Total Variation Bayesian Learning via Synthesis

Abstract: This paper presents a sparse Bayesian learning algorithm for inverse problems in signal and image processing with a total variation (TV) sparsity prior. Because of the prior used, and the fact that the prior parameters are estimated directly from the data, sparse Bayesian learning often produces more accurate results than the typical maximum a posteriori Bayesian estimates for sparse signal recovery. It also provides a full posterior distribution. However, sparse Bayesian learning is only available to problems with a direct sparsity prior or those formed via synthesis. This paper demonstrates how a problem with a TV sparsity prior can be formulated in a synthesis approach. We then develop a method that combines this synthesis-based TV with the sparse Bayesian learning algorithm and provide numerical examples to demonstrate how our new technique is effectively employed.