Global Congress on Intelligent Systems
Fabric Defect Detection Method Based on Gabor Filter Mask
Runping Han and Lingmin Zhang
Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology
Beijing, China
Email:bfhrp@163.com
Abstract—In this paper, a fabric defect detection method
based on Gabor filter masks is proposed. In this method, one
even symmetric Gabor filter mask and one odd symmetric
Gabor filter mask derived from the impulse response of the
optimal Gabor filter are used. The optimal Gabor filter is
designed to match with the texture features of defect-free
fabric image, whose parameters are obtained by using the
genetic algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is
evaluated off-line by using a group of fabric sample images
containing many kinds of fabric defects. The experimental
results exhibit its accurate defect detection with low false
alarms. And the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed
method are confirmed.
Keywords-fabric defect detection; Gabor filter; convolution
mask; GA
I. INTRODUCTION
Fabric defect detection has been of great importance to
the quality control of textile. Researches on fabric defect
detection have been conducted over the past decades.
Although certain achievements have been obtained, it is still
a challenging problem to be researched because fabric
defects are various in sort, shape and size.
References [1-6] summarized that Gabor filter is
especially effective for fabric defect detection. Gabor filter is
essentially a band-pass filter. In the spatial domain, its
impulse response, Gabor function, is the product of a
complex exponential function and a Gaussian function.
Gabor filter has high resolution capability both in spatial
domain and in frequency domain. When using Gabor filter
bank for defect detection, the problems we meet are that the
more filters in filter bank, the longer it needs to realize defect
segmentation, and some filter in filter bank may be bad for
the final defect detection result. Using more Gabor filters for
fabric defect detection can generate extensive data for
processing, which makes it difficult to satisfy the real-time
demand of some systems. How to find the most suitable
Gabor filters on the basis of the defect-free fabric image to
enhance the real-time performance, adaptability and
precision of detection method is an increasingly important
research issue when using the Gabor filters for fabric defect
detection.
D.F. Dunn [3] and A.Kumar et al. [4] used several Gabor
filters to detect fabric defects, which brings that the detection
time increases undoubtedly, and some Gabor filter may be
bad for defect detection. K.L.Mak and P.Peng [5] used one
Gaussian low pass filter and one Gabor filter which can
978-0-7695-3571-5/09 $25.00 © 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/GCIS.2009.356
extract the basic texture features of defect-free fabric image
and whose parameters are determined by the optimization
techniques called the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. In the
method proposed in this paper, only one optimal Gabor filter
that matches with the texture features of defect-free fabric
image is used for fabric defect detection. Parameters of the
optimal Gabor filter are obtained by genetic algorithm(GA).
As a result, two filter masks derived from the optimal Gabor
filter are used for defect detection, one of which is even
symmetric Gabor filter mask, the other is odd symmetric
one. The remaining sections of this paper are organized as
follows: Section Ⅱ gives a brief description of Gabor filter.
Section Ⅲ introduces defect detection scheme. Section Ⅳ
describes how to applying GA to acquire parameters of the
optimal Gabor filter in detail. Section Ⅴ gives the defect
detection experimental results. Section Ⅵ gives the
conclusions from this work.
II. GABOR FILTER
Gabor filter used in this fabric defect detection method is
a Gaussian that is modulated by a complex sinusoid. Its
impulse response is expressed as follows.
1 1 ⎛ x2 y 2 ⎞
h( x, y ) = exp[− ⋅ ⎜ 2 + 2 ⎟] ⋅ exp ( 2π ju0 x ) (1)
2πσ xσ y 2 ⎜⎝ σ x σ y ⎟⎠
In (1), σ x and σ y define the Gaussian envelope along the
x and y axes. If σ x = σ y , the Gabor filter is circularly
symmetric; otherwise, it is asymmetric. u0 represents the
Gabor filter’s radial center frequency and determines its
location in the frequency domain. The real part and
imaginary part of Gabor filter are expressed respectively as
(2) and (3).
1 1 ⎛ x2 y2 ⎞
he ( x, y ) = exp[ − ⋅ ⎜ 2 + 2 ⎟⎟] ⋅ cos ( 2π u0 x ) (2)
2πσ xσ y 2 ⎜⎝ σ x σ y ⎠
1 1 ⎛ x2 y2 ⎞
ho ( x, y ) = exp[ − ⋅ ⎜ 2 + 2 ⎟] ⋅ sin ( 2π u0 x ) (3)
2πσ xσ y 2 ⎜⎝ σ x σ y ⎟⎠
The real part of Gabor filter, he ( x, y ) , is an even
function, called even symmetric Gabor filter, while the
imaginary part, ho ( x, y ) , is an odd function, called odd
symmetric Gabor filter. The difference of phase between
them is 90°.
