J r me Idier – författare

Many scientific, medical or engineering problems raise the issue of recovering some physical quantities from indirect measurements; for instance, detecting or quantifying flaws or cracks within a material from acoustic or electromagnetic measurements at its surface is an essential problem of non-destructive evaluation. The concept of inverse problems precisely originates from the idea of inverting the laws of physics to recover a quantity of interest from measurable data. Unfortunately, most inverse problems are ill-posed, which means that precise and stable solutions are not easy to devise. Regularization is the key concept to solve inverse problems. The goal of this book is to deal with inverse problems and regularized solutions using the Bayesian statistical tools, with a particular view to signal and image estimation. The first three chapters bring the theoretical notions that make it possible to cast inverse problems within a mathematical framework. The next three chapters address the fundamental inverse problem of deconvolution in a comprehensive manner. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with advanced statistical questions linked to image estimation. In the last five chapters, the main tools introduced in the previous chapters are put into a practical context in important applicative areas, such as astronomy or medical imaging.

Many scientific, medical or engineering problems raise the issue of recovering some physical quantities from indirect measurements; for instance, detecting or quantifying flaws or cracks within a material from acoustic or electromagnetic measurements at its surface is an essential problem of non-destructive evaluation. The concept of inverse problems precisely originates from the idea of inverting the laws of physics to recover a quantity of interest from measurable data. Unfortunately, most inverse problems are ill-posed, which means that precise and stable solutions are not easy to devise. Regularization is the key concept to solve inverse problems. The goal of this book is to deal with inverse problems and regularized solutions using the Bayesian statistical tools, with a particular view to signal and image estimation. The first three chapters bring the theoretical notions that make it possible to cast inverse problems within a mathematical framework. The next three chapters address the fundamental inverse problem of deconvolution in a comprehensive manner. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with advanced statistical questions linked to image estimation. In the last five chapters, the main tools introduced in the previous chapters are put into a practical context in important applicative areas, such as astronomy or medical imaging.

The focus of this book is on "ill-posed inverse problems". These problems cannot be solved only on the basis of observed data. The building of solutions involves the recognition of other pieces of a priori information. These solutions are then specific to the pieces of information taken into account. Clarifying and taking these pieces of information into account is necessary for grasping the domain of validity and the field of application for the solutions built.  For too long, the interest in these problems has remained very limited in the signal-image community. However, the community has since recognized that these matters are more interesting and they have become the subject of much greater enthusiasm.

From the application field’s point of view, a significant part of the book is devoted to conventional subjects in the field of inversion: biological and medical imaging, astronomy, non-destructive evaluation, processing of video sequences, target tracking, sensor networks and digital communications.

The variety of chapters is also clear, when we examine the acquisition modalities at stake: conventional modalities, such as tomography and NMR, visible or infrared optical imaging, or more recent modalities such as atomic force imaging and polarized light imaging.