Revisiting Mehrotra and Nichani’s Corner Detection Method for Improvement with Truncated Anisotropic Gaussian Filtering

Abstract

In the early 1990s, Mehrotra and Nichani developed a filtering-based corner detection method, which, though conceptually intriguing, suffered from limited reliability, leading to minimal references in the literature. Despite its underappreciation, the core concept of this method, rooted in the half-edge concept and directional truncated first derivative of Gaussian, holds significant promise. This article presents a comprehensive assessment of the enhanced corner detection algorithm, combining both qualitative and quantitative evaluations. We thoroughly explore the strengths, limitations, and overall effectiveness of our approach by incorporating visual examples and conducting evaluations. Through experiments conducted on both synthetic and real images, we demonstrate the efficiency and reliability of the proposed algorithm. Collectively, our experimental assessments substantiate that our modifications have transformed the method into one that outperforms established benchmark techniques. Due to its ease of implementation, our improved corner detection process has the potential to become a valuable reference for the computer vision community when dealing with corner detection algorithms. This article thus highlights the quantitative achievements of our refined corner detection algorithm, building upon the groundwork laid by Mehrotra and Nichani, and offers valuable insights for the computer vision community seeking robust corner detection solutions.