An introduction to wavelet theory and application for the radiological physicist

Michael D. Harpen
University of South Alabama, Department of Radiology, 2451 Fillingim Street, Mobile, Alabama 36617

Received 9 January 1998; accepted for publication 31 July 1998 The wavelet transform, part of a rapidly advancing new area of mathematics, has become an important technique for image compression, noise suppression, and feature extraction. As a result, the radiological physicist can expect to be confronted with elements of wavelet theory as diagnostic radiology advances into teleradiology, PACS, and computer aided feature extraction and diagnosis. With this in mind we present a primer on wavelet theory geared specically for the radiological physicist. The mathematical treatment is free of the details of mathematical rigor, which are found in most other treatments of the subject and which are of little interest to physicists, yet is sufcient to convey a reasonably deep working knowledge of wavelet theory. 1998 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. S0094-2405 98 01910-5

INTRODUCTION Wavelet basis functions, usually written as jk (x) with j and k integers, form an orthonormal basis for the series expansion of a large class of functions. The wavelet basis functions derive from dilation and translation of the mother wavelet W(x), i.e., jk (x) 2 j/2W(2 j x k). If the mother wavelet has compact support, i.e., is nonzero over a limited range of x, then as j increases the support length of jk (x) decreases. The large j components of a series expansion represent the ne detail of the function. The parameter k species a position of the support of the compact wavelet. When a function is expressed as a wavelet series the expansion coefcients jk constitute the wavelet transform of the function. As a consequence of the compact support of the dilated wavelets, we can expect jk to vanish or drop below some threshold as j increases. This is in contrast to Fourier transform theory where the basis functions have innite support, virtually guaranteeing that the expansion of a function with sharp edges or a singularity will require nonzero transform coefcients over a wide range of frequencies. The compact support of wavelets makes the wavelet transform a more suitable mathematical environment in which to formulate data compression and denoising strategies. The property of localization in scale and position requires that wavelets be specied by two parameters. In Fourier is required to theory only one parameter the frequency specify the basis functions which have innite support. A must function f (t) which consists of a pure frequency exist for all time and a function which consists of a discrete pulse must contain an innite range of frequencies. This statement of the uncertainty principle can confound the student of the Fourier transform who, familiar with music and speech, is quite comfortable with the notion of frequency varying with time. The Gabor transform,1 a type of windowed Fourier transform, sought to reconcile this conjugate domain localization problem by introducing an orthogonal basis of Gaussian modulated sine waves. The primary difference between the basis functions of the windowed Fourier transform and the wavelet transform is that the window
1985 Med. Phys. 25 10, October 1998

width or support length of the windowed basis functions are xed for a given transform. This limits their ability to capture features of functions on scales signicantly larger or smaller than the window. Furthermore, the basis functions with different window widths have different shapes, limiting the value of these transforms for pattern recognition, as compared to fractal analysis where patterns are repeated at multiple scales.2,3 Wavelets rst appeared in a paper by geophysicist J. Morlet et al.,4 in an analysis of seismic data, and were originally called wavelets of constant shape to emphasize that the shape of the basis function was preserved over multiple scales of resolution. Grossman et al.5,6 developed the mathematical theory of wavelets. The fast wavelet transform was developed by Mallat7,8 and the connection between the wavelet transform and multiresolution analysis, quadrature mirror lters, and subband coding has lead to a simplication of basic wavelet concepts and has thus facilitated a deeper understanding of wavelet theory.9 In this primer on wavelets we present a readable introduction for the radiological physicist. We limit our attention to the nonredundant dyadic wavelet transform, i.e., wavelet basis functions are derived from the mother wavelet by dilations which are integer powers of 2 i.e., j is integer and where k is restricted to integers. For notational simplicity we treat wavelet basis functions which are real. For complex basis functions the inner product is dened with the complex conjugate in the usual way.
Basic concepts and nomenclature

