Abstract
Edge detection is a foundational step in computer vision pipelines, enabling object recognition, scene understanding, and visual navigation. The classical Canny algorithm, while optimal in detection and localisation accuracy, imposes substantial computational overhead through two-dimensional Gaussian convolution, Euclidean gradient magnitude computation, global histogram-based threshold selection, and sequential non-maximum suppression and hysteresis passes, rendering it impractical for battery-operated mobile platforms without modification. This paper presents a low-complexity Canny edge detector optimised for high-resolution mobile imaging through four algorithmic substitutions: separable one-dimensional Gaussian smoothing reducing kernel operations from O(k²) to O(2k) per pixel;a three-direction gradient magnitude approximation eliminating square-root computation with error below 4%; a block-adaptive double-threshold scheme on 64×64 tiles replacing global histogram analysis with local mean estimation; and a unified non-maximum suppression and hysteresis pass merging two memory scans into one. Validated on the BSDS300 dataset and real-time webcam streams, the proposed detector achieves edge quality comparable to the OpenCV Canny baseline with approximately 33% reduction in processing time.
Keywords
Canny Edge Detection, Low-Complexity Image Processing, Block-Adaptive Thresholding, Separable Gaussian Filter, Gradient Approximation, Mobile Imaging, Real-Time Vision.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Manchala Pavani, Veligandla Gayatri, Shaik Jamal Reehana, Marasa Baby, Dr. Vangipuram Sesha Srinivas "A Low-Complexity Canny Edge Detector for High-Resolution Mobile Imaging" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 9 2026 Page 1158-1166 https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I9-1715206
IEEE:
Manchala Pavani, Veligandla Gayatri, Shaik Jamal Reehana, Marasa Baby, Dr. Vangipuram Sesha Srinivas
"A Low-Complexity Canny Edge Detector for High-Resolution Mobile Imaging" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(9) https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I9-1715206
About IRE Journals
IRE Journals is an open access online journals established with an aim to publish high quality of research work in various diciplines. We have more than 6 years in publications. Over 2500+ papers already published.
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