We can get the Gabor filter (see (4)) with frequency
u0 and orientation θ by coordinate rotation.
184
 1 ⎧⎪ 1 ⎡ ( x ' )2 ( y ' )2 ⎤ ⎫⎪
h′( x, y) = exp ⎨− ⋅ ⎢ 2 + 2 ⎥ ⎬ ⋅ exp(2π u0 x ')
2πσ xσ y ⎪⎩ 2 ⎢⎣ σ x σ y ⎥⎦ ⎪
⎭ A fabric sample image which may contain defects and its
Where x′ = x ⋅ cos θ + y ⋅ sin θ , y′ = − x ⋅ sin θ + y ⋅ cos θ , θ
represents rotation angle. x and y represent initial
ordinates, while x′ and y ′ represent ordinates after rotation.
In this method, we use Gabor filter with σ x = σ y = σ ,
therefore, odd symmetric Gabor filter with frequency u0 and
orientation θ is expressed as follows.
1 1 ⎛ x2 + y 2 ⎞
ho′ ( x, y ) = exp[− ⋅ ⎜ ⎟] ⋅ sin(2π u0 x ')
2πσ 2
2 ⎝ σ2 ⎠
III. DEFECT DETECTION SCHEME
Many researchers applied Gabor filter to fabric defect
detection because it has good performances both in spatial
domain and in frequency domain. In general, an even
symmetric Gabor filter is good at detecting blob-shaped
fabric defects including knot, burl, et al., while an odd
symmetric one performs well in detecting edge-shaped fabric
defects including mispick, overshot, et al.. In this method,
even symmetric and odd symmetric Gabor filter masks are
used for better defect detection.
As shown in Fig.1, a defect-free fabric image is used to
design the optimal Gabor filter whose parameters
optimization process is conducted by GA. After parameters
optimization process, the optimal Gabor filter that can match
with the texture features of defect-free fabric image is
determined. Then, even symmetric and odd symmetric Gabor
filter masks are derived respectively from the real and
Fig.1 Flow chart of the defect detection scheme
imaginary part of impulse response of the optimal Gabor
(4) filter.
corresponding defect-free fabric image are filtered by using
this two filter masks respectively in order to obtain two
filtered sample images and two filtered defect-free fabric
images, and then we can get two binary images by
conducting binarization operation on two filtered sample
images respectively, in which the threshold values are
obtained on the basis of the filtered defect-free fabric image.
The final segmentation result, binary output image, can be
(5) acquired by fusing the two binary images. The flow chart of
the defect detection scheme proposed in this paper is shown
as Fig.1.
A.Selection of Optimal Gabor Filters
A.Kumar and G.Pang [6] pointed out that the odd
symmetric Gabor can be tuned to extract the texture features
of defect-free fabric image. In the method proposed in this
paper, the imaginary part of the optimal Gabor filter is tuned
to roughly describe the texture features of defect-free fabric
image by minimizing the objective function that is given by
(8).
Assume that g ( x, y ) represents the defect-free fabric
image. The difference between h0′ ( x, y ) (see (5)) and g ( x, y )
at pixel point ( x, y ) is large. In order to make parameters
optimization process more efficient, the value of h0′ ( x, y ) is
transformed to (-1,1) by multiplying it with the coefficient
2πσ 2 , that is, h0′ ( x, y ) is transformed to h0′′ ( x, y ) which is
defined by (6). Obviously, the coefficient 1 / ( 2πσ 2 ) does
not influence the shape of odd symmetric Gabor filter, and it
only adjusts amplitude, therefore, the transformation does
not alter the basic characteristics of Gabor filter.
1 ⎛ x2 + y2 ⎞
ho′′( x, y) = exp[− ⋅ ⎜ ⎟] ⋅ sin(2π u0 x ') (6)
2 ⎝ σ2 ⎠
Accordingly, the value of g ( x, y ) is transformed to (-1,1)
based on (7), and f ( x, y ) is formed.
2 ⋅ g ( x, y ) − max g ( x, y ) − min g ( x, y )
f ( x, y ) = (7)
max g ( x, y ) − min g ( x, y )
The optimal Gabor filter can be determined based on (8).
2
E = min f ( x, y ) − ho′′ ( x, y ) (8)
2
In this method, the key point is to find out a group of
parameters {θ , σ ,u0 } of the optimal Gabor filter by
minimizing the objective function given in (8).
