International Journal Of Computational Engineering Research (ijceronline.com) Vol. 2 Issue.

Extraction of Edge Detection Using Digital Image Processing

Techniques
1

M. Kalpana, 2G. Kishorebabu, 3K.Sujatha

1,2

Asst.professor, S.S.I.E.T
Asst.professor, R.V.R.I.E.T

Abstract
Digital image Processing is one of the basic and important
tool in the image processing and computer vision. In this
paper we discuss about the extraction of a digital image
edge using different digital image processing techniques.
Edge detection is the most common technique for
detecting discontinuities in intensity values. The input
image or actual image have some noise that may cause the
of quality of the digital image. Firstly, wavelet transform
is used to remove noises from the image collected.
Secondly, some edge detection operators such as
Differential edge detection, Log edge detection, canny
edge detection and Binary morphology are analyzed. And
then according to the simulation results, the advantages
and disadvantages of these edge detection operators are
compared. It is shown that the Binary morphology
operator can obtain better edge feature. Finally, in order to
gain clear and integral image profile, the method of
ordering closed is given. After experimentation, edge
detection method proposed in this paper is feasible.

Index Terms: Image, Digital image, Edge, boundary,

Edge detection, wavelet denoising, differential operators,
and binary morphology.

I. Introduction
An edge in a digital image is a boundary or contour at
which a significant change occurs in some physical aspect
of an image, such as the surface reflectance, illumination
or the distances of the visible surfaces from the viewer.
Changes in physical aspects manifest themselves in a
variety of ways, including changes in color, intensity and
Texture. Edge always indwells in two neighboring areas
having different grey level. It is the result of grey level
being discontinuous. Edge detection is a kind of method
of image segmentation based on range non-continuity.
Image edge detection is one of the basal contents in the
image processing and analysis, and also is a kind of issues
which are unable to be resolved completely so far [1].
When image is acquired, the factors such as the
projection, mix, aberrance and noise are produced. These
factors bring on image feature is blur and distortion,
consequently it is very difficult to extract image feature.
Moreover, due to such factors it is also difficult to detect
edge. The method of image edge and outline
characteristic's detection and extraction has been research
hot in the domain of image processing and analysis
technique.Detecting edges is very useful in a number of
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contexts. For example in a typical image understanding

task such as object identification, an essential step is to an
image into different regions corresponded to different
objects in the scene. Edge detection is the first step in the
image segmentation. Edge feature extraction has been
applied in many areas widely. This paper mainly
discusses about advantages and disadvantages of several
edge detection operators applied in the cable insulation
parameter measurement. In order to gain more legible
image outline, firstly the acquired image is filtered and
denoised. In the process of denoising, wavelet
transformation is used. And then different operators are
applied to detect edge including Differential operator, Log
operator, Canny operator and Binary morphology
operator. Finally the edge pixels of image are connected
using the method of bordering closed. Then a clear and
complete image outline will be obtained

Ii. Image Denoising

As we all know, the actual gathered images contain noises
in the process of formation, transmission, reception and
processing. Noises deteriorate the quality of the image.
They make image blur. And many important features are
covered up. This brings lots of difficulties to the analysis.
Therefore, the main purpose is to remove noises of the
image in the stage of pretreatment. The traditional
denoising method is the use of a low-pass or band-pass
filter to denoise. Its shortcoming is that the signal is
blurred when noises are removed. There is irreconcilable
contradiction between removing noise and edge
maintenance.Yet wavelet analysis has been proved to be a
powerful tool for image processing [2]. Because Wavelet
denoising uses a different frequency band-pass filters on
the signal filtering. It removes the coefficients of some
scales which mainly reflect the noise frequency. Then the
coefficient of every remaining scale is integrated for
inverse transform, so that noise can be suppressed well.
So wavelet analysis widely used in many aspects such as
image compression, image denoising [3][4], etc

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Pretreating

image with noise

Wavelet multiscale denoising

Sub-scale denoising

Wavelet inverse transform

Image after denoising

fig1: Sketch of removing image noises with wavelet
transformation
The basic process of denoising making use of wavelet
transform is shown in Fig1, its main steps are [3][4] as
follows:
1) Image is preprocessed (such as the grayscaleadjustment, etc.).
2) Wavelet multi-scale decomposition is adapted to
process image.
3) In each scale, wavelet coefficients belonging to noises
are removed and the wavelet coefficients are
remained and enhanced.
4) The enhanced image after denoising is gained using
wavelet inverse transform.
The common used operators are the Differential, Log,
Canny operators and Binary morphology, etc. The
simulation effect of wavelet denoising through Matlab is
shown in Fig. 2.

