On the Use of Lee's Protocol for Speckle-Reducing Techniques

TL;DR

This paper introduces two new MAP filters for speckle noise reduction, proposes a Monte Carlo extension of Lee's protocol for performance assessment, and addresses inconsistencies in the original protocol to enable reliable filter comparison.

Contribution

The paper develops new speckle-reducing filters and proposes a consistent Monte Carlo-based extension of Lee's protocol for evaluating filter performance.

Findings

The original Lee's protocol has inconsistencies affecting its reliability.

The proposed Monte Carlo extension improves filter assessment accuracy.

New MAP filters outperform classical methods in tests.

Abstract

This paper presents two new MAP (Maximum a Posteriori) filters for speckle noise reduction and a Monte Carlo procedure for the assessment of their performance. In order to quantitatively evaluate the results obtained using these new filters, with respect to classical ones, a Monte Carlo extension of Lee's protocol is proposed. This extension of the protocol shows that its original version leads to inconsistencies that hamper its use as a general procedure for filter assessment. Some solutions for these inconsistencies are proposed, and a consistent comparison of speckle-reducing filters is provided.