Iranian Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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Image registration is a crucial step in most image processing tasks for which the final result is achieved from a combination of various resources. In general, the majority of registration methods consist of the following four steps: feature extraction, feature matching, transform modeling, and finally image resampling. As the accuracy of a registration process is highly dependent to the feature extraction and matching methods, in this paper, we have proposed a new method for extracting salient edges from satellite images. Due to the efficiency of multiresolution data representation, we have considered four state-of-the-art multiresolution transforms –namely, wavelet, curvelet, complex wavelet and contourlet transform- in the feature extraction step of the proposed image registration method. Experimental results and performance comparison among these transformations showed the high performance of the contourlet transform in extracting efficient edges from satellite images. Obtaining salient, stable and distinguishable features increased the accuracy of the proposed registration process.

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Artificial neural network (ANN) has application in communication engineering in diverse areas such as channel equalization, channel modeling, error control code because of its capability of nonlinear processing, adaptability, and parallel processing. On the other hand, wavelet transform (WT) with both the time and the frequency resolution provides the exact representation of signal in both domains. Applying these signal processing tools for channel compensation and noise reduction can provide an enhanced performance compared to the traditional tools. In this paper, the slot error rate (SER) performance of digital pulse interval modulation (DPIM) in diffuse indoor optical wireless (OW) links subjected to the artificial light interference (ALI) is reported with new receiver structure based on the discrete WT (DWT) and ANN. Simulation results show that the DWT-ANN based receiver is very effective in reducing the effect of multipath induced inter-symbol interference (ISI) and ALI.

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The aim of this study is to introduce a new methodology for isolation of ectopic rhythms of ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) holter data via appropriate statistical analyses imposing reasonable computational burden. First, the events of the ECG signal are detected and delineated using a robust wavelet-based algorithm. Then, using Binary Neyman-Pearson Radius test, an appropriate classifier is designed to categorize ventricular complexes into "Normal + Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC)" and "Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC)" beats. Afterwards, an innovative measure is defined based on wavelet transform of the delineated P-wave namely as P-Wave Strength Factor (PSF) used for the evaluation of the P-wave power. Finally, ventricular contractions pursuing weak P-waves are categorized as PAC complexes however, those ensuing strong P-waves are specified as normal complexes. The discriminant quality of the PSF-based feature space was evaluated by a modified learning vector quantization (MLVQ) classifier trained with the original QRS complexes and corresponding Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) dyadic scale. Also, performance of the proposed Neyman-Pearson Classifier (NPC) is compared with the MLVQ and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers using a common feature space. The processing speed of the proposed algorithm is more than 176,000 samples/sec showing desirable heart arrhythmia classification performance. The performance of the proposed two-lead NPC algorithm is compared with MLVQ and SVM classifiers and the obtained results indicate the validity of the proposed method. To justify the newly defined feature space (σi1, σi2, PSFi), a NPC with the proposed feature space and a MLVQ classification algorithm trained with the original complex and its corresponding DWT as well as RR interval are considered and their performances were compared with each other. An accuracy difference about 0.15% indicates acceptable discriminant quality of the properly selected feature elements. The proposed algorithm was applied to holter data of the DAY general hospital (more than 1,500,000 beats) and the average values of Se = 99.73% and P+ = 99.58% were achieved for sensitivity and positive predictivity, respectively.

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In this study, a new long-duration holter electrocardiogram (ECG) major events detection-delineation algorithm is described which operates based on the false-alarm error bounded segmentation of a decision statistic with simple mathematical origin. To meet this end, first three-lead holter data is pre-processed by implementation of an appropriate bandpass finite-duration impulse response (FIR) filter and also by calculation of the Euclidean norm between corresponding samples of three leads. Then, a trous discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is applied to the resulted norm and an unscented synthetic measure is calculated between some obtained dyadic scales to magnify the effects of low-power waves such as P or T-waves during occurrence of arrhythmia(s). Afterwards, a uniform length window is slid sample to sample on the synthetic scale and in each slid, six features namely as summation of the nonlinearly amplified Hilbert transform, summation of absolute first order differentiation, summation of absolute second order differentiation, curve length, area and variance of the excerpted segment are calculated. Then all feature trends are normalized and superimposed to yield the newly defined multiple-order derivative wavelet based measure (MDWM) for the detection and delineation of ECG events. In the next step, a α-level Neyman-Pearson classifier (which is a false-alarm probability-FAP controlled tester) is implemented to detect and delineate QRS complexes. To show advantages of the presented method, it is applied to MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database, QT Database, and T-Wave Alternans Database and as a result, the average values of sensitivity and positive predictivity Se = 99.96% and P+ = 99.96% are obtained for the detection of QRS complexes, with the average maximum delineation error of 5.7 msec, 3.8 msec and 6.1 msec for P-wave, QRS complex and T-wave, respectively showing marginal improvement of detection-delineation performance. In the next step, the proposed method is applied to DAY hospital high resolution holter data (more than 1,500,000 beats including Bundle Branch Blocks-BBB, Premature Ventricular Complex-PVC and Premature Atrial Complex-PAC) and average values of Se=99.98% and P+=99.97% are obtained for QRS detection. In summary, marginal performance improvement of ECG events detection-delineation process in a widespread values of signal to noise ratio (SNR), reliable robustness against strong noise, artifacts and probable severe arrhythmia(s) of high resolution holter data and the processing speed 163,000 samples/sec can be mentioned as important merits and capabilities of the proposed algorithm.

