Texture characterization is a central element in many image processing applications. Multifractal analysis is a useful signal and image processing tool, yet, the accurate estimation of multifractal parameters for image texture remains a challenge. This is due in the main to the fact that current estimation procedures consist of performing linear regressions across frequency scales of the 2D dyadic wavelet transform, for which only a few such scales are computable for images. The strongly non-Gaussian nature of multifractal processes, combined with their complicated dependence structure, makes it difficult to develop suitable models for parameter estimation. Here, we propose a Bayesian procedure that addresses the difficulties in the estimation of the multifractality parameter. The originality of the procedure is threefold. The construction of a generic semiparametric statistical model for the logarithm of wavelet leaders; the formulation of Bayesian estimators that are associated with this model and the set of parameter values admitted by multifractal theory; the exploitation of a suitable Whittle approximation within the Bayesian model which enables the otherwise infeasible evaluation of the posterior distribution associated with the model. Performance is assessed numerically for several 2D multifractal processes, for several image sizes and a large range of process parameters. The procedure yields significant benefits over current benchmark estimators in terms of estimation performance and ability to discriminate between the two most commonly used classes of multifractal process models. The gains in performance are particularly pronounced for small image sizes, notably enabling for the first time the analysis of image patches as small as @math pixels.
There are a limited number of reports in the literature that attempt to overcome the limitations of multifractal analysis for images described above. The has been proposed and studied in, e.g., @cite_14 @cite_15 @cite_54 and formulates parameter inference as the solution (in the least squares sense) of an over-determined system of equations that are derived from the moments of the data. The method depends strongly on fully parametric models and yields, to the best of our knowledge, only limited benefits in practical applications. Although classical in parameter inference, maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian estimation methods have mostly been formulated for a few specific self-similar and multifractal processes @cite_33 @cite_51 . The main reason for this lies in the complex statistical properties of most of these processes, which exhibit marginal distributions that are strongly non-Gaussian as well as intricate algebraically decaying dependence structures that remain poorly studied to date. The same remark is true for their wavelet coefficients and wavelet leaders, see, e.g., @cite_29 @cite_28 .
@cite_14 @cite_33 @cite_28 @cite_54 @cite_29 @cite_15 @cite_51
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From a theoretical perspective, scale invariance, or simply scaling, can fruitfully be modeled with classes of multifractal stochastic processes, designed from positive multiplicative martingales (or cascades). From a practical perspective, scaling in real-world data is often analyzed by means of multiresolution quantities. The present contribution focuses on three different types of such multiresolution quantities, namely increment, wavelet and Leader coefficients, as well as on a specific multifractal processes, referred to as Infinitely Divisible Motions and fractional Brownian motion in multifractal time. It aims at studying, both analytically and by numerical simulations, the impact of varying the number of vanishing moments of the mother wavelet and the order of the increments on the decay rate of the (higher order) covariance functions of the (q-th power of the absolute values of these) multiresolution coefficients. The key result obtained here consist of the fact that, though it fastens the decay of the covariance functions, as is the case for fractional Brownian motions, increasing the number of vanishing moments of the mother wavelet or the order of the increments does not induce any faster decay for the (higher order) covariance functions Abstract In this paper, we make a short overview of continuous cascade models recently introduced to model asset return fluctuations. We show that these models account in a very parcimonious manner for most of ‘stylized facts’ of financial time-series. We review in more details the simplest continuous cascade namely the log-normal multifractal random walk (MRW). It can simply be considered as a stochastic volatility model where the (log-) volatility memory has a peculiar ‘logarithmic’ shape. This model possesses some appealing stability properties with respect to time aggregation. We describe how one can estimate it using a GMM method and we present some applications to volatility and (VaR) Value at Risk forecasting. The probability distribution of the cascade generators in a random multiplicative cascade represents a hidden parameter which is reflected in the fine scale limiting behavior of the scaling exponents (sample moments) of a single sample cascade realization as a.s. constants. We identify a large class of cascade generators uniquely determined by these scaling exponents. For this class we provide both asymptotic consistency and confidence intervals for two different estimators of the cumulant generating function (log Laplace transform) of the cascade generator distribution. These results are derived from investigation of the convergence properties of the fine scale sample moments of a single cascade realization. Multifractal processes have recently been proposed as a new formalism for modeling the time series of returns in finance. The major attraction of these processes is their ability to generate various degrees of long memory in different powers of returns—a feature that has been found in virtually all financial data. Initial difficulties stemming from nonstationarity and the combinatorial nature of the original model have been overcome by the introduction of an iterative Markov-switching multifractal model which allows for estimation of its parameters via maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian forecasting of volatility. However, applicability of MLE is restricted to cases with a discrete distribution of volatility components. From a practical point of view, ML also becomes computationally unfeasible for large numbers of components even if they are drawn from a discrete distribution. Here we propose an alternative generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator together with linear forecasts which in principle is... The role of the wavelet transformation as a whitening filter for 1 f processes is exploited to address problems of parameter and signal estimations for 1 f processes embedded in white background noise. Robust, computationally efficient, and consistent iterative parameter estimation algorithms are derived based on the method of maximum likelihood, and Cramer-Rao bounds are obtained. Included among these algorithms are optimal fractal dimension estimators for noisy data. Algorithms for obtaining Bayesian minimum-mean-square signal estimates are also derived together with an explicit formula for the resulting error. These smoothing algorithms find application in signal enhancement and restoration. The parameter estimation algorithms find application in signal enhancement and restoration. The parameter estimation algorithms, in addition to solving the spectrum estimation problem and to providing parameters for the smoothing process, are useful in problems of signal detection and classification. Results from simulations are presented to demonstrated the viability of the algorithms. >