B.Gabor Filter’s Parameters Optimization
In the research, two methods are selected for obtaining
optimal Gabor filter’s parameters {θ , σ ,u0 } . One is to use
fmincon function in MATLAB toolbox, the other is to use
GA. Both of them use the same objective function given by
(8) for parameters optimization. When using fmincon
function to optimize parameters, the defect detection results
185
are unsatisfactory if we select improper initial values of
Gabor filter’s parameters. This method is sensitive to the
initial values of parameters, and it is proved to be time-
consuming. Therefore we use GA instead. GA hardly
demands auxiliary information or knowledge. It can get
exact or approximate solutions to optimization or searching
problems by objective function which influences the
direction of searching. Its advantage lies in its robustness,
global optimality and extensive applicability. Section Ⅳ
will summarily discuss the genetic algorithm used for
optimizing Gabor filter’s parameters.
C.Filtering with Convolution Masks
The real part mask and the imaginary part mask of the
optimal Gabor filter, that is, even symmetric Gabor filter
mask and odd symmetric Gabor filter mask (the size of
mask is 7 × 7 in this method) can be easily obtained by
sampling the real part and the imaginary part of impulse
response of the optimal Gabor filter in spatial domain.
Filtering a sample image and its corresponding defect-free
fabric image can be implemented by using (9).
⎧ g s = g so ⋅ a _ M
⎨ a is R or I (9)
⎩ g d = g do ⋅ a _ M
In (9), R_M and I_M represent an even symmetric Gabor
filter mask and an odd symmetric Gabor filter mask
respectively. gdo represents a sample image, while gso
represents its corresponding defect-free fabric image. When
a is R or I in (9), filtering mask is an even symmetric Gabor
filter mask or an odd symmetric Gabor filter mask. gs and gd
are obtained by filtering the defect-free fabric image and the
sample image respectively.
D.Binarization
In view of (10), the threshold value tmax and tmin of the
binarization step can be determined from the image gs
obtained by filtering a defect-free fabric image using Gabor
filter mask. W is sub-window centered at the image gs, the
size of which should be suitably chosen to contain
information of pixel gray value as much as possible and
avoid distortion caused by the edges of the image, tmax and
tmin are the maximum value and minimum value of the gray
value of the image pixel in the sub-window.
⎧tmax = max g s ( x, y )
⎪ x , y∈W
⎨ (10)
⎪⎩ tmin = xmin g s ( x, y )
, y∈W
Hence, the operation of the binarization step is shown as
(11). As for a defect-free fabric image, its pixel’s gray value
varies in a certain range, if the gray value of a pixel in
sample image exceeds the range, this pixel is determined as
a defect pixel. When a is R, GR is the binary image obtained
by using even symmetric Gabor filter mask. Similarly, GI is
the binary image obtained by using odd symmetric Gabor
filter mask.
186
⎪⎧ 1, g d ( x , y ) ≥ t max or g d ( x , y ) ≤ t min
Ga ( x, y ) = ⎨ (11)
⎪⎩ 0, t min < g d ( x , y ) < t max
E.Image Fusion
Considering that for a sample image, defect detection
result obtained by using odd symmetric Gabor filter mask is
not identical with the one obtained by using even symmetric
Gabor filter mask, in order to maintain the high probability
of detection of defects, two binary images from two masks
need to be fused. As shown in (12), the final detection result,
also called defects segmented or binary output image shown
in Fig.1 is obtained by fusing two binary images.
G ( x , y ) = GR ( x , y ) + GI ( x , y ) (12)
IV. OPTIMIZING GABOR FILTER PARAMETERS USING GA
A genetic algorithm is a searching technique used in
computing to find exact or approximate solutions to
optimization and searching problems. Genetic algorithms
are a particular class of evolutionary algorithms that use
techniques inspired by evolutionary biology such as
inheritance, selection, crossover and mutation.
The purpose of optimizing Gabor filter’s parameters
using GA on the basis of defect-free fabric image is to
determine optimal Gabor filter’s parameters. In order to
solve this parameters optimization problem, a genetic
algorithm is developed. In this genetic algorithm, binary
encoding is used. The length of binary string is determined
by the precision of parameters for solving problems.
Parameters involved in this algorithm are accurate to the
fourth decimal place. Based on binary encoding, the genetic
operation is composed of roulette wheel selection operator,
single-point crossover operator, improved mutation operator.
Reinsertion operation is used for keeping population size.
