What Is CurveLab and What Is Included in the Latest Version?

Updated

CurveLab is the software toolbox released by the Curvelet.org team to make the curvelet transform available for practical work. According to the site, the newest version is CurveLab 2.1.2 (April 2008), and it includes mirror-extended (ME) curvelets. The toolbox is intended for image processing, inverse problems, and scientific computing.

What CurveLab Is

CurveLab is the distribution vehicle for the curvelet transform, a higher-dimensional generalization of the wavelet transform designed to represent images at different scales and different angles. The stated purpose of releasing the toolbox is to encourage the dissemination of curvelets into applied fields.

The site lists three target areas:

  • Image processing
  • Inverse problems
  • Scientific computing

What the Latest Version Includes

Item Detail
Newest version CurveLab 2.1.2
Release date April 2008
Notable inclusion Mirror-extended (ME) curvelets

The page does not describe other contents of the 2.1.2 release beyond the ME curvelets, so the version's full feature list is not available from this source.

Why Curvelets Are Used

The site gives two mathematical properties that motivate the transform:

  1. Sparse representation of curved singularities. Curved singularities can be well approximated with very few coefficients, and this is done in a non-adaptive manner — which is where the name "curvelets" comes from.
  2. Stability under the wave equation. Curvelets remain coherent waveforms under the action of the wave equation in a smooth medium.

These properties are the reason the transform is relevant to the application areas listed above.

Related Resources

  • The sister webpage for the wave atom transform is at Waveatom.org.
  • More information is available in the papers referenced on the site.

Who Maintains It

The Curvelet.org team is listed as:

  • Emmanuel Candes
  • Laurent Demanet
  • David Donoho
  • Lexing Ying

Practical Note

If you are looking for the current release, the site identifies CurveLab 2.1.2 (April 2008) as the newest version. The page does not state pricing, licensing terms, or download restrictions, so those details should be confirmed directly on the site before planning to use the toolbox.