Wavelets derive from a scaling function ises the dilation equation

N

(x) which sat-

x
k 0

ck

2x k ,

where c k are the renement lter coefcients, and the number of coefcients (N 1) is the number of taps of the lter. (2x k) is a dilation and translation of (x). The dilation equation states that the scaling function may be expressed in
1998 Am. Assoc. Phys. Med. 1985

0094-2405/98/2510/1985/9/$10.00

1986

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1986

terms of its dilated translates. Implicit in Eq. 1 is that (x) has compact support, i.e., is nonzero only in the region 0 x N. This is consistent since for x N Eq. 1 relates values of the scaling function at positions N, and similarly for x 0. It should also be clear that the dilates of (x) will have half the support length and a Fourier transform with twice the bandwidth. If the renement lter is thought of as a low pass lter then the dilation equation means that the lower bandwidth (x) can be obtained from the higher bandwidth dilates by a simple ltration operation. The scaling function and associated wavelets are intimately related to the renement lter. This places restrictions on the c k depending on the required properties of the scaling function and wavelets. Two important properties and their restrictions on the renement lter are now described. The scaling function is integrable such that 0 dx x . 2

normal basis for the decomposition of function space. In some wavelet systems the orthogonality of the scaling function and associated wavelets to integer translations is not required. These systems may be referred to as semiorthogonal. In other cases a dual wavelet basis 0 may be jk introduced which spans the same function space as jk and 0 exhibits a biorthogonality property j k , jk j j k k.
Multiresolution analysis

Let V 0 represent that part of function space spanned by translates of (x). This space contains all functions of the form f0 x
k

x k .

10

Let V 1 represent that part of function space spanned by the higher bandwidth and higher resolution translates of (2x), i.e., functions of the form f1 x
k

Integrating Eq. 1 we have

N k 0

2x k .

11

c k 2.

Integer translates of the scaling function are orthogonal, i.e., dx x k x k

kk

Substituting Eq. 1 into Eq. 4 we obtain c kc k

2m

m,0 .

With the help of Eq. 1 , each term on the RHS of Eq. 10 can be expressed as sums of translates of (2x) so that f 0 (x) can be expressed in the form of Eq. 11 . It should thus be clear that the lower resolution function space V 0 is contained in the higher resolution function space V 1 , i.e., V 0 V 1 , as intuition might suggest. Likewise, the even lower resolution function space V 1 spanned by translates of (2 1 x) is included in V 0 . In general, spaces V j spanned by translates of (2 j x) satisfy ...V
2

As the scaling function (x) is obtained by low pass ltering its higher bandwidth dilation, the mother wavelet W(x), is obtained by high pass ltering the dilated scaling function. The high pass lter coefcients are obtained by reversing the order of the renement low pass lter coefcients and alternating the sines, i.e.,
N

V 0 V 1 V 2 ...,

12

W x
k 0

1 kc N

2x k .

Using Eqs. 1 , 4 , 5 , and 6 we can easily show dx x k W x k 0, , 7 8

forming a series of nested function spaces of increasing as j increases resolution. One of the many theorems of rigorous treatments of wavelet theory is that if (x) is sufciently well behaved, V represents all of Hilbert space. For functions sampled at integer x the projection of the function into V 0 is adequate for approximation. Now, let W 0 represent that part of function space spanned by the translates of W(x). From Eq. 6 it is clear that W 0 V 1 and from Eq. 7 W 0 V 0 . It would thus seem reasonable to assume that W 0 represents the difference between V 1 and V 0 , i.e., V 1 V 0 W 0 . Mallat7,8 has proven this in general, i.e., Vj
1

Vj Wj ,

13

dxW x k W x k

kk

i.e., translates of the mother wavelet are orthogonal to the scaling function and orthogonal to each other. The wavelet basis functions are dened as the dilated translates of the mother wavelet, i.e.,
jk

where W j is the function space spanned by jk (x) with j xed and k integers. Thus V 0 may be decomposed into orthogonal subspaces V0 W
1

