Introduction to Image Processing Lecture
Nowadays, digital images and video are everywhere. Image Processing revolutionizes very many domains, notably:
-Digital Media (video/image/movie) Content Production and Broadcasting, Social Media Analytics,
-Medical/Biological/Dental Imaging and Diagnosis,
-Big Visual Data Analytics,
-Internet and Communications (media broadcasting, streaming).
-Scientific Imaging of any sort, e.g., Remote Sensing, Environment Sensing.
Photoshop and many other image processing tools are ubiquitous.
Furthermore, Image Processing is typically the first step that enables diverse applications, in unison with Computer Vision and Machine Learning:
-Autonomous Systems (cars, drones, vessels) Perception,
-Robotics Perception and Control,
-Intelligent Human-Machine Interaction,
-Anthropocentric (human-centered) Computing,
-Smart Cities/Buildings and Assisted living.
This lecture overviews digital images, image processing and image analysis. 1D signals, 2D signals (images), 3D signals (videos, medical volumes) are presented. Multichannel images, e.g., color and multispectral images come next. Image processing and signal analysis are defined and their differences from other related disciplines are explained. Notable image processing topics (image filtering, Image contrast enhancement, Image pseudocoloring, image halftoning, image interpolation, image compression) are overviewed. Image analysis topics are also presented: edge detection, contour following, region segmentation, shape analysis, image registration.