Image Processingby Three-Layer Cellular Neural Networks
with a New Layer Arrangement
Muhammad Izzat bin Mohd Idrus, Yoshihiro Kato,
Yoko Uwate and Yoshifumi Nishio
Dept. Electrical and Electronic Eng.,
Tokushima University
2-1 Minami-Josanjima, Tokushima, Japan
Email: izzat, kkato, uwate, nishio@ee.tokushima-u.ac.jp

Abstract— In this study, we research a new layer arrangementof three layer cellular neural network (CNN). In this paper,
we investigate the output characteristics by using our proposed
method to image processing of gray scale image and binary imageand show its effectiveness with simulation results.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Cellular Neural Networks (CNN) were introduced by Chuaand Yang in 1988 [1][2]. The idea of the CNN was inspired
from the architecture of the cellular automata and the neuralnetworks. The CNN has local connectivity property and they
have been successfully developed in various image processing
applications. Compare to the conventional neural networks,
the CNN has been researched in various ways such as image
processing and pattern recognition. In previous study of CNN,
single-layer CNN have been introduced with many types oftemplates and after that, two-layer CNN have been proposed
for high performance processing [3]. Recently, to obtain highperformance in color image processing, three-layer CNN havebeen proposed [4].
In this study, we are using a new layer arrangement of threelayer CNN by using three types of templates. We investigate
the output characteristics between the conventional CNN, twolayer CNN and the proposed CNN by apply to the binary image and gray-scale image to remove noise and edge detection
simultaneously. In this paper, we describe about conventionalCNN, two-layer CNN, three-layer CNN and proposed CNN inSec. II. In Sec. III, we show simulation results of conventional
CNN, two-layer CNN and proposed CNN respectively. In Sec.
III also we compare between all types of structure CNN.
Finally, we conclude our study in Sec. IV.
II. D EVELOPMENT OF T HE S TRUCTURE CNN
In this section, we explain about the development and thecharacteristics of the structure CNNs which are conventional
CNN, two-layer CNN, three-layer CNN and our proposedstructure.

978-1-4673-5762-3/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEEA. Conventional CNN
Conventional CNN is the first CNN proposed in [1] andonly had single layer. This means that the conventional CNN
has only one type of process can be done in one process. For
some image processing, two or more processes have to bedone to obtain the result.
B. Two-layer CNN
To obtain better result in some image processing, two-layer
CNN has been introduced [3]. Two-layer CNN is combinationof two single-layer CNNs. The two single-layer CNNs areconnected by using coupling templates 𝐶1 and 𝐶2 which areused to connect and transferred the data between first andsecond layers. Compare to the conventional CNN, two-layer
CNN can be used two or more templates in one process. Inour previous study [3], the two-layer CNN has been confirmed
to have more efficient than single-layer CNN for some image
processing.
C. Three-layer CNN
To overcome and obtain better results in color image processing, three-layer CNN have been proposed in our previous
study [4]. There also have been several types of three-layer
CNN. Like the two-layer CNN, to transfer between everysingle layers, three single CNNs are connected by using threecoupling templates 𝐶1 , 𝐶2 and 𝐶3 . In our previous study [4],three-layer CNN have been confirmed to have efficient resultsin color image processing.
D. Proposed CNN
In this study, we introduce a new structure of the CNN. The
block diagram of the proposed CNN is shown in Fig .1.
Figure 1 shows that the output of the first layer CNN(CNN1) is delivered into the second layer CNN (CNN2) andthe third layer CNN (CNN3) by through coupling template(𝐶1 ). In other way, the outputs of the CNN2 and the CNN3
are delivered into the CNN1 by through coupling templates(𝐶2 ) and (𝐶3 ), respectively. In the previous study of threelayer CNN [3], all three single-layer CNNs have mutual2315

Output equation of CNN2 :𝑣𝑦2𝑖𝑗 (𝑡)1(∣𝑣𝑥2𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) + 1∣ − ∣𝑣𝑥2𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) − 1∣).
2=(5)Output equation of CNN3 :𝑣𝑦3𝑖𝑗 (𝑡)Fig. 1.