The basic idea of image detection is to outstand partial

edge of the image making use of edge enhancement
operator firstly. Then we define the edge intensity of
pixels and extract the set of edge points through setting
threshold. But the borderline detected may produce
interruption as a result of existing noise and image dark.
Thus edge detection contains the following two parts:
1) Using edge operators the edge points set are extracted.
2) Some edge points in the edge points set are removed
and a number of edge points are filled in the edge points
set. Then the obtained edge points are connected to be a
line
A. Differential operator
Differential operator can outstand grey change. There are
some points where grey change is bigger. And the value
calculated in those points is higher applying derivative
operator. So these differential values may be regarded as
relevant edge intensity and gather the points set of the
edge through setting thresholds for these differential
values. First derivative is the simplest differential
coefficient. Suppose that the image is f (x, y) , and its
derivative operator is the first order partial derivative
/x,/y. They represent the rate-of-change that the
gray f is in the direction of x and y . Yet the gray rate of
change in the direction of is shown in the equation (1):
(1)
Under consecutive circumstances, the differential of the
function is:
.
The direction derivative of function f (x, y) has maximum
at a certain point. And the

Fig.2.Comparison of denoising methods

Comparing with the traditional matched filter, the highfrequency components of image may not be destroyed
using wavelet transform to denoise. In addition, there are
Many advantages such as the strong adaptive ability,
calculating quickly, completely reconstructed, etc. So the
signal to noise ratio of image can be improved effectively
making use of wavelet transform.
III. EDGE DETECTION
The edge detection of digital image is quite important
foundation in the field of image analysis including image
division, identification of objective region and pick-up of
region shape and so on. Edge detection is very important
in the digital image processing, because the edge is
boundary of the target and the background. And only
when obtaining the edge we can differentiate the target
and the background.
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direction of this point is arc tan [

]. The maximum

of direction derivative is

The vector with

this direction and modulus is called as the gradient of the

function f , that is,
.So the gradient modulus
operator is designed in the equation (2).
(2)
For the digital image, the gradient template operator is
designed as:
(3)

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Differential operator mostly includes oberts operator and

Sobel operator.
(1) Roberts operator:
Roberts operator is a kind of the most simple operator
which makes use of partial difference operator to look for
edge. Its effect is the best for the image with steep low
noise. But the borderline of the extracted image is quite
thick using the Roberts operator, so the edge location is
not very accurate.Roberts operator is defined as:

Then Prewitt operator is as follows:

G [f (i, j)] = (
)

(7)

G [f (i, j)] =/X/+/Y/

(8)

Prewitt operator is said in Fig.4 in the form of the

template.
1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

(4)

Fig.4.prewitt operator

But absolute deviation algorithm is usually used to

predigest the equation (4) in practice. The following
equations (5) and (6)are the process of reduction.

Sobel operator can process those images with lots of

noises and gray gradient well. We order that
X = (A0+2A1 +A2) - (A6+2A5+A4)
And Y = (A0+2A7 +A6)-(A2+2A3+A4).

(5)

Then Sobel operator is as follows:

G [f (i, j)] = (

(9)

(6)
G [f (i, j)] =/X/+/Y/

(10)

The template of the Roberts operator is shown in Fig. 3.

The templates of sobel operator is shown in fig.5
0

0 - -1

0 - -1

- -1

0 - -2

- 1

0 - -1

Fig.3.Roberts Operator
(2) Sobel and Prewitt operator
To reduce the influence of noise when detecting edge, the
Prewitt operator enlarges edge detection operator template
from two by two to three by three to compute difference
operator. Using the Prewitt operator can not only detect
edge points, but also restrain the noise. The Sobel
operator counts difference using weighted for 4
neighborhoods on the basis of the Prewitt operator. The
Sobel operator has the similar function as the Prewitt
operator, but the edge detected by the Sobel operator is
wider. Suppose that the pixel number in the 33 subdomain of image is as follows:

A0
A7
A6

- -1 - -2

Fig.5.Sobel Operator
The original image of cable insulation layer and the edge
detection drawing of Sobel operator gained using Mat Lab
simulation are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig.7

A1
A2
(x, y) A3
A5
A4
Fig.6. Original image

We order that
X =(A0+2A1 +A2) -(A6+2A5+A4 )
And Y = (A0+2A7 +A6) -(A2+2A3+A4 ) .
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Fig. 7 the edge detection drawing of Sobel operator

From the simulation drawing Fig. we can know that the
edge position is very accurate. And the effect of Sobel
edge detection is very satisfying. In a word, the Sobel and
Prewitt operators have a better effect for such images with
grey level changing gradually and more noises.
B. Log operator
The Log operator is a linear and time-invariant operator.
It detects edge points through searching for spots which
two-order differential coefficient is zero in the image grey
levels. For a continuous function f (x, y) , the Log operator
is defined as at point ( x, y) :
+

(11)

The Log operator is the process of filtering and counting

differential coefficient for the image. It determines the
zero overlapping position of filter output using
convolution of revolving symmetrical Log template and
the image. The Log operators template is shown in Fig. 8
- -1 - - 1 -

-1

0 - -1

- -1

8 -

-1

-1

- -1 -

-1 -

-1

0 - -1 -

0
-1
-1

Fig. 8 Log operator

In the detection process of the Log operator, we firstly
pre-smooth the image with Gauss low-pass filter, and then
find the steep edge in the image making use of the Log
operator. Finally we carry on binarization with zero grey
level to give birth to closed, connected outline and
eliminate all internal spots. But double pixels boundary
usually appears using the Log operator to detect edge, and
the operator is very sensitive to noise. So the Log operator is often employed to judge that edge pixels lie in
either bright section or dark section of the image.