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In this paper we introduce two innovative image and video watermarking algorithms. The paper’s main emphasis is on the use of chaotic maps to boost the algorithms’ security and resistance against attacks. By encrypting the watermark information in a one dimensional chaotic map, we make the extraction of watermark for potential attackers very hard. In another approach, we select embedding positions by a two dimensional chaotic map which enables us to satisfactorily distribute watermark information throughout the host signal. This prevents concentration of watermark data in a corner of the host signal which effectively saves it from being a target for attacks that include cropping of the signal. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed schemes are quite resistant to many kinds of attacks which commonly threaten watermarking algorithms.

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Fault classification in distance protection of transmission lines, with considering the wide variation in the fault operating conditions, has been very challenging task. This paper presents a probabilistic neural network (PNN) and new feature selection technique for fault classification in transmission lines. Initially, wavelet transform is used for feature extraction from half cycle of post-fault three phase currents at one end of line. In the proposed method three classifiers corresponding with three phases are used which fed by normalized particular features as wavelet energy ratio (WER) and ground index (GI). The PNNs are trained to provide faulted phase selection in different ten fault types. Finally, logic outputs of classifiers and GI identify the fault type. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is tested on transmission line using PSCAD/EMTDC software. Variation of operating conditions in train cases is limited, but it is wide for test cases. Also, quantity of the test data sets is larger than the train data sets. The results indicate that the proposed technique is high speed, accurate and robust for a wide variation in operating conditions and noisy environments.

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The use of wavelets in denoising, seems to be an advantage in representing well the details. However, the edges are not so well preserved. Total variation technique has advantages over simple denoising techniques such as linear smoothing or median filtering, which reduce noise, but at the same time smooth away edges to a greater or lesser degree. In this paper, an efficient denoising method based on Total Variation model (TV), and Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) is proposed to incorporate both properties. In our method, TV is employed to refine low-passed coefficients and DTCWT is used to shrink high-passed noisy coefficients to achieve more accurate image recovery. The efficiency of our approach is firstly analyzed by comparing the results with well-known methods such as probShrink, BLS-GSM, SUREbivariate, NL-Means and TV model. Secondly, it is compared to some denoising methods, which have been reported recently. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the Steerable pyramid denoising by 8.5% in terms of PSNR and 17.5% in terms of SSIM for standard images. Obtained results convince us that the proposed scheme provides a better performance in noise blocking among reported state-of-the-art methods.

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This paper proposes a new method for rejecting the Continuous Wave Interferences (CWI) in the Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The proposed filter is made by cascading an adaptive Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter and a Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT) based filter. Although adaptive FIR filters are easy to implement and have a linear phase, they create self-noise in the rejection of strong interferences. Moreover, the WPT which provides detailed signal decomposition can be used for the excision of single-tone and multi-tone CWI and also for de-noising the retrieved GPS signal. By cascading these two filters, the self-noise imposed by FIR filter and the remaining jamming effects on GPS signal can be eliminated by the WPT based filter. The performance analysis of the proposed cascade filter is presented in this paper and it is compared with the FIR and the WPT based filters. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed method offers a better performance under the interference environments of interest in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio gain and mean square error factors compared to previous methods.

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Traditional noise removal methods like Non-Local Means create spurious boundaries inside regular zones. Visushrink removes too many coefficients and yields recovered images that are overly smoothed. In Bayesshrink method, sharp features are preserved. However, PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is considerably low. BLS-GSM generates some discontinuous information during the course of denoising and destroys the flatness of homogenous area. Wavelets are not very effective in dealing with multidimensional signals containing distributed discontinuities such as edges. This paper develops an effective shearlet-based denoising method with a strong ability to localize distributed discontinuities to overcome this limitation. The approach introduced here presents two major contributions: (a) Shearlet Transform is designed to get more directional subbands which helps to capture the anisotropic information of the image; (b) coefficients are divided into low frequency and high frequency subband. Then, the low frequency band is refined by Wiener filter and the high-pass bands are denoised via NeighShrink model. Our framework outperforms the wavelet transform denoising by %7.34 in terms of PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) and %13.42 in terms of SSIM (Structural Similarity Index) for ‘Lena’ image. Our results in standard images show the good performance of this algorithm, and prove that the algorithm proposed is robust to noise.

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The wavelet transform-domain least-mean square (WTDLMS) algorithm uses the self-orthogonalizing technique to improve the convergence performance of LMS. In WTDLMS algorithm, the trade-off between the steady-state error and the convergence rate is obtained by the fixed step-size. In this paper, the WTDLMS adaptive algorithm with variable step-size (VSS) is established. The step-size in each subfilter changes according to the largest decrease in mean square deviation. The simulation results show that the proposed VSS-WTDLMS has faster convergence rate and lower misadjustment than ordinary WTDLMS.

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