14

2 W 2x k .

j/2

From Eq. 8 it should be clear that wavelet basis functions of equal j but different k are orthogonal. In the multiresolution analysis of Mallat7 it is shown that basis functions of different j are orthogonal as well, i.e., jk form an orthoMedical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

of diminishing detail. W 1 is spanned by the wavelet basis functions and integers and contains 1,k where k are the nest detail components of functions contained in V 0 . W 2 is spanned by 2,k and contains the components of the functions with detail scale twice that i.e., half the resolution of W 1 . V n is a residual subspace representing the most highly smoothed part of the signal. Equation 14 with this

1987

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1987

interpretation of the subspaces is a statement of multiresolution analysis. For a function f (x) which resides in V 0 we can write
n

1 2

c1 c3

c0 c2

1 . 2

23

f x
j 1 k

jk

jk

x k .

15

The bracketed term above represents that component of f (x) found in W j . The nal summation is the residue. Coefcients jk and k are the coefcients of the wavelet transform which may be calculated using the orthogonality properties of the basis functions
jk

This is an eigenvalue equation with eigenvalue 1. Using the values of c n given in Eq. 22 , the eigenvalues of the 1 square matrix are calculated as 1 and 2. Thus a nontrivial solution to the dilation equation exists in the range 0 x 3. A suitable eigenvector for Eq. 23 is 1 2 1 4c 3 . 1 4c 0

24

dx 2
n

jk

x f x , 2
n

16 17
v x

Introducing the column vector

k

dx

x k f x .

x x 1 x 2 . 25

In order for a wavelet series to be useful for approximating functions, we require dx W x 0. 18

The dilation equation for the Daubechies 4 tap lter may be reexpressed as
v x

A v 2x B v 2x 1

0 x
1 2

1 2

, 26

This is to ensure that jk calculated using Eq. 16 tends to zero as j tends to innity, i.e., as j increases the support of jk will shrink to a length over which f (x) can be considered a constant; when this occurs jk should vanish. Similarly, for truncated wavelet series to approximate the rst derivative of a function we require dx xW x 0. 19

v x

x 1,

where c0 A c2 0 0 c1 c3 0 c0 , c2 B
1 2

c1 c3 0

c0 c2 0

0 c1 . c3 27

These two properties of wavelets result in two additional conditions on the renement lter coefcients. Substituting Eq. 6 into Eq. 18 , we have
N k 0

For example, substituting x 26 we have

v
1 2

into the second branch of Eq. 28

Bv 0 ,

where 1 k c k 0, 20
v 0

and substituting Eq. 6 into Eq. 19 and using Eq. 20 we have

N k 0

0 1 2

29

1 k kc k 0.

21

1 with 1 and 2 given by Eq. 24 . Substituting x 4 into the rst branch of Eq. 26 and using Eq. 28 we have

v
Solution to the dilation equation

1 4

Av

1 2

AB v 0 .

30

For a 4 tap lter, Eqs. 3 , 5 , 20 , and 21 represent four equations actually ve equations with one redundant with four unknowns. The solution yields the Daubechies10 renement lter coefcients: c0 1 ) , 4 c1 3 ) , 4 c2 3 ) , 4 c3 1 ) . 4 22

Continuing as in the above example, v (x) can be evaluated at any x 1 which can be written as a nite binary decimal by applying a series of As and Bs to V(0) with A corresponding to 0 and B to 1, e.g., 37/64 0.100 101 in binary so that
v

37 64

BAABAB v 0 .

31

Strang11 has presented an elegant iterative solution to the 4 tap i.e., N 3 dilation equation which we will now paraphrase. At integers 1 and 2 the dilation equation for the 4 tap lter may be expressed as
Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

Using this technique, the scaling function can be calculated and is plotted in Fig. 1. The mother wavelet can also be calculated using Eq. 6 and is given in Fig. 2. The Daubechies D4 wavelet basis is one of many wavelet bases. The simplest basis is obtained by dropping the requirement that a wavelet series approximate the rst deriva-

1988

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1988

FIG. 1. Daubechies 4 tap scaling function.

