A generic approach to diffusion filtering of matrix-fields

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging, is a image acquisition method, that provides matrix-valued data, so-called matrix fields. Hence image processing tools for the filtering and analysis of these data types are in demand. In this article, we propose a generic framework that allows us to find the matrix-valued counterparts of the Perona-Malik PDEs with various diffusivity functions. To this end we extend the notion of derivatives and associated differential operators to matrix fields of symmetric matrices by adopting an operator-algebraic point of view. In order to solve these novel matrix-valued PDEs successfully we develop truly matrix-valued analogs to numerical solution schemes of the scalar setting. Numerical experiments performed on both synthetic and real world data substantiate the effectiveness of our novel matrix-valued Perona-Malik diffusion filters.