Optimum Sensors for 'Chromaticity' Constancy in the Pixel

In machine vision systems recording the colour of an object is crucial for applications such as skin detection while it will enhance applications including colour based recognition and image retrieval. Unfortunately, almost none of the existing colour constancy algorithms have been designed to deal with the high dynamic ranges that can occur in external, naturally illuminated scenes. One algorithm that can deal with these scenes has been proposed by Finlayson and Drew. In this paper a method of assessing the performance of this algorithm, and equivalent algorithms, are proposed. The performance of this algorithm is then significantly improved by optimising the spectral response of the sensors used to obtain the data required by algorithm. Since the resulting performance is comparable to that of the human visual system it appears that this algorithm is capable of obtaining useful chromaticity information under highly varying illumination conditions.