Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.

com

Chapter 2: Digital Image Fundamentals

• Image Sensing and Acquisition

• The images are generated by the combination of an
“illumination” source and the reflection or
absorption of energy from that source by the
elements of the “scene” being imaged. There are 3
principal sensor arrangements (produce
an electrical output proportional to light intensity).

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

(i)Single imaging Sensor

(ii)Line sensor
(iii)Array sensor

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Chapter 2: Digital Image Fundamentals

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition Using a Single

Sensor:
• The most common sensor of this type is the photodiode,
which is made of silicon materials and whose output
voltage waveform is proportional to light.\
• The use of a filter in front of a sensor improves selectivity.
• For example, a green (pass) filter in front of a light sensor
favors light in the green band of the color spectrum. As a
consequence, the sensor output will be stronger for green
light than for other components in the visible spectrum.
• 2D image generated by displacement in x- and y directions
between the sensor and the area to be imaged.

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Chapter 2: Digital Image Fundamentals

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

• Fig. shows an arrangement used in high-precision

scanning, where a film negative is mounted onto
a drum whose mechanical rotation provides
displacement in one dimension.
• The single sensor is mounted on a lead screw that
provides motion in the perpendicular direction,
because mechanical motion can be controlled with
high precision. This method is an inexpensive (but
slow) way to obtain high-resolution images.

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition Using Sensor Strips:

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition Using Sensor Strips:

• Fig(a) shows the strip provides imaging elements in one

direction.
• Fig(b) shows motion perpendicular to the strip provides
imaging in the other direction. This is the type of
arrangement used in most flatbed scanners.
• Sensing devices with 4000 or more in-line sensors are
possible. In-line sensors are used routinely in airborne
imaging applications, in which the imaging system is
mounted on an aircraft that flies at a constant altitude and
speed over the geographical area to be imaged.

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

• One-dimensional imaging sensor strips that respond to

various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum are mounted
perpendicular to the direction of flight. The imaging strip
gives one line of an image at a time, and the motion of the
strip completes the other dimension of two-dimensional
image.
• Sensor strips mounted in a ring configuration are used
in medical and industrial imaging
• to obtain cross-sectional (“slice”) images of 3
• -D objects. A rotating X-ray source provides illumination
and the portion of the sensors opposite the source collect the
X-ray energy that pass through the object. This is the basis
for medical and industrial computerized axial tomography
(CAT) imaging.
© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods
 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition using Sensor Arrays:

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition using Sensor Arrays:

• This type of arrangement is found in digital cameras. A

typical sensor for these cameras is a CCD array, which
can be manufactured with a broad range of sensing
properties and can be packaged in rugged arrays of 4000 *
4000 elements or more.
• The response of each sensor is proportional to the integral
of the light energy projected onto the surface of the sensor,
a property that is used in astronomical and other
applications requiring low noise images.

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

Image Acquisition using Sensor

Arrays:
• The first function performed by the imaging system in
Fig.(c) is to collect the incoming energy and focus it onto an
image plane. If the illumination is light, the front end of the
imaging system is a lens, which projects the viewed scene
onto the lens focal plane as Fig.(d) shows.
• The sensor array, which is coincident with the focal plane,
produces outputs proportional to the integral of the light
received at each sensor. The output is a digital image, as
shown diagrammatically in Fig.(e)

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods

 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

A Simple Image Formation Model:

• An image is defined by two dimensional function f(x,y).
The value or amplitude of f at spatial coordinates (x,y) is a
positive scalar quantity. When an image is generated from a
physical process, its value are proportional to energy
radiated by physical source. As a consequence, f(x,y) must
be nonzero and finite; that is, 0<f(x,y)<∞.
• The function f(x,y) may be characterized by two
components: (1) the amount of source illumination incident
on the scene being viewed and (2) the amount of
illumination reflected by the objects in the scene. These are
called illumination and reflectance components denoted by
i(x,y) and r (x,y) respectively. The two function combine as
product to form f(x,y):f(x,y)=i(x,y) r(x,y).
© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods
 Digital Image Processing, 2nd ed. www.imageprocessingbook.com

• Where 0 < i(x,y)< ∞ and 0 <r(x,y)< 1 r(x,y)=0 means total

absorption r(x,y)=1 means total
• reflectance.We call the intensity of a monochrome image at
any coordinates (x,y) the gray level (l) of theimage at that
point. That is l=f(x,y).The interval of l ranges from [0,L-1].
Where l=0 indicates black and l=1 indicates white. All
theintermediate values are shades of gray varying
from black to white.

© 2002 R. C. Gonzalez & R. E. Woods