WAVELETS

2.0 INTRODUCTION:  A wavelet is a wave-like oscillation with amplitude that begins at zero, increases, and then decreases back to zero. It can typically be visualized as a "brief oscillation" like one recorded by a seismograph or heart monitor. Generally, wavelets are intentionally crafted to have specific properties that make them useful for signal processing. Wavelets can be combined, using a "reverse, shift, multiply and integrate" technique called convolution, with portions of a known signal to extract information from the unknown signal. 

As a mathematical tool, wavelets can be used to extract information from many different kinds of data, including – but certainly not limited to – audio signals and images. Sets of wavelets are generally needed to analyze data fully. A set of "complementary" wavelets will decompose data without gaps or overlap so that the decomposition process is mathematically reversible. Thus, sets of complementary wavelets are useful in wavelet based compression/decompression algorithms where it is desirable to recover the original information with minimal loss.

2.1. HISTORY OF WAVELETS:

• The first recorded mention of what we now call a "wavelet" seems to be in 1909, in a thesis by Alfred Haar.

• From an historical point of view, wavelet analysis is a new method, though its mathematical underpinnings date back to the work of Joseph Fourier in the nineteenth century. Fourier laid the foundations with his theories of frequency analysis, which proved to be enormously important and influential.

• The methods of wavelet analysis have been developed mainly by Y. Meyer and his colleagues, who have ensured the methods' dissemination. The main algorithm dates back to the work of Stephane Mallat in 1988. Since then, research on wavelets has become international. Such research is particularly active in the United States, where it is spearheaded by the work of scientists such as Ingrid Daubechies, Ronald Coifman, and Victor Wickerhauser.