Automatic edge detection in noisy fringe patterns

Fringe patterns are usually analyzed using a predefined window due to the difficulty associated with finding their edges. This is because the fringes usually have minimum intensities similar to that of the background and therefore it is difficult to determine where a fringe starts and ends. This paper presents an automatic technique for detecting the edges of a noisy fringe pattern with various noise levels. The technique uses classical morphological operators and a simple binary edge detector. The relationship between background noise and threshold for the binarization was determined from simulated fringe patterns.