Image Processing Module 5

Wavelets and Multiresolution Processing

Wavelet Transform (WT)
Unlike Fourier transform whose basis functions are sinusoids, wavelet
transform (WT) is based on wavelets. Wavelets (i.e. small waves) are
mathematical functions that represent scaled and translated (shifted)
copies of a finite-length waveform called the mother wavelet as shown in
the figure below.

(a) (b)
Figure 9.1 Functions of (a) Fourier transform and (b) Wavelet transform

Wavelet transform is used to analyze a signal (image) into different

frequency components at different resolution scales (i.e. multiresolution).
This allows revealing image’s spatial and frequency attributes
simultaneously. In addition, features that might go undetected at one
resolution may be easy to spot at another.
Multiresolution theory incorporates image pyramid and subband coding
techniques.

Page 1
Image Processing Module 5

Image Pyramid
is a powerful simple structure for representing images at more than one
resolution. It is a collection of decreasing resolution images arranged in
the shape of a pyramid as shown in the figure below.

Figure 9.2 Image pyramid

The base of the pyramid contains a high-resolution representation of the
image being processed; the apex contains a low-resolution
approximation. As we move up the pyramid, both size and resolution
decrease.

Subband Coding
is used to decompose an image into a set of bandlimited components
called subbands, which can be reassembled to reconstruct the original
image without error. Each subband is generated by bandpass filtering the
input image. The next figures show 1D and 2D subband coding.

Page 2
Image Processing Module 5

Figure 9.3 1D Two-band subband coding and decoding system

The analysis filter bank consists of:
 Lowpass filter ℎ0(𝑛) whose output, subband ƒ𝑙𝑝(𝑛) is called
approximation subband of ƒ(𝑛)
 Highpass filter ℎ1(𝑛) whose output subband ƒℎ𝑝(𝑛) is called high
frequency or detail part of ƒ(𝑛)
The synthesis bank filters 𝑔0(𝑛) and 𝑔1(𝑛) combine ƒ𝑙𝑝(𝑛) and ƒℎ𝑝(𝑛) to
produce ƒ^(𝑛).
The 2D subband coding is shown in the figure below.

Figure 9.4 2D Four-band subband image coding

Page 3
Image Processing Module 5

2D-Discrete Wavelet Transform (2D-DWT)

The DWT provides a compact representation of a signal’s frequency
components with strong spatial support. DWT decomposes a signal into
frequency subbands at different scales from which it can be perfectly
reconstructed.
2D-signals such as images can be decomposed using many wavelet
decomposition filters in many different ways. We study the Haar wavelet
filter and the pyramid decomposition method.

The Haar Wavelet Transform (HWT)

The Haar wavelet is a discontinuous, and resembles a step function.
For a function f, the HWT is defined as:
f → (aL | dL)
aL = (a1, a2, … , aN/2)
dL = (d1, d2, … , dN/2)
where L is the decomposition level, a is the approximation subband and
d is the detail subband.
f2m + f2m−1
am = fo𝑟 𝑚 = 1,2, … , 𝑁/2
√2
f2m − f2m−1
dm = fo𝑟 𝑚 = 1,2, … , 𝑁/2
√2

For example, if f={f1,f2,f3,f4 ,f5 ,f6 ,f7 ,f8 } is a time-signal of length 8, then
the HWT decomposes f into an approximation subband containing the
Low frequencies and a detail subband containing the high frequencies:
Low = a = {ƒ2 + ƒ1 , ƒ4 + ƒ3 , ƒ6 + ƒ5 , ƒ8 + ƒ7}/√2
High = d = {ƒ2 − ƒ1 , ƒ4 − ƒ3 , ƒ6 − ƒ5 , ƒ8 − ƒ7}/√2

Page 4
Image Processing Module 5

To apply HWT on images, we first apply a one level Haar wavelet to

each row and secondly to each column of the resulting "image" of the
first operation. The resulted image is decomposed into four subbands: LL,
HL, LH, and HH subbands. (L=Low, H=High). The LL-subband contains
an approximation of the original image while the other subbands contain
the missing details. The LL-subband output from any stage can be
decomposed further.
The figure below shows the result of one and two level HWT based
on the pyramid decomposition

(a) Decomposition Level 1 (b) Decomposition Level 2

Figure 9.5 Pyramid decomposition using Haar wavelet filter

The next figure shows an image decomposed with 3-level Haar wavelet
transform.

