulty memory locations in hardware, or transmission in a noisy channel. There are mainly two types of impulse noise the salt and pepper noise and the random valued noise. In this work, we focus on the former type. For images corrupted by salt-and-pepper noise, the image pixels are randomly corrupted by two fixed extremal values of the dynamic intensity range (for 8 bit gray scale image are 0 and 255) with equal probability. The mathematic form of salt and pepper noise model is give by Eqs. (1):

III. ANISOTROPIC LINKING peNN NOISE DETECTION A. The Original peNN Model peNN was introduced by Eckhorn in the late 1980s. It is a single layer, two dimensional, laterally connected network with pulse coupled neurons. In image processing applications, each peNN neuron corresponds to one image pixel. An original peNN neuron consists of 3 parts, the input part, the linking part and the pulse generator, shown by Fig. 2. In input part, each peNN neuron receives two channels of input signal, one is feeding input and the other is linking input. Feeding input receives feedback signals from neighboring neurons and external stimulus which is the intensity value of the input pixel. Linking input is the secondary input of lateral connections with neighboring neurons. The feeding and the linking inputs are multiplied together in the linking part to obtain an internal activity which will be compared with a dynamic threshold in the pulse generator to generate a binary output.The original peNN model is described by Eqs. (3) to (7):

Xij Xij

P/2,Xij 0 p/2,Xij 255 1 -p,Xij Sij

= = =

(1)

where, is the noisy image pixel at location (i, j), is the intensity of original image and is the noise density.

Sij

Fij[n]

B.

Switching Median Filter

Sun and Neuvo proposed a switching scheme for median filtering in 1992 by applying a noise detection algorithm before the median operation. The switching scheme is re alized by an impulse detector utilizing a standard median filter or a weighted median filter, which is shown by Fig. 1. Due to the switching scheme, the filtering processes are only applying on the noise corrupted pixels to avoid the signal distortion caused by the conventional median filters. They used the absolute difference between the central pixel and the median value in a filtering window as a measurement to judge whether the central pixel is noise corrupted or noise free. The simplest switching logic is based on a threshold value the filtering output is given by Eqs. (2):

kl Lij[n] e-CXL Lij[n -1] + VL L MijklYkdn -1] kl Uij[n] Fij[n](l + ,BLij[n]) 1,Uij[n] Bij[n] Yi. [n]
= =

e-CXF Fij[n -1]+VF L WijkIYkz[n -1]+Sij (3)

(4) (5) (6)

{ 0, othertu2Se
M

T,

Sij, Ixd -Ymedl < T Yij - Y med, IXij -Ymed I> T

_ _

(2)

where is the output of switching median filter. When the absolute difference between the central pixel and the median value is larger than the threshold is detected as the noise corrupted pixel and replaces by the median value Otherwise, is noise free and the output is not changed from the original value Switching median filter is the most popular method in impulse noise reduction because the scheme avoids de tail blurring caused by median processes. So far, lots of switching scheme have been proposed [12][13][14]. Hence, improving the detection accuracy becomes a key point of this research. In this paper, we will introduce an artificial neural network peNN which is inspired by visual cortex of mammals as an impulse detection method.

Yij

Ymed

Xij T, Xij

Yij

Ymed.

Xij

is the intensity value of the input image pixel, correspond to the feeding input and the and linking input respectively. and W are synaptic weight matrices corresponding to feeding channel and linking chan nel. Normally, is equal to W. is the linking coefficient, and (xo are the attenuation time constants of and are inherent voltage and potential of and is the internal activity of a neuron, is the dynamic threshold and stands for the binary output of neuron. The neurons will be pulsed when the internal activity is larger than the dynamic threshold

where

Fij[n]

Sij

Lij[n] M

(XF, (XL Lij[n] Yij[n]

,B

Vo Bij[n], VF, VL Fij[n], Lij[n] Bij[n]. Uij[n] Bij[n] Bij[n].

Fij[n],

Uij[n]

Sij'

Input

Figure I.

Simple switching scheme

234

 cr
.,.

&,
:::l

FeedinB Channel

o (0 o
Figure 3. Simple example on anisotropic linking mechanism

a iil

Z '" c Unklns Channel

Figure 2.

