Scalable and perceptual audio compression

This thesis deals with scalable perceptual audio compression. Two scalable perceptual solutions as well as a scalable to lossless solution are proposed and investigated. One of the scalable perceptual solutions is built around sinusoidal modelling of the audio signal whilst the other is built on a transform coding paradigm. The scalable coders are shown to scale both in a waveform matching manner as well as a psychoacoustic manner. In order to measure the psychoacoustic scalability of the systems investigated in this thesis, the similarity between the original signal\u27s psychoacoustic parameters and that of the synthesized signal are compared. The psychoacoustic parameters used are loudness, sharpness, tonahty and roughness. This analysis technique is a novel method used in this thesis and it allows an insight into the perceptual distortion that has been introduced by any coder analyzed in this manner

Discrete Wavelet Transforms

The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) algorithms have a firm position in processing of signals in several areas of research and industry. As DWT provides both octave-scale frequency and spatial timing of the analyzed signal, it is constantly used to solve and treat more and more advanced problems. The present book: Discrete Wavelet Transforms: Algorithms and Applications reviews the recent progress in discrete wavelet transform algorithms and applications. The book covers a wide range of methods (e.g. lifting, shift invariance, multi-scale analysis) for constructing DWTs. The book chapters are organized into four major parts. Part I describes the progress in hardware implementations of the DWT algorithms. Applications include multitone modulation for ADSL and equalization techniques, a scalable architecture for FPGA-implementation, lifting based algorithm for VLSI implementation, comparison between DWT and FFT based OFDM and modified SPIHT codec. Part II addresses image processing algorithms such as multiresolution approach for edge detection, low bit rate image compression, low complexity implementation of CQF wavelets and compression of multi-component images. Part III focuses watermaking DWT algorithms. Finally, Part IV describes shift invariant DWTs, DC lossless property, DWT based analysis and estimation of colored noise and an application of the wavelet Galerkin method. The chapters of the present book consist of both tutorial and highly advanced material. Therefore, the book is intended to be a reference text for graduate students and researchers to obtain state-of-the-art knowledge on specific applications

A flexible hardware architecture for 2-D discrete wavelet transform: design and FPGA implementation

The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is a powerful signal processing tool that has recently gained widespread acceptance in the field of digital image processing. The multiresolution analysis provided by the DWT addresses the shortcomings of the Fourier Transform and its derivatives. The DWT has proven useful in the area of image compression where it replaces the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) in new JPEG2000 and MPEG4 image and video compression standards. The Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau (CDF) 5/3 and CDF 9/7 DWTs are used for reversible lossless and irreversible lossy compression encoders in the JPEG2000 standard respectively. The design and implementation of a flexible hardware architecture for the 2-D DWT is presented in this thesis. This architecture can be configured to perform both the forward and inverse DWT for any DWTfamily, using fixed-point arithmetic and no auxiliary memory. The Lifting Scheme method is used to perform the DWT instead of the less efficient convolution-based methods. The DWT core is modeled using MATLAB and highly parameterized VHDL. The VHDL model is synthesized to a Xilinx FPGA to prove hardware functionality. The CDF 5/3 and CDF 9/7 versions of the DWT are both modeled and used as comparisons throughout this thesis. The DWT core is used in conjunction with a very simple image denoising module to demonstrate the potential of the DWT core to perform image processing techniques. The CDF 5/3 hardware produces identical results to its theoretical MATLAB model. The fixed point CDF 9/7 deviates very slightly from its floating-point MATLAB model with a ~59dB PSNR deviation for nine levels of DWT decomposition. The execution time for performing both DWTs is nearly identical at -14 clock cycles per image pixel for one level of DWT decomposition. The hardware area generated for the CDF 5/3 is -16,000 gates using only 5% of the Xilinx FPGA hardware area, 2.185 MHz maximum clock speed and 24 mW power consumption. The simple wavelet image denoising techniques resulted in cleaned images up to -27 PSNR

Remote Sensing Data Compression

A huge amount of data is acquired nowadays by different remote sensing systems installed on satellites, aircrafts, and UAV. The acquired data then have to be transferred to image processing centres, stored and/or delivered to customers. In restricted scenarios, data compression is strongly desired or necessary. A wide diversity of coding methods can be used, depending on the requirements and their priority. In addition, the types and properties of images differ a lot, thus, practical implementation aspects have to be taken into account. The Special Issue paper collection taken as basis of this book touches on all of the aforementioned items to some degree, giving the reader an opportunity to learn about recent developments and research directions in the field of image compression. In particular, lossless and near-lossless compression of multi- and hyperspectral images still remains current, since such images constitute data arrays that are of extremely large size with rich information that can be retrieved from them for various applications. Another important aspect is the impact of lossless compression on image classification and segmentation, where a reasonable compromise between the characteristics of compression and the final tasks of data processing has to be achieved. The problems of data transition from UAV-based acquisition platforms, as well as the use of FPGA and neural networks, have become very important. Finally, attempts to apply compressive sensing approaches in remote sensing image processing with positive outcomes are observed. We hope that readers will find our book useful and interestin

