Bandwidth compression of optical images

This chapter describes the concept of bandwidth compression of optical images. Because images generally contain a large amount of information, a common problem encountered in the digital transmission and storage of images is that the required channel or storage capacity is often excessive. It is desirable and sometimes mandatory to find ways to reduce this capacity requirement. The reason that this capacity reduction is possible is twofold. First, there is statistical redundancy in images; secondly, there is psycho-visual redundancy in images. Many schemes have been devised in which some of the statistical and psychovisual redundancies of images are removed to reduce the channel (storage) capacity requirement. Some of these schemes are addressed in the chapter, along with exploring that experimental studies in frameto-frame and color coding plays a growing role. On the theoretical side, it is pessimistic about seeing any significant breakthrough, although some progress may be expected through the development of refined psychovisual models and in adaptive coding systems.