History and biomedical applications of digital signal and image processing

The paper presents in its initial part historical notes to the development of digital signal and image processing methods. The following case studies are devoted to their application in biomedicine and they include the use of computational intelligence in EEG and EMG signal processing, image segmentation and registration in orthodontia, the human-machine interaction and the three-dimensional modelling using MS Kinect in diagnostics and treatment of human motion disorders and neurological diseases. Associated comments include remarks and references to the development of modern computational tools, biosensors, wireless communication and data fusion used in assistive technologies and robotic systems. Mathematical tools common to all these applications form the next part of the paper that includes notes to spectral analysis, functional transforms, digital filtering, image enhancement, classification of multi-dimensional signal components and optimization using neural networks. Final remarks emphasize the interdisciplinary significance of the digital signal processing forming the integrating basis of many diverse research areas.