Quantum Image Edge Extraction Based on Improved Sobel Operator

Edge extraction is a basic task in image processing. This paper proposes a quantum image edge extraction algorithm based on improved sobel operator for the generalized quantum image representation (GQIR) to solve the real-time problem. The quantum image model of GQIR can store arbitrary quantum images with a size of H × W. Our scheme can calculate the gradients of image intensity of all the pixels simultaneously. Then, the concrete circuits of quantum image edge extraction algorithm are implemented by using a series of quantum operators which have been designed. Compared with existing quantum edge extraction algorithms, our scheme can achieve more accurate edge extraction, especially for diagonal edges. Finally, the complexity of the quantum circuits were been analyzed based on the basic quantum gates and give the simulation experiment results on classical computer.