Hough/Radon Transform
Hough/Radon Transform
The Hough transform is a feature extraction technique used to detect objects or shapes in images. Features are represented in a suitable parameter space. The transform then casts votes into this space based on processing of the pixels in the input image. Local maxima in parameter space then correspond to the parameterised features.
The Hough transform operates on binary images, and as such often requires a thresholding of the original image. For greyscale images an alternative is to use the Radon transform. The Radon transform is roughly equivalent to a continuous formulation of the Hough transform.
The images to the right show the respective parameter spaces of a Hough and Radon transform applied to an image (not shown here). At first glance we seem to get better contrast in the Hough image. This is often desirable because it makes the task of finding robust local maxima easier. However, the price we pay for this is the constraint of having to input a binary image. Although it is more difficult to find robust local maxima in the Radon image, this method may sometimes be preferrable. One such case would be when the task of finding robust local maxima is easier than finding a suitable threshold for the original image.
Images
Tommy Hinks 