IJAM, Volume 28, No. 3 (2015)

Abstract. Cartographers, in many ground control centers, need better computational solutions to process planetary images for cartographic mapping of some planets and natural satellites. In this paper, we propose a method that allows to apply a morphological image processing while receiving a planetary image by a bit-serial communication channel, starting the processing before the transmission of the image has finished. Thus, this paper presents a bit-stream morphological image processing method for planetary images. To demonstrate the method, we implemented a library of morphological operations in hardware, since hardware implementations speed up the bit-stream processing. The achieved results are presented and they show the relevance of this method. The success rates for the method are 100%, when borders are omitted. This method speeds up morphological processing of images transmitted through a bit-serial communication, for example, from a probe or landing module to a ground control center where cartographers are waiting to start cartographic mappings, but it is not limited to this use.