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Mathematical Morphology in Image Analysis

Summer Term 2022

Mathematical Morphology in Image Analysis


Lecturer: Kristina Schaefer

Examiner: Prof. Dr. Joachim Weickert
Summer Term 2022

Lecture (2h) with exercises (2h)
6 credit points

Online Lecture
Lecture: Thursday 12-14 c.t.
Tutorials: Monday 14-16 c.t.
First Lecture: Thursday, April 14th, 2022



AnnouncementsDescriptionEntrance requirementsTutorialsExams
Lecture notes/AssignmentsReferences



14/10/2022 The results of the second exam are online.

22/04/2022 The registration is closed.

08/04/2022 The dates for the exams was added to the website.

28/03/2022 The course will be held entirely online.

04/03/2022 The course website is online. You can already register for the course, which enables you to join the course on MS Teams. There, you can already ask questions and access all lecture content.
Details about the teaching mode (in person/digital/hybrid) will be announced closer to the start of the semester.

Keep in mind that in most courses of studies, you also have to register via the HISPOS system of the Saarland University


Motivation: Mathematical morphology is a powerful class of images processing methods based on shapes information of image objects. Its techniques have been applied successfully to a variety of image processing tasks including image denoising, segmentation, skeletons and many more.

Contents: The lectures gives an introduction to a variety of morphological techniques. The course is roughly sperated in two parts. In the first part, methods from classical, discrete morphology are discussed. The second part introduces morphology based on partial differential equations (PDE).

Teaching Goals: The course is designed as a supplement for image processing lectures, to be attended before, after or parallel to them. After the lecture, participants should understand the foundations of classical and PDE-based morphology and be able to apply morphological operators to image processing tasks.


Basic mathematics courses (such as Mathematik für Informatiker I-III) are recommended. Understanding English is necessary. Image processing lectures such as "Image Processing and Computer Vision" are helpful for some specific topics, but not necessary. For the programming assignments, some elementary knowledge of C is required.


There will be weekly optional homework assignment, which include solving theoretical and programming problems. During the weekly tutorial sessions, we discuss the homework assigment and further materials. You are supposed to solve the assignments by yourself, such that we can have an active discussion in the tutorials. The tutorial sessions will be held online via MS Teams.

If you have questions concerning the tutorials, please do not hesitate to contact Kristina Schaefer.


There will be two closed book written exams.

The first written exam will take place on Thursday, August 04, 2022 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in Building E1.3, lecture hall 002.
The second written exam will take place on Thursday, October 13, 2022 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in Building E1.3, lecture hall 002.
You can participate in both exams, and the better grades counts. Please remember that you have to register online for the exam in the HISPOS system of the Saarland University.

If you cannot attend the exam, contact Kristina Schaefer as early as possible. In case you have proof that you cannot take part for medical reasons or you have another exam on the same day, we can offer you an oral exam as a replacement. Note that we need written proof (e.g. a certificate from a physician/Krankenschein) for the exact date of the exam.

The results of the first written exam can be found here, and the corresponding distribution of points and grades are availabe in Teams.

The results of the second written exam can be found here.

Lecture notes / Assignments

Lecture content available for download in MS Teams. You will be granted access to Teams after registration.

  • P.Soille, Morphological Image Analysis. Principles and Applications. Second edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2004
  • R. C. Gonzalez, R. E. Woods, Digital Image Processing. Addison-Wesley, International Edition, 2017

Further references will be given during the lecture.



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