Analysis of quantitative pore features based on mathematical morphology

Wood identification is a basic technique of wood science and industry. Pore features are among the most important identification features for hardwoods. We have used a method based on an analysis of quantitative pore feature, which differs from traditional qualitative methods. We applies mathematical morphology methods such as dilation and erosion, open and close transformation of wood cross-sections, image repairing, noise filtering and edge detection to segment the pores from their background. Then the mean square errors (MSE) of pores were computed to describe the distribution of pores. Our experiment shows that it is easy to classify the pore features into three basic types, just as in traditional qualitative methods, but with the use of MSE of pores. This quantitative method improves wood identification considerably.