Variational Bayesian Subgroup Adaptive Sparse Component Extraction for Diagnostic Imaging System

A novel unsupervised sparse component extraction algorithm is proposed for detecting micro defects while employing a thermography imaging system. The proposed approach is developed using the variational Bayesian framework. This enables a fully automated determination of the model parameters and bypasses the need for human intervention in manually selecting the appropriate image contrast frames. An internal subsparse grouping mechanism and adaptive fine-tuning strategy have been built to control the sparsity of the solution. The proposed algorithm is computationally affordable and yields a high-accuracy objective performance. Experimental tests on both artificial and natural defects have been conducted to verify the efficacy of the proposed method.