Image based structural characterization of fibrous materials

A method for characterizing a fibrous material having a plurality of fibers, the method comprising:

• accessing, by a computing device, an image of the fibrous material with the plurality of fibers;
• detecting, by the computing device, edges of the plurality of fibers based upon a magnitude and a direction of an intensity gradient of the image;
• scanning, by the computing device, the detected edges using a plurality of horizontal, vertical and directional scan vectors;
• identifying, by the computing device, each of the plurality of fibers based upon an angle between the intensity gradient of the image and a corresponding scan vector;
• determining, by the computing device, tracking directions and tracking points for each of the identified fibers;
• and
• estimating, by the computing device, a plurality of structural parameters for each of the tracked fibers of the fibrous material.