Digital removal of power frequency artifacts using a Fourier space median filter

An efficient technique to remove periodic noise from digital images via a novel implementation of the median filter is presented and discussed within this letter. The technique is based on applying the nonlinear filter to the Fourier amplitude spectrum of the image. Since the median filter is normally used to spatially reduce spiky noise in digital images, using this filter in Fourier space is especially useful for removing periodic frequency noise. Provisional experimental results are shown that demonstrate that the proposed filter provides good performance when compared with a similar Fourier filter: the notch filter. This letter, when considering a prototype version of a Fourier-based median filter, defines the set of user-defined options that are available and also defines a possible solution to solve the distortions caused around the dc component due to natural spectrum decay.