The operational parameters of this genetic algorithm are
selected as follows: the size of population is 40, the
maximum evolutional generation is 500, the objective
function is given by (8), generation gap is 0.9, and crossover
rate is 0.6. In this genetic algorithm, an improved mutation
operator [7] is used to prevent premature convergence,
which is mentioned in the following paragraph.
Mutation operation changes randomly the encoding
string of the new offspring. It is an auxiliary method to
produce new individuals. There are two reasons for applying
mutation operator to GA. One is to improve local searching
capability, and the other is to prevent all solutions in
population falling into a local optimum by increasing the
diversity of population [8]. In this genetic algorithm, we
adopt the improved mutation operator to increase the
diversity of population.
Assume that current population is X, which contains N
individuals, the length of chromosome is M. X is expressed
by (13).
 ⎡ x11 x12 " x1k " x1M ⎤
⎢ ⎥
x x " x2 k " x2 M ⎥
X = [ X 1 , X 2 ," , X N ] = ⎢ 21 22
T
(13)
⎢""""""" ⎥
⎢ ⎥
⎣ xN 1 xN 2 " xNk " xNM ⎦
For the kth gene bit, if the number of 1 is n, p=n/N , and
Fig.2 Defect detection results
p is called gene frequency. The diversity of gene in the kth
gene bit is expressed as (14).
1 1
D ( p) = exp[− ( p − 0.5 ) ] ( 0 ≤ p ≤ 1)
2
(14)
2π 2
The diversity D(p) obeys a normal distribution. When p
is equal to 0.5, gene diversity becomes maximum, and small
mutation rate is needed, while p is equal to 0 or 1, all of Fig.3 Knot defect detection results
genes in the kth gene bit are 0 or 1, in this case, GA should
increase the diversity of population by increasing mutation
rate to restore omitted and useful genes. The diversity is in
inverse proportion to mutation rate, so the mutation rate pm
can be obtained by normalizing the reciprocal of D(p),
which is expressed as (15).
1 1
−
D ( p ) D ( 0.5 ) ⎧ ⎡1 2⎤ ⎫
pm ( p ) = = 7.51 ⋅ ⎨exp ⎢ ⋅ ( p − 0.5 ) ⎥ − 1⎬ (15)
1 1 ⎩ ⎣ 2 ⎦ ⎭
−
D (1) D ( 0.5 )
Mutation operation is local random searching. It can
improve local searching capability of GA and increase
diversity of population. However, when mutation rate is too
large, GA will degenerate into random searching. From (15),
mutation operation can not be performed when p =0.5, so pm
needs to be revised. In this genetic algorithm used for Gabor
filter’s parameters optimization, the mutation rate for
mutation operation is given by (16).
⎧ ⎡1 2⎤ ⎫
pm′ ( p ) = 0.0001 + 0.1× 7.51 ⋅ ⎨exp ⎢ ⋅ ( p − 0.5 ) ⎥ − 1⎬ (16)
⎩ ⎣2 ⎦ ⎭

V. DEFECT DETECTION RESULTS

Fig.2 gives defect detection results using the method
proposed in this paper. A sample image is shown in Fig.2(a), Fig.4 Defect detection results of some sample images
detection results (binary images) from even symmetric
Gabor filter mask and odd symmetric Gabor filter mask are TABLEⅠ EVEN SYMMETRIC GABOR FILTER MASK
shown in Fig.2(b) and Fig.2(c) respectively. Defect
0.914 0.915 0.915 0.916 0.915 0.915 0.914
detection results given in Fig.2 demonstrate that even 0.960 0.961 0.961 0.962 0.961 0.961 0.960
symmetric Gabor filter is good at detecting blob-shaped 0.988 0.990 0.990 0.990 0.990 0.989 0.988
fabric defects and odd symmetric Gabor filter performs well 0.998 0.999 0.999 1 0.999 0.999 0.998
in detecting edge-shaped fabric defects. Fig.2(d) shows the 0.988 0.989 0.990 0.990 0.990 0.989 0.988
final segmented defect in the binary output image. 0.960 0.961 0.961 0.962 0.961 0.961 0.960
0.914 0.915 0.915 0.916 0.915 0.915 0.914
Fig.3 shows the detection results of the sample image
containing a knot defect. Parameters of the optimal Gabor TABLE Ⅱ ODD SYMMETRIC GABOR FILTER MASK
obtained by GA are u0 = 0.0010, σ = 10.0000,θ = 2.9944.
