Membrane computing and image processing: a short survey

Membrane computing is a well-known research area in computer science inspired by the organization and behavior of live cells and tissues. Their computational devices, called P systems, work in parallel and distributed mode and the information is encoded by multisets in a localized manner. All these features make P systems appropriate for dealing with digital images. In this paper, some of the open research lines in the area are presented, focusing on segmentation problems, skeletonization and algebraic-topological aspects of the images. An extensive bibliography about the application of membrane computing to the study of digital images is also provided.