Determination of the optimum sampling frequency of noisy images by spatial statistics.

In optical metrology the final experimental result is normally an image acquired with a CCD camera. Owing to the sampling at the image, an interpolation is usually required. For determining the error in the measured parameters with that image, knowledge of the uncertainty at the interpolation is essential. We analyze how kriging, an estimator used in spatial statistics, can generate convolution kernels for filtering noise in regularly sampled images. The convolution kernel obtained with kriging explicitly depends on the spatial correlation and also on metrological conditions, such as the random fluctuations of the measured quantity, and the resolution of the measuring devices. Kriging, in addition, allows us to determine the uncertainty of the interpolation, and we have analyzed it in terms of the sampling frequency and the random fluctuations of the image, comparing it with Nyquist criterion. By use of kriging, it is possible to determine the optimum-required sampling frequency for a noisy image so that the uncertainty at interpolation is below a threshold value.