A Median Filter Based on Fuzzy Rules.

This paper proposes the median filter based on the fuzzy rules, as a filter that effectively eliminates the impulsive noise without greatly distorting the signal such as image. It is already known that the median filter is effective in eliminating the impulsive noise, but the median filter also distorts the signal waveform itself. To cope with this situation, it is desirable that the filter should operate as the median filter when there exists the impulsive noise and, if not, should only pass the input to the output. In this approach, however, the rule to decide on the existence/nonexistence of the impulsive noise generally is ambiguous. From such as viewpoint, this paper proposes a new type of a median filter where then above decision rule is represented by the fuzzy rules and the output is controlled by the result of the decision. The filter is designed optimally by training. The effectiveness of the filter is demonstrated by actually eliminating the noise from the image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]