A cue generator for crack detection

Abstract This paper describes a computationally efficient method for identifying weakly visible cracks in images of man-made surfaces. The method relies on a multistage nonlinear filtering process designed to yield maximum response to symmetrical fine structure. The result is a set of candidate sites which can then be verified on the basis of features obtained from the source image and candidate shape. Results are presented which demonstrate the application of the method to a difficult problem in industrial inspection.