Sparse Kernel Independent Component Analysis for Blind Source Separation

We address the problem of Blind Source Separation (BSS) of superimposed signals in situations where one signal has constant or slowly varying intensities at some consecutive locations and at the corresponding locations the other signal has highly varying intensities. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a major technique for Blind Source Separation and the existing ICA algorithms fail to estimate the original intensities in the stated situation. We combine the advantages of existing sparse methods and Kernel ICA in our technique, by proposing wavelet packet based sparse decomposition of signals prior to the application of Kernel ICA. Simulations and experimental results illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach. The approach is general in the way that it can be tailored and applied to a wide range of BSS problems concerning one-dimensional signals and images (two-dimensional signals).