Modified switching median filter with one more noise detector for impulse noise removal

Abstract In this paper, the switching median filter is modified by adding one more noise detector to improve the capability of impulse noise removal. The proposed impulse noise detector is established based on the rank order arrangement of the pixels in the sliding window. The original switching median filter cannot detect the noise pixel whose value is close to its neighbors if the threshold is designed for emphasizing the detail preservation. Therefore, it is hard to recognize a noise-like pixel as a noise or a noise-free pixel in the sliding window. The proposed impulse noise detector overcomes the above weakness such that the switching median filter is much effective in impulse noise removal.