A COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT ALGORITHM FOR ENHANCING LINEAR FEATURES IN IMAGES

We present a computationally efficient algorithm for highlighting long linear features in images. The algorithm is based on the recursive bi nary decomposition of the image into subimages that have been line enh anced along different directions. After a number of successive decompo sitions, the subimages are recombined to yield a line enhanced image. The performance of the algorithm is similar to that of rotating-kernel -type enhancement routines. However, the new algorithm can be executed much faster, making it ideal for use on large noisy images such as th ose provided by synthetic aperature radar. Copyright (C) 1996 Pattern Recognition Society.