2D image edge detection enhancement using convolutional neural network

Abstract

Traditional edge detection operators are usually applied on edge detection in 2D image processing. However, the edge detection system equipped with simple operators has many disadvantages, such as high sensitivity to noise and neglect of significant edge details. This work proposed a method to enhance edge detection with convolutional neural net-work. To overcome the shortcomings of the system using simple edge detection operators in 2D image processing, an edge detection system using convolutional neural network was developed with Python language. In the convolutional neural network, two convolutional layers were designed to extract 2D image features that were relative to edge information. Then a normalization layer was applied to normalize the convoluted output. After that, pre-processing was utilized to denoise and smooth the image input. The final step was edge detection using traditional operators. Experiments were also implemented to verify the improvement of the plugin of the three-layer convolutional neural network in the de-signed edge detection system. Relative frequencies were utilized to quantify the edge de-tection performance. Results showed that the involvement of convolutional neural net-work could strengthen edge detection operators performance obviously in computer vi-sion.