Preface
With a few exceptions, the topics of optical information processing and digital information processing are usually covered in different books, written by experts in one field or the other. It is rare that the two topics are both covered in the same volume. This book is an exception to this trend, and is notable in several different aspects, but especially in its breadth of coverage of both topics. It seems very appropriate to have both general topics covered in the same book, for optical processing systems (defined broadly) commonly include digital systems to drive the optical system and to post-process the data (example: adaptive-optic systems), while digital processing systems most commonly operate on data that has been gathered by an optical system. As a consequence, sophisticated image-gathering and handling systems today include both types of technology, a merger that grows more complete as time progresses. Indeed, even consumer-oriented devices such as digital cameras are sophisticated systems with optical and digital parts.
Thirty eight chapters, each written by a different author, are contained in the seven different parts of the book. It is impossible to comment on all 38 chapters here, but the reader will gain a sense of the breadth of the book from the titles of its different parts:
I. Fundamentals
II. Digital Image Representations
III. Optical Information Processing
IV. Image Acquisition and Visualization
V. Image Processing & Applications
VI. Image Analysis & Object Recognition
VII. Hands on Projects
Thus the reader will find in this book chapters discussing such diverse subjects as fundamentals of optics, information theory, astronomical imaging, holography, video compression, superresolution, fluorescence molecular tomography, and quantum encryption, just to mention a few of the topics. This breadth of topics makes this book rather unique. This is especially welcome in view of the modern tendency towards narrow specialization.
A second interesting and unusual attribute of this book is its international character. The authors of the various chapters have been chosen from many different countries, including: USA, Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Greece, United Kingdom, Israel, Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Canada. The reader can therefore benefit from an international perspective. This, too, seems highly appropriate in a world that is becoming more and more interconnected and interdependent, with scientific and technical knowledge arising globally and being widely diffused.
I recommend the book to readers who wish to have a broad view of the field of optical/digital information processing, in particular a view with a true international flavor.
Joseph W. Goodman, Los Altos, CA, USA
With a few exceptions, the topics of optical information processing and digital information processing are usually covered in different books, written by experts in one field or the other. It is rare that the two topics are both covered in the same volume. This book is an exception to this trend, and is notable in several different aspects, but especially in its breadth of coverage of both topics. It seems very appropriate to have both general topics covered in the same book, for optical processing systems (defined broadly) commonly include digital systems to drive the optical system and to post-process the data (example: adaptive-optic systems), while digital processing systems most commonly operate on data that has been gathered by an optical system. As a consequence, sophisticated image-gathering and handling systems today include both types of technology, a merger that grows more complete as time progresses. Indeed, even consumer-oriented devices such as digital cameras are sophisticated systems with optical and digital parts.
Thirty eight chapters, each written by a different author, are contained in the seven different parts of the book. It is impossible to comment on all 38 chapters here, but the reader will gain a sense of the breadth of the book from the titles of its different parts:
I. Fundamentals
II. Digital Image Representations
III. Optical Information Processing
IV. Image Acquisition and Visualization
V. Image Processing & Applications
VI. Image Analysis & Object Recognition
VII. Hands on Projects
Thus the reader will find in this book chapters discussing such diverse subjects as fundamentals of optics, information theory, astronomical imaging, holography, video compression, superresolution, fluorescence molecular tomography, and quantum encryption, just to mention a few of the topics. This breadth of topics makes this book rather unique. This is especially welcome in view of the modern tendency towards narrow specialization.
A second interesting and unusual attribute of this book is its international character. The authors of the various chapters have been chosen from many different countries, including: USA, Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Greece, United Kingdom, Israel, Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Canada. The reader can therefore benefit from an international perspective. This, too, seems highly appropriate in a world that is becoming more and more interconnected and interdependent, with scientific and technical knowledge arising globally and being widely diffused.
I recommend the book to readers who wish to have a broad view of the field of optical/digital information processing, in particular a view with a true international flavor.
Joseph W. Goodman, Los Altos, CA, USA