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Book review
Introduction to Inverse Problems in Imaging M Bertero and P Boccacci 1998 Bristol: Institute of Physics 362 pp ISBN 0-7503-0435-9 (pbk) £25.00, $49.00
This book shows that several problems in imaging are in fact linear inverse problems. In general inverse problems are ill-posed in the sense that small perturbations in the (measured) data have a significant influence on the output. Consequently, numerical methods developed in a general setting of inverse problems which cure the ill-posedness (such methods are called regularization methods) can be applied to solve problems in imaging.
This is an excellent textbook on the principle of linear inverse problems, methods of their numerical solution and practical applications in imaging. It introduces basic ideas and methods for the solution of inverse and ill-posed problems while avoiding the mathematics of functional treatment of operator equations. This goal is achieved by a bottom-up presentation: the authors focus on the two problems of image deconvolution and tomography (bottom) and develop regularization theory specifically for these two problems. Most other books which are concerned with the numerical solution of inverse problems present a top-down approach. That is, a general regularization theory (top) is developed which is then applied to particular problems. The distinguished presentation makes the book very useful to students in applied mathematics, practitioners in engineering science and image processing. This book has the best prerequisites to establish a close link between the mathematical fields of imaging and inverse problems.
Mainly the book focuses on two topics: image deconvolution and linear imaging systems.
1. In image deconvolution the goal is to restore a space invariant blurred image. This part of the book contains mathematical tools in image deconvolution, examples of space invariant imaging systems, a comparison of image deconvolution techniques and low-pass filtering techniques, the analysis of the ill-posedness of the deconvolution problem, regularization methods for deconvolution such as constrained least squares regularization, Tikhonov regularization, iterative regularization and statistical methods. Since the authors focus on particular problems they are able to analyse various methods for deconvolution on a very concrete level. As an example I would like to mention that the authors analyse Fourier methods for deconvolution. Thus they provide an optimal starting point to the theory of inverse problems for people working in the area of signal and image processing.
2. The second part of the book considers linear imaging systems that are not of a convolution type such as tomography problems, diffraction problems and inverse scattering problems. Efficient numerical methods for the solution of this class of problems such as singular value decomposition, Tikhonov regularization methods and Fourier-based methods are presented.
O Scherzer Universität Linz