FIG. 3. Haar scaling function and B-spline of order zero.

tive of f (x), i.e., dropping Eq. 21 as a requirement of the renement lter. The remaining conditions, Eqs. 3 , 5 , and 20 , are satised by the two coefcients of the Haar 2 tap lter, i.e., c 0 1 and c 1 1. The dilation equation may be solved by inspection and the associated mother wavelet generated. The scaling function and mother wavelet are plotted in Figs. 3 and 4. Note that the rst derivative of a Haar wavelet is either 0 or ; the same will be for any function expressed as a series of Haar wavelets, i.e., while the Haar basis may be practical for approximating functions, it is of limited use for approximating derivatives of those functions. This is the consequence of dropping the requirement of Eq. 21 . Like all compact wavelets the Haar wavelet basis functions become more localized as we proceed to ner levels of scale. This distinguishes the Haar basis from the square wave bases of Walsh and Hadamard familiar to image processing scientists. Requiring wavelet series to approximate higher derivatives requires that higher moments of W(x) vanish compare with Eq. 19 or higher moments of c k vanish compare with Eq. 21 . This results in more conditions on the set of c k and necessitates more coefcients, i.e., a larger number of taps in the renement lter and wavelets of wider support.
The fast wavelet transform

vector f n f (n), n 0,1,...,M . The f n and the scaling function (x) can be used to produce a ltered approximation to the original f (x), i.e.,
M

f x
n 0

fn

x n .

32

In this case the scaling function acts as a low pass lter which removes all wavelet components of f (x) at scales j 0 and higher. This smoothed approximation to f (x) is contained in V 0 by construction. Since V 0 V 1 W 1 , Eq. 32 may be expressed as f x
k k

x k 2

1,k

x ,

33

where k are the wavelet transform coefcients at level j 1. Using Eqs. 1 , 6 , and 9 , Eq. 33 can be expressed as f x
k,k kc k kd k

x 2k k ,

34

where dk 1 &
k

cN

35

Let us consider a function f (x) sampled at M 1 2 N integer values of x represented as the elements of a column

Introducing n 2k k , Eq. 34 can be expressed as

FIG. 2. Daubechies 4 tap wavelet. Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

FIG. 4. Haar wavelet.

1989

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1989

f x
n k

k c n 2k

k d n 2k

x n .

36

0 1

Comparing Eqs. 36 and 32 , we have fn

k c n 2k k d n 2k

37
M 0 1 1 /2

A M

Equation 37 is a set of simultaneous equations for the coefcients k and k which may be written in matrix form as f0 f1 f2 f3 fM
0c 0 0c 1 0c 2 0c 3 0d 0 0d 1 0d 2 0d 3 1c 0 1c 1 1c 2 1c 3

0 0
1d 0 1d 1 1d 2 1d 3

M 1 /2

f0 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 . f6 fM

40

0
M M 1 /2c 2 1 /2c 3 M M

0
1 /2d 2 1 /2d 3

The elements of the bottom half of the column vector above are the wavelet coefcients for the j 1 level of the wavelet transform of f (x). The j 2 components are obtained by applying the matrix A(M 1/2) to the top half of the column vector above. If M 1 is an integer power of 2 then this process may be continued until c0 A 4 c2 d0 d2 c1 c4 d1 d3 c2 c0 d2 d0 c3 c1 d3 d1 41

0
M M 1 /2c 0 1 /2c 1 M M 1 /2d 0 1 /2d 1

38

where the wrap around observed in the last column vector is equivalent to imposing periodic boundary conditions on f n . We now introduce the (M 1) (M 1) square matrix. A M 1 c0 0 c1 0 c2 c0 c3 c1 0 c2 0 c3 0 0

c2 d0 0 d2 d3 0 0 0 d0 d1 c3 d1 0 0 d2 d0 0 d3 d1 0 0 d2 0 d3 c0 c1 0 0

39

At this point and for all subsequent equations in this work it will be convenient to normalize the low pass lter coefcients c n by dividing each by 2, the value of n is increased by the same factor. With this normalization one can easily convince oneself that matrix A above is unitary, i.e., A 1 A T , and that when A is applied to both sides of Eq. 38
Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

