Color Edge Detection based on Bhattacharyya Distance

In this paper, we propose to apply the multi-dimensional edge detection algorithm developed for hyperspectral images to colour image edge detection. The multi-dimensional edge detection algorithm utilizes the Bhattacharyya distance and considers the statistical difference between two neighbouring blocks. In order to apply the algorithm to colour images, we need to take into account the singularity problem of the covariance matrices. In the algorithm, we first apply the Wiener filter to supress noise and select four block pairs including up-down, left-right, diagonal-left-down and diagonal-right-down. The experimental results show that the colour edge detection method based on the Bhattacharyya distance shows promising results compared to the results obtained by the Sobel and Canny-edge edge detection algorithms.