Structure of an original peNN neuron

PCNN is a powerful tool for image detection, for example the edge detection and object detection, because it is sen sitive to image details. However, the original PCNN model has some shortages, 1). PCNN is usually time consuming because it operates as a divergence iterative algorithm. 2). PCNN has lots of parameters make it difficult to control and analyze.
R

Simplified peNN with Anisotropic Interconnections for Noise Detection

I) peNNA! Model: In this paper, we propose a simplified PCNN model with anisotropic interconnections (PCNNAI) for impulse detection by applying anisotropic linking mech anism. The neuron structure of PCNNAI is similar with the original PCNN model. In the input part, PCNNAI neurons receive feeding and linking input signal from the neighboring neurons. Then feeding and linking inputs will be combined to obtain the internal activity in the linking part. The output of PCNNAI neurons are determined by comparing with the dynamic threshold The mathematic form of PCNNAI model is described by Eqs. (8) to (12). The initial values of Eqs. (8) to (12) are equal to O.

2) peNNAI for Noise Detection: In order to detected the noise corrupted pixels, we propose an anisotropic linking mechanism for the simplified PCNN model. Different from the original PCNN model, PCNNAI utilizes an adaptive synaptic weight matrix created by the anisotropic linking mechanism instead of and of the original PCNN. Therefore, PCNNAI neurons have an anisotropic linking model, that is interconnections between the central neuron and the surrounding neurons will be interrupted when the ab solute difference of the corresponding image pixels are large than a linking threshold Hence, noise corrupted pixels will receive smaller feedback signal from the neighborhood than the noise free pixels. Fig. 3 gives a simple example, neuron A, B and C correspond to image pixels in flat region, on image edge and corrupted by impulse noise respectively. Due to the anisotropic linking mechanism, neuron C will receive smaller feedback signal from the neighborhood and will generate smaller internal activity compare with neuron A and B, so that the noise corrupted pixel will be detected by setting an appropriate threshold Ve.

A M

Ttink.

U,

B.

The detection procedure of PCNNAI is described by following steps: 1). Compute the absolute difference between the central pixel and the surrounding pixels in a 3 by 3 region.

Xij

Dij Xkl

Fij[n] L AijklYkz[n -1] + C kl Lij[n] L AijklYkdn -1] kl Uij[n] Fij[n](l + ,BLij[n]) l,Uij[n] Bij[n] .[n] Y;'J
= = = =

(8) (9) (10) (11) (12) 2). Choosing an appropriate linking threshold determine the anisotropic synaptic weights the central neuron located at (i, j).

(13)

Ttink Aijkl(Dijkl)

to of

{ 0, otherw2se
=

.kl) A.'J . kl(D.'J

.

Dijkl:::; Ttink { 1, 0, otherwise

.

(14)

Bij[n] VIIl'ij[n] A C

where is an adaptive synaptic weight matrix created by the anisotropic linking mechanism to achieve the anisotropic linking model. is a small constant to ensure that all PCNNAI neurons will pulse at the first generation that is the outputs are equal to after the first generation. Therefore, all the neurons can generate feedback signal at the second generation, noise corrupted pixels will be detected at the second generation of the outputs.

l'ij

4). Extend the 3 by 3 region to a 5 by 5 region. Compute the summation of weights both in the 3 by 3 window and 5 by 5 window. If their absolute difference is smaller than a threshold pixel is a noise corrupted. Otherwise, is noise free.

3). Compute the internal activity Uij of neuron (i, j). If ' I Xij IS nOise corrupted', If Uij > V;IIhigh ' Ui,j:::; V;IIlow , pIxe pixel Xij is noise free. Otherwise, go to step 4).

Xij

Tw,

Xij

235

Table I MAXIMUM WINDOW SIZE OF ADAPTIVE MEDIAN FILTER Noise Density r::; 0.25 0.25 < r ::; 0.40 0.40 < r::; 0.60 0.60 < r::; 0.70 0.70 < r::; 0.80 r > 0.80
Nmax 5 7 9 13 17 25

and

Sij'
N

D.
tJ

1, noisecorrupted { 0, noisefree
x

(15) (16)

Yij

Dij

r;ed + (1 - N Dij) Sij

*

where xr; ed is the output of the adaptive median filter, is the intensity value of the original image.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Sij