image gradient. The gradient is counted by the derivative

of Gauss filter. The Canny operator uses two thresholds to
detect strong edge and weak edge respectively. And only
when strong edge is connected with weak edge, weak
edge will be contained in the output value. The theory
basis of canny operator is shown in equations (12)-(15)
Gauss:
G(x, y) =exp [-(
)/2 ]
(12)
Edge normal
n1= (g p)/| (g p)|
(13)
Edge strengths
G P=

14)

Maximal strengths:
0=

[g

(15)

D. Binary morphology:
Mathematical morphology is a new method applied in
image processing. The basic idea is to measure and
extract the corresponding shape from image with
structural elements having stated form. So that the image
processing and analyzing can be completed [2].Using
mathematical morphology to detect the edge is better than
using differential treatment. Because it is not sensitive to
noise, and the edge extracted is relatively smooth. Binary
image is also known as black-and-white image. The
object can be easily identified from the image
background. So we adopt the combination of binary
image and mathematical morphology to detect edge. It is
called Binary morphology. Suppose that the region is
shown in form of the set A. Its border is (A) . B is an
appropriate structure element, and it is symmetrical
around the origin. Firstly we corrupt A with Recorded as
AB ={x|(B)xA},
Where (B)x is a translation B along the vector. The
interior of region is available with AB. And A (AB) is
the borderline naturally. Then (A) is obtained. The
equation of edge extraction can be said,
(A) = A (AB) .
Structuring element is larger, the edge gained will be
wider.
E. Simulative results analysis
In order to know about the advantages and disadvantages
of these edge detection operators, we detect edge using
these different operators respectively. The simulation
results are shown in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10.
Oririnal
Image

Binary
image

Extracted edge

C. Canny operator
The Canny operator is a sort of new edge detection
operator. It has good performance of detecting edge,
which has a wide application. The Canny operator edge
detection is to search for the partial maximum value of
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Original image

Binary
image

Extracted edge

Fig.9.Detecting edge with binary morplology

Original
Image

Roberts operator

sobel operator

pixels is that they have definite similarity. Two aspects

one using gradient algorithm to process image. One is the
magnitude of gradient; the other is direction of gradient.
According to edge pixels gradients similarity on these
two aspects, the edge pixels can be connected. Specific
speaking, if Pixel(s,t) is in neighbor region of the pixel
(x,y) and their gradient magnitudes and gradient
directions must satisfy two conditions (16) and (17)
respectively, then the pixels in (s,t) and the pixels in (x,y)
can be connected. The closed boundary will be obtained if
all pixels are judged and connected
|

(16)
(x,y)-(x,t)|A

(17)

Where T is magnitude threshold, A is angle threshold.

prewitt operator

canny operator

log operator

V. CONCLUSION
These edge detection operators can have better edge effect
under the circumstances of obvious edge and low noise.
But the actual collected image has lots of noises. So many
noises may be considered as edge to be detected. In order
to solve the problem, wavelet transformation is used to
denoising the paper. Yet its effect will be better if those
simulation images processed above are again processed
through edge thinning and tracking.
Although there are various edge detection methods in the
domain of image edge detection, certain disadvantages
always exist. For example, restraining noise and keeping
detail cant achieve optimal effect simultaneously. Hence
we will acquire satisfactory result if choosing suitable
edge detection operator according to specific situation in
practice.

References:
[1]
Fig. 10 several edge detection algorithm comparison
From the simulation results we can conclude that: the
effect of detecting edge with sobel operator after wavelet
de-noising and with Binary morphology directly is better.
So these two methods can be used. But finally we choose
Binary morphology method based on specific
measurement errors.
IV. BORDERLINE CLOSED
Although image is denoised before detecting edge, yet
noises are still introduced when detecting edge. When
noise exists, the borderline, which is obtained using
derivative algorithm to detect image, usually produces the
phenomenon of break. Under this situation, we need to
connect the edge pixels. Thus, we will introduce a kind of
method closing the borderline with the magnitude and
direction of pixels gradient. The basis of connecting edge
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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]
[6]

[7]

Lei Lizhen, Discussion of digital image edge detection

method, Mapping aviso, 2006, 3:40-42.
Lai Zhiguo, etc, Image processing and analysis based on
MATLAB , Beijing: Defense Industry Publication,
2007,4.
Ma Yan, and Zhang Zhihui, Several edge detection
operators comparation, Industry and mining automation,
2004, (1): 54-56.
Gao Cheng, and Lai Zhiguoetc, Image analysis and
application based on MATLAB, Beijing: Publishing
House of National defence industry, 2007,
4: 133-175.
Wang Zhengyao, Edge detection of digital image[Master
paper], Xian: Xian Jiaotong University, 2003.
Heung-Soo Kim and Jong-Hwan Kim. A two-step
detection algorithm from the intersecting chords. Pattern
Recognition Letters. 2001, 22:787-798.
Canny J F. A computatioal approach tO edge
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698.

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