Is Digital Image Processing practical outside academia

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the practicality and relevance of Digital Image Processing (DIP) in the context of an Electrical Engineering (EE) undergraduate's education and future career. Participants explore the relationship between DIP and Digital Signal Processing (DSP), as well as the applicability of these fields in industry, particularly outside of academia.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses fascination with Signal Processing and considers taking a graduate course in Digital Image Processing but questions its practicality for an engineer without a graduate degree.
  • Another participant shares an example of a friend who transitioned from astrophysics to medical physics, suggesting that DIP has applications beyond academia.
  • Several participants assert that DSP is a highly relevant and growing field, especially in defense and government sectors, indicating strong industry demand.
  • There is a suggestion that both Image Processing and DSP courses would be beneficial, with one participant deciding to pursue an independent study that would cover image processing topics.
  • A later reply seeks input on the most important topics typically covered in an Image Processing course.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the relevance of DSP in industry, particularly in defense sectors, but there is no consensus on the practicality of DIP for someone planning to enter the workforce with only an undergraduate degree. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best course of action for the original poster.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying levels of certainty about the applicability of Digital Image Processing in industry, and there are differing opinions on the importance of specific topics within the field. The discussion reflects a range of experiences and perspectives without definitive conclusions.

SpaceDomain
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I need to take one more course for my EE Bachelors degree in one of three specialized areas: Signal Processing, Controls, or Communications.

I know all three of these are very much related, but I am finding Signal Processing by far the most fascinating field out of the three.

The problem is that my school only offers one real undergrad course in Signal Processing. It is Intro to DSP. I am taking it right now.

So, in order for me to take another course directly related to signal processing I have found three options.

1. I take a graduate Digital Image Processing Course.
2. I take the graduate Digital Signal Processing Course.
3. I take an undergraduate independent study course where I propose a main topic to study all semester and as long as it is approved I just focus on that.So for option 3 I would be advised by my current DSP professor, who is an absolutely excellent professor. He also teaches option 1.

I would just go ahead do option 1, but I am not sure how practical the stuff I am going to learn in that class would be.Here are the course descriptions of 1 and 2:

1. Digital Image Processing:
Digital image processing including image acquisition and characterization, transforms, coding and compression, enhancement, restoration and segmentation. Use of modern image processing software on Sun and IBM work stations.

2: Digital Signal Processing:
Introduction to discrete linear systems; frequency-domain design of digital filters; quantization effects in digital filters; digital filter hardware, discrete Fourier transforms; high-speed convolution and correlation with application to digital filtering; introduction to Walsh-Fourier theory.And here is the description for the Intro to DSP course I am taking right now:
-Introduction to Digital Signal Processing :
Introduction to discrete linear systems using difference equations and z-transforms. Discrete Fourier analysis. Design of digital filters. Sampling theorem. Applications of digital signal processing.
I really want to learn about Filter Banks, Multi-Rate DSP, and the Wavelet Transform.

If I try to do the independent study those are the three topics I am going to suggest that I focus on.

It doesn't look like those topics are covered in the Grad DSP course.

So I would really like to ether do the Image Processing course or the independent study if I am able to focus on those topics.

The Image Processing course would be more structured and I would probably learn the stuff better. But would it be practical for an electrical engineer that most likely won't get a graduate degree?

I know I am rambling, but please anyone, let me know what your thoughts are.
 
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A friend of mine did his masters work in physics (astrophysics) analyzing astronomical images and writing software to detect sources in them; he got a job in medical physics doing something similar with MRI machines. So yes, it has other applications.
 
Are you kidding me? DSP is one of the hottest fields in engineering right now, especially in the defense/government sectors.
 
fss said:
Are you kidding me? DSP is one of the hottest fields in engineering right now, especially in the defense/government sectors.

I agree, it's got a lot of potential for growth.
 
fss said:
Are you kidding me? DSP is one of the hottest fields in engineering right now, especially in the defense/government sectors.

What are you referring to? The title of the thread?

Sorry, I guess that wasn't the real question I meant. What I meant what are your thoughts on taking either a course on Image Processing, or trying to take a class that focuses on more DSP in general?

That is, for someone who plans on entering industry with only an undergrad degree.
 
SpaceDomain said:
What I meant what are your thoughts on taking either a course on Image Processing, or trying to take a class that focuses on more DSP in general?

Either one will be interesting. I'd try and take both...
 
I decided what to do. I am going to try to do the undergrad level independent study course and propose that I just basically go the image processing course as the material.

What are the most important topics in a Image Processing Course? Anyone?
 

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