A fuzzy-like approach for smoothing and edge detection in color images

Edge detection is one of the most important image processing steps towards image understanding. It is desired that edges be continuous and that the resultant regions or segments be completely isolated from their neighbors. Initially images must first be smoothed to remove noise. In this paper, a novel fuzzy-like smoother algorithm is presented which removes camera noise and enhances edge contrast. The edge detection algorithm, which is applied on the smoothed image, is then presented. In this algorithm normalized hue in HSI space and color contrast in RGB space are combined using an aggregate operator. Pixels considered to be at least "nearly" locally maximum (defined within) are then found for all edge directions and the results are combined.