Page 5
Image Processing Module 5

(a) Original image

(b) Level 1

Page 6
Image Processing Module 5

(c) Level 2

(d) Level 3
Figure 9.6 Example of a Haar wavelet transformed image

Page 7
Image Processing Module 5

Wavelet transformed images can be perfectly reconstructed using the four

subbands using the inverse wavelet transform.

Inverse Haar Wavelet Transform (IHWT)

The inverse of the Haar wavelet transform is computed in the reverse
order as follows:
a1 − d1 a1 + d1 aN/2 − dN/2 aN/2 + dN/2
f=( , ,…, , )
√2 √2 √2 √2
To apply IHWT on images, we first apply a one level inverse Haar
wavelet to each column and secondly to each row of the resulting
"image" of the first operation.

Statistical Properties of Wavelet subbands

The distribution of the LL-subband approximates that of the original
image but all non-LL subbands have a Laplacian distribution. This
remains valid at all depths (i.e. decomposition levels).

(a) (b)

Page 8
Image Processing Module 5

(c) (d)
Figure 9.7 Histogram of (a) LL-subband (b) HL-subband (c) LH-subband (d) HH-subband of
subbands in Figure 9.6 (b)

Wavelet Transforms in image processing

Any wavelet-based image processing approach has the following steps:
1. Compute the 2D-DWT of an image
2. Alter the transform coefficients (i.e. subbands)
3. Compute the inverse transform
Wavelet transforms are used in a wide range of image applications. These
include:
 Image and video compression
 Feature detection and recognition
 Image denoising
 Face recognition
Most applications benefit from the statistical properties of the non-LL
subbands (The Laplacian distribution of the wavelet coefficients in these
subbands).

Wavelet-based edge detection

The next figure shows a gray image and its wavelet transform for one-
level of decomposition.

Page 9
Image Processing Module 5

(a)

(b)
Figure 9.8 (a) gray image. (b) its one-level wavelet transform

Page 10
Image Processing Module 5

Note the horizontal edges of the original image are present in the HL
subband of the upper-right quadrant of the Figure above. The vertical
edges of the image can be similarly identified in the LH subband of the
lower-left quadrant.
To combine this information into a single edge image, we simply zero the
LL subband of the transform, compute the inverse transform, and take the
absolute value.
The next Figure shows the modified transform and resulting edge image.

(a)

Page 11
Image Processing Module 5

(b)
Figure 9.9 (a) transform modified by zeroing the LL subband. (b) resulted edge image

Wavelet-based image denoising

The general wavelet-based procedure for denoising the image is as
follows:
1. Choose a wavelet filter (e.g. Haar, symlet, etc…) and number
of levels for the decomposition. Then compute the 2D-DWT of
thenoisy image.
2. Threshold the non-LL subbands.
3. Perform the inverse wavelet transform on the original
approximation LL-subband and the modified non-LL subbands.
The next figure shows a noisy image and its wavelet transform for two-
levels of decomposition.

Page 12
Image Processing Module 5

(a)

(b)
Figure 9.10 (a) noisy image. (b) its two-level wavelet transform

Page 13
Image Processing Module 5

Now we threshold all the non-LL subbands at both decomposition levels

by 85. Then we perform the inverse wavelet transform on the LL-subband
and the modified (i.e. thresholded) non-LL subbands to obtain the
denoised image shown in the next figure.

Figure 9.11 denoised image generated by thresholding all non-LL subbands by 85

In the image above, we can see the following:

 Noise Reduction.
 Loss of quality at the image edges.
The loss of edge detail can be reduced by zeroing the non-LL subbands at
the first decomposition level and only the HH-subband at the second
level. Then we apply the inverse transform to obtain the denoised image
in the figure below.

Page 14
Image Processing Module 5

Figure 9.12 denoised image generated by zeroing the non-LL subbands

Page 15