Image Sequence Stabilization Using Fuzzy Kalman Filtering and Log-Polar Transformation

Digital image stabilization (DIS) is the process that compensates the undesired fluctuations of a frame’s position in an image sequence by means of digital image processing techniques. DIS techniques usually comprise two successive units. The first one estimates the motion and the successive one compensates it. In this paper, a novel digital image stabilization technique is proposed, which is featured with a fuzzy Kalman estimation of the global motion vector in the log-polar plane. The global motion vector is extracted using four local motion vectors computed on respective sub-images in the log-polar plane. The proposed technique exploits both the advantages of the fuzzy Kalman system and the log-polar plane. The compensation is based on the motion estimation in the log-polar domain, filtered by the fuzzy Kalman system. The described technique outperforms in terms of response times, the output quality and the level of compensation.