Removal of ring artifacts in computed tomographic imaging using iterative center weighted median filter

A new iterative center weighted median filter (ICWMF) for ring artifact reduction from the micro-computed tomographic (micro-CT) image is proposed in this paper. The center weight of the median filter is computed based on the characteristic of the ring artifact in the mean curve of the projection data. The filter operates on the deviation of the mean curve to smooth the ring generating peaks and troughs iteratively while preserving the details due to image. A convergence criterion for the iterative algorithm is determined from the distribution of the local deviation computed from the mean curve deviation. The estimate of the mean curve obtained using the ICWMF is used to correct the ring corrupted projection data from which reconstruction gives the ring artifact suppressed micro-CT image. Test results on both the synthetic and real images demonstrate that the ring artifacts can be more effectively suppressed using our method as compared to other ring removal techniques reported in the literature.