Robust 2D Otsu's Algorithm for Uneven Illumination Image Segmentation.

Jiangwa Xing,Letu Qingge,Pei Yang

doi:10.1155/2020/5047976

Abstract

Otsu's algorithm is one of the most well-known methods for automatic image thresholding. 2D Otsu's method is more robust compared to 1D Otsu's method. However, it still has limitations on salt-and-pepper noise corrupted images and uneven illumination images. To alleviate these limitations and improve the overall performance, here we propose an improved 2D Otsu's algorithm to increase the robustness to salt-and-pepper noise together with an adaptive energy based image partition technology for uneven illumination image segmentation. Based on the partition method, two schemes for automatic thresholding are adopted to find the best segmentation result. Experiments are conducted on both synthetic and real world uneven illumination images as well as real world regular illumination cell images. Original 2D Otsu's method, MAOTSU_2D, and two latest 1D Otsu's methods (Cao's method and DVE) are included for comparisons. Both qualitative and quantitative evaluations are introduced to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method is more robust to salt-and-pepper noise and acquires better segmentation results on uneven illumination images in general without compromising its performance on regular illumination images. For a test group of seven real world uneven illumination images, the proposed method could lower the ME value by 15% and increase the DSC value by 10%.

Highlights

As a fundamental technique for computer vision related applications, image segmentation has been studied for decades [1,2,3,4,5,6]
To solve the abovementioned problems of 2D Otsu’s algorithm, in this paper, we focus on 2D histogram constructing to enhance the robustness of 2D Otsu’s method to salt-and-pepper noise, and the image partitioning technology is studied to improve the algorithm’s effectiveness on uneven illumination images
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods, we conducted experiments on a personal computer with

Summary

Introduction

As a fundamental technique for computer vision related applications, image segmentation has been studied for decades [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Otsu’s method is one of the most well-known and effective global thresholding algorithms proposed by Otsu in 1979 [6] It is so far still widely used in many applications including document image binarization [7], medical image processing [8], life science [9], and combating infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) [10]. It still suffers some disadvantages and fails in certain cases for optimal image segmentation

Results

Discussion

Conclusion