Automated recognition of surface defects using digital color image processing

One of the computerized technologies for advanced infrastructure inspection methods is the application of digital image processing. Digital image processing methods have been developed for steel bridge coating inspections for the past few years. The rust percentages on steel bridge coating surfaces can be reliably computed through the use of digital image processing methods. However, previous researchers solely focused on the determination of the degree of rust defects on the steel surfaces in percentage. Therefore, an automated processor that can recognize the existence of bridge coating rust defects needs to be developed. This paper presents the development of a rust defect recognition method to determine whether rust defects exist in a given digital image by processing digital color information. For the development of the image processor, color image processing is employed, instead of grayscale image processing commonly used in previous researches, since rust defects are distinctive in color against background.