is applied. This results in the wavelet transform of the sampled f (x). The wavelet transform is inverted by applying inverse matrices A 1 A T in reverse order to the wavelet transform column vector. It should be noted that the wrap around or periodic boundary condition imposed in Eq. 38 and again in the last c row and d row of matrix A in Eq. 39 is required to insure the unitarity of A and hence the reversibility of the wavelet transform. Periodic boundary conditions can produce artifacts in the wavelet transform caused by the sharp transition from one end of the function or image to the other.12 The use of symmetric or antisymmetric boundary conditions can reduce these artifacts and still produce a reversible wavelet transform, provided the wavelets themselves, or renement lter coefcient, satisfy additional requirements not met by the Daubechies wavelet basis. The operation of matrix A on matrix f as in Eq. 40 is analogous to that of the analysis section of a quadrature mirror lter on an input signal,13 as illustrated schematically in Fig. 5. A signal f (t) sampled at M 1 integer values of t 0,1,...,M is input to a low pass and high pass lter which divide the band pass of the input signal determined by the sampling rate exactly in half. This halving of the band pass allows the outputs of each lter to be down sampled, dropping every other ltered sample value, without loss of information. The lter operation is reversed in the synthesis section, also shown schematically in Fig. 5. Each channel is up sampled by inserting zeros between each sample value in each channel, then the time reversed low pass and high pass lters are applied. The outputs of these lters are added to reconstruct the original signal.

1990

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1990

Other wavelet bases

The Daubechies wavelets have been derived by solving the dilation equation given the renement lter coefcients. Since the lter is of nite length, the scaling function and associating wavelets are of compact nite support. Other wavelet systems are derived in the Fourier transform space. Dening the continuous Fourier transform of a function f (x) as f dx e
i x

f x ,

47

and the Fourier transform of a sampled function f (n) with n integer as f

n

i n

f n ,

48

FIG. 5. Analyze and synthesize sections of a quadrature mirror lter.

one can easily show that f f 2

l

In the wavelet transform algorithm coefcients c n and d n are the convolution kernels of the low pass and high pass lters, respectively. Applying matrix A to matrix f performs the convolution operation and the row-to-row two-place shift in matrix A produces the down sampling. The transpose of A time reverses the lter and performs the up sampling. Since A is unitary, this process reverses the wavelet transform. In the language of quadrature mirror lters, the unitary of A is expressed in terms of the discrete Fourier transforms of the low pass and high pass lters. The discrete Fourier transform of an N 1 tap renement lter is
N

2 l

49

by using the identity x k

k n

e i2

nx

50

In the Fourier transform space the dilation equation becomes where 1 P , 2 2 2 51

P
n 0

c ne

42 P
n

c ne

in

52

Substituting P where
N

for , we directly obtain e

i N

P *

43

is the sampled Fourier transform of the renement lter. Taking the Fourier transform of Eq. 4 with respect to k and using Eq. 49 , we obtain the orthogonality condition expressed in Fourier transform space as
l

P
n 0

cN

1 ne

44

2 l

1.

53

is the Fourier transform of the high pass lter. In order for the sum of the outputs of the time reversed lters in the synthesis section to recover the original input signal, we must have P or P
2 2

1,

45

1,

46

as it is usually expressed. Although Eq. 45 or 46 may be veried by direct calculation using Eqs. 5 and 42 , it should be clear that the low pass and high pass lters decompose function space into orthogonal subspaces. Thus the power magnitudes of the lters added in quadrature yield unity.
Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

The strategy for designing a wavelet basis now becomes nding a ( ) which satises Eqs. 51 and 53 for some ( ). The scaling function and renement lters are found P by inverting the Fourier transforms ( ) and ( ). 14 P To illustrate this we now consider an example from the BattleLemarie family of wavelets which are derived from B-spline functions with knots at the integers. In this case a B-spline of order n is the n 1-fold convolution of the piecewise constant spline of order zero given in Fig. 3, i.e., the Haar scaling function. The piecewise linear spline is the spline of order 1 which is the autocorrelation of the Haar scaling function. It is given by f x 1 0 x x 1 otherwise, 54

1991

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1991

FIG. 6. BattleLemarie scaling function determined by numerically inverting Eq. 61 .