0.020 0.019 0.018 0.017 0.016 0.015 0.015
Table 1 and Table 2 give its corresponding even symmetric 0.015 0.014 0.013 0.012 0.011 0.010 0.009
Gabor filter mask (multiplied by 2πσ 2 ) and odd symmetric 0.009 0.008 0.007 0.006 0.005 0.004 0.003
Gabor filter mask (multiplied by 2πσ 2 ). Defect detection 0.003 0.002 0.001 0 -0.001 -0.002 -0.003
-0.003 -0.004 -0.005 -0.006 -0.007 -0.008 -0.009
results of some other sample images are shown in Fig.4. -0.009 -0.010 -0.011 -0.012 -0.013 -0.014 -0.015
-0.015 -0.015 -0.016 -0.017 -0.018 -0.019 -0.020

187
 The performance evaluations of this detection method are
made by visually comparing defects appearing in sample
images with their segmented results. We use several
statistical criteria such as true detection(TD), false
alarm(FA), misdetection(MD), overall detection(OD) for
performance evaluations. TD is recorded when (1) the white
areas of the binary output image only overlap the areas of the
corresponding defects in the sample image, and (2) no white
area appears in the binary output image if the sample image
contains no defect. FA is recorded when the white areas of
the binary output image do not only overlap the areas of the
corresponding defects in the sample image, but also appear
in some other areas significantly distant from the defective
areas, or when white areas appear in the binary output image
even though the sample image contains no defect. OD is the
sum of TD and FA. MD means that no white area appears in
the binary output image even though the sample image
contains a defect.
In this research, we use a set of 42 sample images of
different background texture for the performance evaluations
of this proposed method, which contain common defects
appearing in textile industry. Table 3 shows statistical data of
the test results obtained by the proposed method in this
paper.
TABLE Ⅲ PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS OF THE DEFECT DETECTION
OD TD FA MD
Number of image 40 39 1 2
Detection rate 95.24％ 92.86％ 2.38％ 4.76％
VI. CONCLUSIONS
In general, defect detection approaches can be classified
into two categories, one of which is supervised detection
approach, the other is unsupervised detection approach. A
conventional supervised approach developed based on the
knowledge of some particular defect types may not be
suitable in practice and an unsupervised approach is more
practical. However, the design of unsupervised approach is
rather complicated. In this paper, an unsupervised defect
detection method has been proposed, which consists of only
one optimal Gabor filter, that is, two real-valued Gabor
filters. A genetic algorithm is developed to determine the
optimal Gabor filter’s parameters on the basis of the defect-
free fabric image.
188
The performance of the detection method has been
evaluated by the detection results obtained from a set of 42
sample images that have different background texture and
contain different types, sizes, and shapes of defects. The
statistical data on the performance evaluations of this
proposed method show that the method performs well in
detecting fabric defects. The detection results obtained
confirm the effectiveness, efficiency and adaptability of the
method. In addition, further research on Gabor filter’s
parameters optimization should be conducted in order to
acquire the most suitable Gabor filter.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research has been supported by the Hubei Digital
Textile Equipment Key Laboratory Open Subject (No.
DTL200707).
REFERENCES
[1] J.Escofet, R.Navarro, MS.Millan, and J.Pladelloreans,
“Detection of local defects in textile webs using Gabor
filters,” Opt. Eng.,Vol.37,1998,pp.2297-2307.
[2] D.Dumn,W.E.Higgins, and J.Wakeley, “Texture segmentation
using 2-D Gabor elementary functions,” IEEE Transactions
on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol.16, Issue
2, 1994,pp 130-149.
[3] D.F.Dunn, “Designing Gabor filters for texture
segmentation,” Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania State
University,USA, 1992.
[4] A.Kumar and G.Pang, “Fabric defect segmentation using
multichannel blob defectors,” Opt. Eng., Vol.39, No.12, 2000,
pp.3176-3190.
[5] K.L.Mak and P.Peng, “An automated inspection system for
textile fabrics based on Gabor filters,” Robotics and
Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, Vol.24, Issue 3, 2008,
pp.359-369.
[6] A.Kumar and G.Pang, “Defect detection in textured materials
using Gabor filters,” IEEE Transaction on Industry
Application,Vol.38,No.2,2002, pp.425-440.
[7] Qiuling Wu and Qiwen Yang, “The modified adaptive
mutation operator,” Journal of HOHAI University, Vol.19,
No.4,2005,pp.12-15.
[8] Wenjie Huo,Shanwen Zhang, xuwu Li, and chuangming
Zhou, “Genetic algorithm toolbox in MATLAB and its
application,” Publishing House of Electronics Industry,
China, 2005, pp.17.