𝑑𝑡=(6)

Block Diagram of the proposed CNN.

connection between them. However, in our proposed CNN,
CNN2 and CNN3 have not directly interacted between eachlayer. This arrangement is the different point between theprevious structure of three-layer CNN and the proposed CNN.
The equations of the proposed CNN are described as below:(1) State equations of the proposed CNN:
State equation of CNN1 :𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟
∑∑𝑑𝑣𝑥1𝑖𝑗1
𝐶1(∣𝑣𝑥3𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) + 1∣ − ∣𝑣𝑥3𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) − 1∣).
2=−𝑅𝑣𝑥1𝑖𝑗 +, 𝐵1 =“𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛”
[]

[𝐴1 =

∑ ∑

𝐵1 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑢1𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑𝐴1 =𝐶2 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦2𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)000111010121[111𝑗+𝑟

𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟+“𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙[𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟”]𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟𝑖+𝑟+𝐴1 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦1𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)III. S IMULATION R ESULTS
In this section, we show simulation results for theconventional CNN, the two-layer CNN and the proposed
CNN. For simulations, we use three types of templates
which are “𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟”, “𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” and“𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔”. All of these original templates can be foundin [5].

000, 𝐵1 =−1−1−1][000]000000−18−1−1−1−1000000, 𝐼1 = 0.

(7)]
, 𝐼1 = −1.

(8)

𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟+𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑“𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔”[𝐶3 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦3𝑘𝑙 (𝑡) + 𝐼1

𝐴1 =𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟(∣𝑖 − 𝑘∣ ≤ 1 , ∣𝑗 − 𝑙∣ ≤ 1).

State equation of CNN2 :𝐶𝑑𝑣𝑥2𝑖𝑗
𝑑𝑡=−1
𝑣𝑥2𝑖𝑗 +𝑅+𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑(1)

𝐴2 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦2𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)𝐵2 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑢2𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟+𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑𝐶1 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦1𝑘𝑙 (𝑡) + 𝐼2(2)𝐴1 =State equation of CNN3 :𝐶𝑑𝑣𝑥3𝑖𝑗
𝑑𝑡=−𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑
1𝐴3 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦3𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)𝑣𝑥3𝑖𝑗 +𝑅+𝐴2 =𝐵3 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑢3𝑘𝑙 (𝑡)+∑ ∑00011112111
1[, 𝐵1 =0000
10000[, 𝐵2 =

000000000000000000𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔[ 𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 : ]𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟𝑖+𝑟, 𝐵1 =𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒[ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑁 𝑁]2 :𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑010𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒[ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑁 𝑁]1 :𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟(∣𝑖 − 𝑘∣ ≤ 1 , ∣𝑗 − 𝑙∣ ≤ 1).

121], 𝐼1 = 0.

(9)(i) For the conventional CNN, we use two types oforiginal templates which are “𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟”and “𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛”. The feature of the template“𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟” is delete small noises in images
and the feature of the template “𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” is to detect
the edge of the object.
(ii) For the two-layer CNN, the templates are designed asbelow. This idea was inspired from the previous study [3].

𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟𝑗+𝑟𝑖+𝑟∑∑010𝑗+𝑟

𝐶1 =𝐶1 (𝑖, 𝑗; 𝑘, 𝑙)𝑣𝑦1𝑘𝑙 (𝑡) + 𝐼3−1−1−1−1
8−1−1−1−1[, 𝐶2 =000], 𝐼1 = 0.

(10), 𝐼2 = −1.

(11)]010000],(12)

𝑘=𝑖−𝑟 𝑙=𝑗−𝑟(∣𝑖 − 𝑘∣ ≤ 1 , ∣𝑗 − 𝑙∣ ≤ 1).

(3)(2) Output equations of the proposed CNN:
Output equation of CNN1 :𝑣𝑦1𝑖𝑗 (𝑡)=1(∣𝑣𝑥1𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) + 1∣ − ∣𝑣𝑥1𝑖𝑗 (𝑡) − 1∣).
2(4)(iii) For the proposed CNN, the templates are designed as
below. We add “𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔” in our designed templates,
because was shown to be effective in two-layer CNN for edge
detection. For designed coupling templates, we designed 𝐶1 as
template “𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” operation. For “𝐶2 ”, we designed
as 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒 to transfer data which was output from the CNN2.
For “𝐶3 ”, it is obtained by experienced. At this moment, westill cannot explain in scientifically.

2316

𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒[ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑁 𝑁]1 :111𝐴1 =

121111[𝐴2 =010000[, 𝐵2 =

𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒[ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑁 𝑁]3 :010𝐴3 =

121000000000000000000000000, 𝐵1 =

𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒[ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑁 𝑁]2 :000000010[, 𝐵3 =

𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔[ 𝑇 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 : ]𝐶1 =[𝐶3 =−1−1−1−18−1−1−1−10000−20000[, 𝐶2 =].

000]
, 𝐼1 = 0.