IV. ADA PTIVE MEDIAN FILTER FOR SALT AND PEPPER

NOISE REDUCTION

A. Adaptive Median Filter In this paper, we utilize a simple adaptive median filter to restore the noise corrupted pixels. The processes of the adaptive median filter in a N by N window centered at location (i, j) are described by following steps: 1). Initialize N 2). Sort the elements inside the N by N window in ascend ing order. Compute the minimum value xr; n , the maximum wX and the median value x ii ed respectively. value x i J . . 3). If N < Nmax, go to step 4). OtherwIse, output IS . equal to xr; ed ax is satisfied, the 4). If inequation xr; n < xii ed < xr; output is equal to xr; ed. Otherwise N N + and go to step 2). Nmax is the maximum window size which defined by the density of noise, Table I gives the maximum window size used in this work. Due to the adaptive filtering window, the simple adaptive median filter reduces the influence from the other noise corrupted pixels on estimate accuracy.
=

3.

In our experiments, two 8-bit gray scale images "Lena" and "Boat" are chosen as the test images. We examine our proposed by processing the test image contaminated by different noise level. The results are compared with several conventional median based filters, the SMF [15], SWMF [4] and PSMF [12]. The performance of proposed salt and pepper noise reduction method is measured by PSNR which can be calculated by following formulas: P SN R
=

1OIoglO( )dB MSE

2552

(17)

Yij

MSE

1 MN

2:2:)Yij - Sij) ij ij 20%, 30%, 40%

(18)

Yij

B.

Proposed Salt and Pepper Noise Reduction Method

The proposed salt and pepper noise reduction switching median filter is realized by combining a PCNNAI noise detection algorithm with a simple adaptive median filter. The structure of our proposed switching median filter is shown by Fig. 4. Due to the PCNNAI noise detection, a binary image N is obtained in which the noise corrupted pixels are denoted by 1 and the noise free pixels are denoted by O. The adaptive median processes only apply on the noise corrupted pixels. All the noise free pixels would remain intact. The output could be expressed by N x r; ed

The PSNR values of experimental results from the testing filters are shown by Table II. The test images were corrupted by 4 different noise densities, and From Table II we can see that the proposed method achieve higher PSNR values than the conventional methods. In order to compare the performances of testing filters more intuitively, the results of testing method operated on "Lena" and "Boat" which were corrupted by salt and pepper noise are shown by Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. The images in first column are corresponding to original image, SMF with 5 by 5 filtering window and the PSMF from top to bottom. The second column are corresponding to noisy image, SWMF and proposed method from top to bottom. The results show that the proposed method can remove salt and pepper noise effectively meanwhile preserving the image details well.

50%.

30%

VI. CONCLUSION This paper proposes an adaptive switching median filter utilizing a noise detection algorithm based on a simplified PCNN. Different with the conventional PCNN model, the simplified PCNN using an adaptive synaptic weight matrix to achieve anisotropic link model, that is interconnections between the central neuron and the surrounding neurons will be interrupted when the absolute difference of the corre sponding image pixels are larger than a linking threshold. Hence, noise corrupted pixels will receive smaller feedback signal from the neighborhood and generate smaller internal activities than the noise free pixels. The impulse will be detected by choosing an appropriate dynamic threshold. After the PCNN based noise detection scheme, the pixels

Yij

Dij,

Input

Figure 4.

Structure of proposed switching median filter

236

Table II PSNR VALUES OF TESTING ALTERS Method SMF 3by3 SMF 5by5 SWMF PSMF Proposed 20% 30.64 27.49 34.11 33.97 35.73 Lena 30% 40% 28.60 24.74 25.78 27.00 28.56 32.60 29.47 32.68 34.98 30.04 50% 18.40 22.67 20.62 23.04 27.31 20% 30.33 27.04 33.62 33.03 35.55 Boat 30% 40% 29.61 26.97 26.80 25.90 28.66 32.32 32.12 29.56 33.94 31.07 50% 18.75 23.63 20.10 23.83 26.02

Figure 5.

Results of "Lena" corrupted by 30% salt and pepper noise

Figure 6.

Results of "Boat" corrupted by 30% salt and pepper noise

contaminated by salt and pepper noise will be restored by a simple adaptive median filter. Experimental results prove that our proposed method outperform over the conventional impulse noise reduction methods in both noise reduction and detail preserving.
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