No abstract

Color image segmentation is a fundamental challenge in the field of image analysis and pattern recognition. In this paper, a novel automated pixel clustering and color image segmentation algorithm is presented. The proposed method operates in three successive stages. In the first stage, a three-dimensional histogram of pixel colors based on the RGB model is smoothened using a Gaussian filter. This process helps to eliminate unreliable and non-dominating peaks that are too close to one another in the histogram. In the next stage, the peaks representing different clusters in the histogram are identified using a multimodal particle swarm optimization algorithm. Finally, pixels are assigned to the most appropriate cluster based on Euclidean distance. Determining the number of clusters to be used is often a manual process left for a user and represents a challenge for various segmentation algorithms. The proposed method is designed to determine an appropriate number of clusters, in addition to the actual peaks, automatically. Experiments confirm that the proposed approach yields desirable results, demonstrating that it can find an appropriate set of clusters for a set of well-known benchmark images.

Abstract:In image clustering, it is desired that pixels assigned in the same class must be the same or similar. In other words, the homogeneity of a cluster must be high. In gray scale image segmentation, the specified goal is achieved by increasing the number of thresholds. However, the determination of multiple thresholds is a typical issue. Moreover, the conventional thresholding algorithms could not be used in color image segmentation. In this study, a new color image clustering algorithm with multilevel thresholding has been presented and, it has been shown how to use the multilevel thresholding techniques for color image clustering. Thus, initially, threshold selection techniques such as the Otsu and Kapur methods were employed for each color channel separately. The objective functions of both approaches have been integrated with the forest optimization algorithm (FOA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. In the next stage, thresholds determined by optimization algorithms were used to divide color space into small cubes or prisms. Each sub-cube or prism created in the color space was evaluated as a cluster. As the volume of prisms affects the homogeneity of the clusters created, multiple thresholds were employed to reduce the sizes of the sub-cubes. The performance of the proposed method was tested with different images. It was observed that the results obtained were more efficient than conventional methods.

No abstract

No abstract