Q3Digital Image Processing
Question
2 marks
What is a median filter? When is it used?
Answer
A Median Filter is a strict non-linear spatial algorithm that violently eradicates "salt-and-pepper" impulse noise without mathematically destroying structural edges.
The Median Filter is a highly aggressive sorting algorithm. It overlays a mask (e.g., ) on the image, extracts the 9 physical pixel values, sorts them mathematically from lowest to highest, and replaces the center pixel strictly with the absolute median value. It is vastly superior to Mean filters for removing catastrophic impulse noise while preserving sharp architectural edges.