A new color filter array with optimal properties for noiseless and noisy color image acquisition

Digital color cameras acquire color images by means of a sensor on which a color filter array (CFA) is overlaid. The Bayer CFA dominates the consumer market, but there has recently been a renewed interest for the design of CFAs . However, robustness to noise is often neglected in the design, though it is crucial in practice. In this paper, we present a new 2 × 3-periodic CFA which provides, by construction, the optimal tradeoff between robustness to aliasing, chrominance noise and luminance noise. Moreover, a simple and efficient linear demosaicking algorithm is described, which fully exploits the spectral properties of the CFA. Practical experiments confirm the superiority of our design, both in noiseless and noisy scenarios.