In mathematical morphology, a structuring element is a shape, used to probe or interact with a given image, with the purpose of drawing conclusions on how this shape fits or misses the shapes in the image.

What are the structuring element used in morphological processing?

An essential part of the morphological dilation and erosion operations is the structuring element used to probe the input image. A structuring element is a matrix that identifies the pixel in the image being processed and defines the neighborhood used in the processing of each pixel.

What is structuring element called?

The structuring element is sometimes called the kernel, but we reserve that term for the similar objects used in convolutions. The structuring element consists of a pattern specified as the coordinates of a number of discrete points relative to some origin.