FIG. 7. BattleLemarie wavelet determined from scaling function in Fig. 6 and lter coefcient determined from Eq. 62 .

and satises a dilation equation f x

1 2

f 2x 1

f 2x

1 2

f 2x 1 .

55

thonormal basis one can construct a dual or biorthogonal wavelet basis from two scaling functions whose Fourier transforms are given as f and 0 f g . 62

This function would be a candidate for a wavelet scaling function except that Eq. 4 is not satised, i.e., translations of f (x) are not orthogonal. The Fourier transform of Eq. 55 is f where f and Q
1 i 2

1 Q f , 2 2 2 sin2 /2

Detailed discussions of biorthogonal wavelet bases can be found in the literature.1416 APPLICATIONS
Data compression and noise reduction

56

/2
2

57

1 2

1 cos

58

Inserting ( ) for ( ) in the LHS of Eq. 53 results in f f

l

2 l

2 3

1 3

cos

59

Although ( ) does not satisfy the orthogonality condition f Eq. 53 , we can dene and P Q g g 2 , 61 f g 60

which do satisfy Eqs. 51 and 53 . The scaling function and renement lter are obtained by numerically inverting the two Fourier transforms above. The scaling functions and wavelet are plotted in Figs. 6 and 7. The normalization trick used above can be employed whenever g( ) is well dened and larger than zero for all . Scaling functions which satisfy this condition are said to form a Riesz basis. As an alternative to constructing an orMedical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

The one-dimensional wavelet analysis described thus far can be easily generalized to two or more dimensions in much the same way as the one-dimensional Fourier transform is generalized to more than one dimension. Thus digitized images may be described by a two-dimensional wavelet transform with coefcients jk j k for a wavelet expansion with basis functions of the form jk (x) j k (y). Depending on the wavelet type and image properties, many of the transform coefcients may be zero or fall below some threshold and set to zero without signicantly affecting the appearance of the reconstructed image. These zero coefcients need not be stored or transmitted, resulting in a compressed transform which may require less storage space and results in shorter transmission times in teleradiology and PACS applications.17 This advantage is contingent on the amount of compression being adequate to cover the increase in bookkeeping required to identify the positions of the nonzero wavelet coefcients. Digital mammograms and chest lms for teleradiology are routinely compressed at levels between 20:1 and 40:1. The wavelet transform is a powerful technique for noise reduction. Consider a noise-free signal f (t) to which a noise signal s(t) is added to produce the noisy signal: f t f t s t . 63

The wavelet transform of Eq. 63 can be written as f jk f jk s jk , 64

1992

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1992

where f jk and s jk are the wavelet coefcients of the noisefree signal and noise, respectively. If the noise is white and stationary s t s t
2

t t ,

65

where the bar denotes the ensemble average over the set of all possible representations of the noise process and is the variance or rms value of the noise. A straightforward application of Eq. 16 and the orthogonality property of the wavelet basis functions allows Eq. 66 to be reexpressed as s jk s j
k 2 jj kk

66

i.e., white stationary noise added to the input signal results in a wavelet transform with additive uncorrelated noise of equal magnitude to that of the input signal and which is the same for all scales values of j . The keep or kill thresholding, i.e., the so-called hard thresholding which was alluded to in our discussion of data compression, has been modied by Donoho et al.18 for wavelet-based noise removal. The soft threshold or wavelet shrinkage technique replaces the transform coefcient jk of noisy data with jk given by
jk jk jk jk jk jk

FIG. 8. Noise-free image.