(13), 𝐼2 = −1.

(14)

]

Remark: We did not use template “𝑆𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔” in the conventional CNN and the two-layer CNN because less effective.

], 𝐼3 = −0.5.

010000However, the conventional CNN needs two processes to obtain
the desired result compare to the proposed CNN. First process,we apply “𝑆𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟” to remove the noises.
Then, for the second process, we apply “𝐸𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛”
to detect the edge of square. From these conclusions, we cansay that the proposed CNN exhibited excellent performance
than the conventional CNN and the two-layer CNN in thesesimulations.

(15)],(16)(a)

Remark: In this study, we did not simulate the three-layer
CNN [4] because we did not obtain good designed templates.

(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 3. Simulation results for gray-scale images. (a) Initial image. (b) Outputof the conventional CNN. (c) Output of the two-layer CNN. (d) Output of theproposed CNN.

(a)

(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 2. Simulation results for binary images. (a) Initial image. (b) Output ofthe conventional CNN. (c) Output of the two-layer CNN. (d) Output of theproposed CNN.

Figure 2 shows the simulation results of binary images.
Figure 2(a) shows an initial image which is a black squarewith noises. Figures 2(b), (c) and (d) show the outputs ofthe conventional CNN, the two-layer CNN and the proposed
CNN for binary images, respectively. In Figs. 2(b), (c) and(d), the outputs show the edge of square can be detected. In
noise removal‘s performance, the outputs of the conventional
CNN and proposed CNN show noises can be removed completely. However, the output of the two-layer CNN cannot
remove noises completely. The results show that two-layer
CNN cannot perform effectively in some image processing.
From these simulation results, the conventional CNN and theproposed CNN show better results than the two-layer CNN.

Figure 3 shows the simulation results of gray-scale images.
Figure 3(a) shows an initial image which is a black circle
with noises. Figures 3(b), (c) and (d) show the outputs ofthe conventional CNN, the two-layer CNN and the proposed
CNN for gray-scale images, respectively. In Figs. 3(b), (c)and (d), the outputs show that the edge of circle can bedetected. In noise removal’s performance, although all of theoutputs cannot remove noises completely, the outputs of theconventional CNN and the proposed CNN show slightly better
than the two-layer CNN. These results also show that thetwo-layer CNN cannot perform effectively in some imageprocessing. For the outputs of the conventional CNN and theproposed CNN, even the simulation results show almost thesame, the output of the proposed CNN shows hardly better
than the conventional CNN if we look the results in detail.
Additionally, like the simulation for binary image in Fig. 2, theconventional CNN needs two processes to complete the task.
For this simulation of gray-scale image, we did not say thatthe proposed CNN show greatly better performance than theconventional CNN and the two-layer CNN. However, we cansay that proposed CNN shows slightly better than conventional
CNN and two-layer CNN.

2317

IV. C ONCLUSION
In this study, we have proposed a new layer arrangementof three-layer CNN. In the proposed CNN, we use only one
single layer CNN to connect with the other two single layer
CNNs. From the computer simulations of simple images forbinary image and gray-scale image, we investigated the output
characteristics of the conventional CNN, two-layer CNN andproposed CNN. We can say that the proposed CNN havepotential in image processing. However, at the moment, we donot say that our proposed CNN show excellent performancethat conventional CNN and two-layer CNN.
In future works, we would like to use another type of images
like an image which has scenery. We also would like to use
another type of templates to apply in our proposed CNN.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was partly supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research 22500203.
R EFERENCES[1] L. O. Chua and L. Yang, “Cellular Neural Networks: Theory,” IEEE
Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 32, pp. 1257-1272, Oct. 1988.
[2] L. O. Chua and L. Yang, “Cellular Neural Networks: Applications,” IEEE
Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 32, pp. 1257-1272, Oct. 1988.
[3] Z. Yang, Y. Nishio and A. Ushida, “Image Processing of Two-Layer
CNNs:Applications and Their Stability,” IEICE Trans. Fundamentals,
vol. E85-A, No. 9, pp. 2052-2060, Sep. 2002.
[4] T. Inoue and Y. Nishio, “Research of Three-Layer Cellular Neural Networks Processing Color Images,” IEICE Technical Report, NLP2008-25,
pp. 33-36, Jul. 2008.
[5] Cellular Sensory Wave Computers Laboratory Computer and Automation
Research Institute Hungarian Academy of Sciences, “Cellular wave
Computing Library (Template, Algorithm, and Programs) Version 2.1”

2318