Comprehensive Analysis of Edge Detection in Color Image Processing

Various approaches to edge detection for color images, including techniques extended from monochrome edge detection as well as vector space approaches, are examined. In particular, edge detection techniques based on vector order statistic operators and difference vector operators are studied in detail. Numerous edge detectors are obtained as special cases of these two classes of operators. The effect of distance measures on the performance of different color edge detectors is studied by employing distance measures other than the Euclidean norm. Variations are introduced to both the vector order statistic opera-tors and the difference vector operators to improve noise performance. They both demonstrate the ability to attenuate noise with added algorithm complexity. Among them, the difference vector operator with adaptive filtering shows the most promising results. Other vector directional filtering techniques are also introduced and utilized for color edge detection. Both quantitative and subjective tests are performed in evaluating the performance of the edge detectors, and a detailed comparison is presented.