67

where is some estimate of the noise contribution to the transform coefcient. In the method of Donoho et al., the soft threshold is the same for all scales j of the wavelet transform and ideally is given by 2 log n , 68

where n is the number of data points wavelet coefcients and the standard deviation of the noise content of the data points wavelet coefcients . This strategy has been shown to produce a near-ideal removal of Gaussian white noise. Since is in general not known, it is estimated as MAD/ 0.6745 where MAD is the Median Absolute Deviation of the nest scale wavelet coefcients. The effectiveness of the wavelet shrinkage for noise suppression is illustrated in Figs. 8, 9, and 10. To a noise-free image, Fig. 8, is added white noise of variance 10% that of the maximum pixel value of the noise free image, 255. The noisy image in Fig. 9 results. The two dimensional wavelet transform of image 9 was computed for the Daubechies 4 tap lter using MATHCAD-7. The variance of the nest scale wavelet coefcients was determined to be 24.3 which was taken as the soft threshold. The inverted two-dimensional wavelet transform of the shrinked wavelet coefcients is presented in Fig. 10. The noise removal strategy described above is readily applied to digitized radiographs where noise may be assumed to be uncorrelated pixel to pixel, i.e., white noise. In computed radiology CT, SPECT, PET, etc. the image is calculated from back projections and as a result noise in the nal image is correlated pixel-to-pixel. In this type of situation optimum noise removal requires thresholds j which vary
Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998

with scale. An alternative to this approach is applying wavelet noise reduction to the raw data before reconstruction. Many methods of wavelet processing of images reconstructed from projections have now appeared in the literature.1924 In automated feature extraction, wavelet basis functions are chosen which have a shape which resemble the shape of features to be identied from noisy images. Using the Daubechies 6 tap wavelet DeVore et al.,25 have produced an algorithm for the automatic detection of microcalcication clusters in mammography. In this technique only wavelet transform coefcients which correspond to the scale of the microcalcication clusters are retained. The reconstructed images display enormous enhancement of microcalcication clusters and suppression of normal tissue structures. The impressive amount of data compression which is capable with wavelet transform methods may naturally lead one to inquire as to whether it would be possible to apply wavelet methods during the acquisition of data, and thus reduce imaging time for computed radiology procedures such

FIG. 9. Image in Fig. 8 with noise added.