VHDL design and simulation for embedded zerotree wavelet quantisation

This thesis discusses a highly effective still image compression algorithm – The Embedded Zerotree Wavelets coding technique, as it is called. This technique is simple but achieves a remarkable result. The image is wavelet-transformed, symbolically coded and successive quantised, therefore the compression and transmission/storage saving can be achieved by utilising the structure of zerotree. The algorithm was first proposed by Jerome M. Shapiro in 1993, however to minimise the memory usage and speeding up the EZW processor, a Depth First Search method is used to transverse across the image rather than Breadth First Search method as initially discussed in Shapiro\u27s paper (Shapiro, 1993). The project\u27s primary objective is to simulate the EZW algorithm from a basic building block of 8 by 8 matrix to a well-known reference image such Lenna of 256 by 256 matrix. Hence the algorithm performance can be measured, for instance its peak signal to noise ratio can be calculated. The software environment used for the simulation is a Very-High Speed Integrated Circuits - Hardware Description Language such Peak VHDL, PC based version. This will lead to the second phase of the project. The secondary objective is to test the algorithm at a hardware level, such FPGA for a rapid prototype implementation only if the project time permits

On the design of fast and efficient wavelet image coders with reduced memory usage

Image compression is of great importance in multimedia systems and applications because it drastically reduces bandwidth requirements for transmission and memory requirements for storage. Although earlier standards for image compression were based on the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), a recently developed mathematical technique, called Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), has been found to be more efficient for image coding. Despite improvements in compression efficiency, wavelet image coders significantly increase memory usage and complexity when compared with DCT-based coders. A major reason for the high memory requirements is that the usual algorithm to compute the wavelet transform requires the entire image to be in memory. Although some proposals reduce the memory usage, they present problems that hinder their implementation. In addition, some wavelet image coders, like SPIHT (which has become a benchmark for wavelet coding), always need to hold the entire image in memory. Regarding the complexity of the coders, SPIHT can be considered quite complex because it performs bit-plane coding with multiple image scans. The wavelet-based JPEG 2000 standard is still more complex because it improves coding efficiency through time-consuming methods, such as an iterative optimization algorithm based on the Lagrange multiplier method, and high-order context modeling. In this thesis, we aim to reduce memory usage and complexity in wavelet-based image coding, while preserving compression efficiency. To this end, a run-length encoder and a tree-based wavelet encoder are proposed. In addition, a new algorithm to efficiently compute the wavelet transform is presented. This algorithm achieves low memory consumption using line-by-line processing, and it employs recursion to automatically place the order in which the wavelet transform is computed, solving some synchronization problems that have not been tackled by previous proposals. The proposed encodeOliver Gil, JS. (2006). On the design of fast and efficient wavelet image coders with reduced memory usage [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/1826Palanci

Scalable video compression with optimized visual performance and random accessibility

This thesis is concerned with maximizing the coding efficiency, random accessibility and visual performance of scalable compressed video. The unifying theme behind this work is the use of finely embedded localized coding structures, which govern the extent to which these goals may be jointly achieved. The first part focuses on scalable volumetric image compression. We investigate 3D transform and coding techniques which exploit inter-slice statistical redundancies without compromising slice accessibility. Our study shows that the motion-compensated temporal discrete wavelet transform (MC-TDWT) practically achieves an upper bound to the compression efficiency of slice transforms. From a video coding perspective, we find that most of the coding gain is attributed to offsetting the learning penalty in adaptive arithmetic coding through 3D code-block extension, rather than inter-frame context modelling. The second aspect of this thesis examines random accessibility. Accessibility refers to the ease with which a region of interest is accessed (subband samples needed for reconstruction are retrieved) from a compressed video bitstream, subject to spatiotemporal code-block constraints. We investigate the fundamental implications of motion compensation for random access efficiency and the compression performance of scalable interactive video. We demonstrate that inclusion of motion compensation operators within the lifting steps of a temporal subband transform incurs a random access penalty which depends on the characteristics of the motion field. The final aspect of this thesis aims to minimize the perceptual impact of visible distortion in scalable reconstructed video. We present a visual optimization strategy based on distortion scaling which raises the distortion-length slope of perceptually significant samples. This alters the codestream embedding order during post-compression rate-distortion optimization, thus allowing visually sensitive sites to be encoded with higher fidelity at a given bit-rate. For visual sensitivity analysis, we propose a contrast perception model that incorporates an adaptive masking slope. This versatile feature provides a context which models perceptual significance. It enables scene structures that otherwise suffer significant degradation to be preserved at lower bit-rates. The novelty in our approach derives from a set of "perceptual mappings" which account for quantization noise shaping effects induced by motion-compensated temporal synthesis. The proposed technique reduces wavelet compression artefacts and improves the perceptual quality of video