Application of fast non-local means algorithm for noise reduction using separable color channels in light microscopy images

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the various control parameters of a modeled fast non-local means (FNLM) noise reduction algorithm which can separate color channels in light microscopy (LM) images. To achieve this objective, the tendency of image characteristics with changes in parameters, such as smoothing factors and kernel and search window sizes for the FNLM algorithm, was analyzed. To quantitatively assess image characteristics, the coefficient of variation (COV), blind/referenceless image spatial quality evaluator (BRISQUE), and natural image quality evaluator (NIQE) were employed. When high smoothing factors and large search window sizes were applied, excellent COV and unsatisfactory BRISQUE and NIQE results were obtained. In addition, all three evaluation parameters improved as the kernel size increased. However, the kernel and search window sizes of the FNLM algorithm were shown to be dependent on the image processing time (time resolution). In conclusion, this work has demonstrated that the FNLM algorithm can effectively reduce noise in LM images, and parameter optimization is important to achieve the algorithm’s appropriate application.