A new kind of edge detection method based on stack filter and Hopfield neural network is proposed in this paper.First

the stack filter with smaller filtering window size is used to optimally estimate the gradient of gray scale for each pixels of the tested image. Then

weight vector of Hopfield neural network is determined by those optimal estimated values. Finally

converged Hopfield neural network outputs the image edges. Contrast to the stack filter based edge detection. the proposed method gainis higher speed

uses less memory for optimal training of stack filter. Also contrast to the Hopfield neural network based edge detection

the proposed method havs stronger abilities of reducing the effects of noise with different distributions

and can obtain much better edges.