1993

Michael D. Harpen: An introduction to wavelet theory

1993 square integrable wavelets of constant shape, SIAM Soc. Ind. Appl. Math. J. Math. Anal. 15, 723736 1984 . 6 A. Grossmann, J. Morlet, and T. Paul, Transformations associated to square integrable group representations, J. Math. Phys. 26, 24732479 1985 . 7 S. Mallat, Multiresolution approximation and wavelets, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 315, 6988 1989 . 8 S. Mallat, A theory for multiresolution signal decomposition: The wavelet representation, IEEE Trans. Pattern. Anal. Mach. Intell. 31, 674693 1989 . 9 S. Mallat, Multifrequency channel decompositions of images and wavelet models, IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, Signal Process. 37, 2091 2110 1987 . 10 I. Daubechies, Orthonormal bases of compactly supported wavelets, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 41, 909996 1988 . 11 G. Strang, Wavelet transforms versus Fourier transforms, Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 28, 288305 1993 . 12 M. Unser, A practical guide to the implementation of the wavelet transform, in Wavelets in Medicine and Biology, edited by A. Aldroubi and M. Unser CRC Press, New York, 1996 . 13 O. Rioul and M. Vetterli, Wavelets and signal processing, IEEE Signal Process. Mag. 8, 1138 1991 . 14 I. Daubechies, Ten Lectures on Wavelets SIAM Philadelphia, 1992 . 15 A. Cohen, I. Daubechies, and J. C. Fauveau, Biorthogonal bases of compactly supported wavelets, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 45, 485 560 1992 . 16 C. K. Chui, An Introduction to Wavelets Academic, New York, 1992 . 17 R. DeVore, B. Jaeverth, and B. J. Lucier, Image compression through wavelet transform coding, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 38, 719746 1992 . 18 D. Donoho and I. Johnstone, Ideal spatial adaptation via wavelet shrinkage, Biometrika 81, 425455 1994 . 19 E. Kolaczyk, An application of wavelet shrinkage to tomagraphy, in Wavelets in Medicine and Biology, edited by A. Aldroubi and M. Unser CRC Press, New York, 1996 20 F. R. Farrokh, K. J. R. Liu, and C. A. Berenstein, Local tomography in fan-beam geometry using wavelets, IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 2, 709712 1996 . 21 A. H. Delany and Y. Bresler, Multiresolution tomographic reconstruction using wavelets, IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 1, 830834 1994 . 22 T. Olson and J. DeStefano, Wavelet localization of the Radon transform, IEEE Trans. Signal Process. 42, 20552067 1994 . 23 B. Sahiner and A. E. Yagle, Limited angle tography using wavelets, IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference 3, 19121916 1994 . 24 C. Kappeler and S. P. Mueller, Wavelet compression of noisy tomographic images, SPIE 2569, 644652 1995 . 25 R. Devore, B. Lucier, and Z. Yank, Feature extraction in digital mammography, in Wavelets in Medicine and Biology, edited by A. Aldroubi and M. Unser CRC Press, New York, 1996 . 26 D. Healy and J. Weaver, Two applications of wavelet transforms in MR imaging. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 38, 840860 1992 . 27 L. Auslander and I. Gertner, Wide-band ambiguity function and a.x b group, in Signal Processing. Part 1: Signal Processing Theory, edited by L. Auslander, T. Kailath, and S. Mitter Springer-Verlag, New York, 1990 . 28 W. Schempp, Wavelets in high-resolution radar imaging and clinical magnetic Resonance tomography, Cybernetics and Systems 28, 123 1997 . 29 G. Battle and P. Federbush, Ondelettes and phase cell cluster expansions: a vindication, Commun. Math. Phys. 110, 601615 1987 . 30 C. Heneghan, S. B. Lowen, and M. C. Teich, Two-dimensional fractional Brownian Motion: Wavelet analysis and synthesis, Proceedings of the IEEE Southwest Symposium On Image Analysis and Interpretation, pp. 213217 1996 .

FIG. 10. Wavelet noise suppression applied to image in Fig. 9.

as magnetic resonance imaging or single photon emission computed tomography. To this end Healy et al.26 have produced wavelet encoding gradients and rf pulses as an alternative to the time consuming phase encoding gradients used in conventional magnetic resonance imaging. Aside from the more utilitarian applications considered thus far, the wavelet environment may be particularly well suited for the presentation of basic theory. For example, in Doppler RADAR or SONAR ultrasound one endeavors to determine both the position time and velocity frequency of a reector echo subject to the constraints of the uncertainty principle. This is a statement of the conjugate domain localization problem mentioned in the introduction; one of the motivations for the development of wavelet theory. It should not be surprising that basic RADAR or SONAR theory can be readily expressed in terms of the wavelet transform.13,27,28 Battle and Federbush29 have formulated cluster expansions of quantum eld theory in terms of wavelets. Heneghan et al. have described Brownian motion using wavelets.30 We have only scratched the surface of wavelet theory and application. It is hoped that this introduction has given the interested reader the background necessary to undertake any of the more academic treatments of this interesting and powerful new branch of mathematics.
1

D. Gabor, Theory of communication, J. Inst. Elec. Eng. 93, 429457 1946 . 2 G. M. Davis, Wavelet-based analysis of fractal image compress, IEEE Trans. Image Process. 7, 141154 1998 . 3 V. Anh, F. Gras, and H. T. Tsui, Fractal segmentation using multiresolution B-spline wavelets, ISSPA 2, 589592 1996 . 4 J. Morlet, G. Arens, I. Fourgeau, and D. Giard, Wave propagation and sampling theory, Geophysics 47, 203236 1982 . 5 A. Grossmann and J. Morlet, Decomposition of hardy functions into

Medical Physics, Vol. 25, No. 10, October 1998