Gabor filter

In image processing, a Gabor filter, named after Dennis Gabor, is a linear filter used for edge detection. Frequency and orientation representations of Gabor filters are similar to those of the human visual system, and they have been found to be particularly appropriate for texture representation and discrimination. In the spatial domain, a 2D Gabor filter is a Gaussian kernel function modulated by a sinusoidal plane wave.

Simple cells in the visual cortex of mammalian brains can be modeled by Gabor functions. Thus, image analysis with Gabor filters is thought to be similar to perception in the human visual system.

Its impulse response is defined by a sinusoidal wave (a plane wave for 2D Gabor filters) multiplied by a Gaussian function. Because of the multiplication-convolution property (Convolution theorem), the Fourier transform of a Gabor filter's impulse response is the convolution of the Fourier transform of the harmonic function and the Fourier transform of the Gaussian function. The filter has a real and an imaginary component representing orthogonal directions. The two components may be formed into a complex number or used individually.

Complex

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