Image segmentation by adaptive distance based on EM algorithm

This paper introduces a Bayesian image segmentation algorithm based on finite mixtures. An EM algorithm is developed to estimate parameters of the Gaussian mixtures. The finite mixture is a flexible and powerful probabilistic modeling tool. It can be used to provide a model-based clustering in the field of pattern recognition. However, the application of finite mixtures to image segmentation presents some difficulties; especially it’s sensible to noise. In this paper we propose a variant of this method which aims to resolve this problem. Our approach proceeds by the characterization of pixels by two features: the first one describes the intrinsic properties of the pixel and the second characterizes the neighborhood of pixel. Then the classification is made on the base on adaptive distance which privileges the one or the other features according to the spatial position of the pixel in the image. The obtained results have shown a significant improvement of our approach compared to the standard version of EM algorithm.

@article{Mahjoub2011,
  title     = {Image segmentation by adaptive distance based on EM algorithm},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {1},
  number    = {1},
  year      = {2011},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  note      = {Special Issue on Image Processing and Analysis},
  author    = {Mohamed Ali Mahjoub and Karim Kalti},
  doi       = {10.14569/SpecialIssue.2011.010103},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/SpecialIssue.2011.010103}
}